About us
Our Board of Directors and Strategic Council
Climate Catalyst is supported by a group of exemplary individuals strongly committed to collaboration and to our mission, with diverse experience and connections in the climate community and beyond.
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Our Board of Directors
Our Board of Directors supports the Leadership Team in shaping our strategy, plans, budget, and impact.
Nathaniel Keohane
Nathaniel Keohane
Nathaniel Keohane is a Board Member on Climate Catalyst’s Board of Directors.
Nathaniel Keohane is President of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES), a widely respected, nonpartisan non-profit organisation that works with policy makers and leading businesses to accelerate the transition to a thriving, just, and resilient net- zero-emissions economy. Dr. Keohane is a globally recognized expert on climate policy, carbon markets, and the economics of climate change.
He has more than 20 years of energy and environmental policy experience in academia, government, and the non- profit sector, including at Environmental Defense Fund, where he held a range of roles including Chief Economist and most recently Senior Vice President for Climate; in the White House, as Special Assistant to President Obama for Energy and Environment in the National Economic Council (2011-2012); and, earlier in his career, as Assistant and then Associate Professor of Economics at the Yale School of Management. He holds a Ph.D. from Harvard and a B.A. from Yale.
Sanjay Mithal
Sanjay Mithal
Sanjay Mithal is the Treasurer for Climate Catalyst’s Board of Directors.
Sanjay is the co-founder and CEO of a carbon asset management company specialising in the development of nature-based carbon offsets. These offsets leverage biogenic carbon stored in standing forests and finished wood products. He leads two flagship projects: a REDD+ carbon credit program supporting forest communities in Odisha, India, and a carbon credit initiative focused on sustainably sourced mass timber in the Pacific Northwest, USA.
Sanjay is also spearheading a biochar production facility in India. Collaborating with small land holding farmers, research groups, and NGOs, he intends to source sustainable feedstock and distribute biochar to biofertilizer companies. This initiative aims to accelerate the implementation of innovative and scalable technologies, setting the foundation for replication across multiple facilities and states.
With over three decades of global financial leadership, Sanjay is a recognized authority in enterprise risk management, capital and liquidity optimization, climate risk mitigation, and process transformation. At Citigroup, he served as Head of Enterprise Risk, guiding capital and liquidity functions and implementing robust risk frameworks for multi-asset portfolios.
Earlier in his career, Sanjay spent over 20 years in capital markets, trading, and fund management roles across New York, Hong Kong, and Singapore. His work ranged from quantitative research to structuring asset liability management solutions at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup, and Deutsche Bank. He also co-founded Citigroup’s internal hedge fund, scaling its Asia operations and assembling global teams of analysts, traders, and portfolio managers.
Notably, he steered significant capital allocations through multiple credit cycles, including the 2008 financial crisis, earning a strong record for performance and expertise across asset classes. Sanjay began his career at Bell Laboratories, optimizing large-scale telecommunications networks. His pivot to finance was fueled by a desire to apply interdisciplinary approaches to solve complex challenges. Today, he combines operations research and financial strategy to advance risk management frameworks and sustainable solutions.
He holds a PhD in Operations Research from Columbia University, an MS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and a B.Tech. in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay.
Sanjay splits his time between Delhi and New York.
Céline Charveriat
Céline Charveriat
Céline Charveriat is the Chairperson for Climate Catalyst’s Board of Directors.
Céline Charveriat is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Pro(to)topia: consulting. She is an expert in environmental sustainability, sustainable well-being, SDGs, International trade, and European and global governance.
Prior to this Celine was the Executive Director of Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) for five years between 2016-22.
Celine has experience in leading large, multi-country teams (as advocacy and campaign director) as well as leading non-profit organisations. She has specialised in influencing strategies including power-analysis, theories of change, policy research, policy advice, advocacy, partnership building, fundraising and campaigning,
Céline started her career as a researcher at the Peterson Institute and the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington D.C., focusing on poverty, social protection, and natural disasters. Céline then worked for 10 years at Oxfam International, first as a researcher on poverty and international commodity markets, then as an advocate on trade and climate change issues. In 2020, she was listed in the top 100 CSR influence leaders by Assent Compliance.
Other affiliations:
- Senior associate at TMG and Professor at the Paris School of International Affairs of Sciences Po.
Joojin Kim
Joojin Kim
Joojin Kim is a Board Member on Climate Catalyst’s Board of Directors.
Joojin Kim is Managing Director and Founder of Solutions for Our Climate (SFOC), a Seoul-based climate advocacy group focused on reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the power, steel, and land-use sector.
Joojin has over fifteen years of experience with the international climate change regime, including experience serving as a member of the delegation of the Republic of Korea to the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference, held in Copenhagen.
More recently, he served as a member of the Working Group for Korea’s Third Energy Framework Plan and as a member of the Advisory Panel of the National Council on Climate and Air Quality of Korea led by Ban Ki-Moon. He also briefly worked for the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). Before founding SFOC, he was an attorney at Kim & Chang, Korea’s largest law firm.
Amanda Leland
Amanda Leland
Amanda Leland is the Vice-Chair for Climate Catalyst’s Board of Directors.
Amanda is the Executive Director of the Environmental Defense Fund. Amanda is responsible for leading EDF’s global mission of ensuring a vital Earth for everyone by driving game-changing climate solutions with a focus on people and nature, energy transition and healthy communities. Amanda oversees the delivery of significant results through multi-disciplinary global initiatives, while also deepening a culture of collaboration and an equitable, people-centered approach.
Ms. Leland previously led EDF’s Oceans program, a global team in 14 countries focused on reversing overfishing while improving human wellbeing. A marquis achievement is the dramatic economic and ecological recovery of U.S. fisheries. She holds a master’s degree in marine biology from University of Maine.
Other affiliations:
- Amanda is also on the board of Children’s National Hospital.
Thomas Lingard
Thomas Lingard
Thomas Lingard is the Board Secretary for Climate Catalyst’s Board of Directors.
Thomas is Chief Executive Officer of the Centre for Future Generations, a new and rapidly growing think tank dedicated to enabling decision-makers to anticipate and govern the societal impacts of rapid technological change.
Prior to taking up this latest role, Thomas worked for 25 years for Unilever. Thomas led the development of Unilever’s new climate and nature strategy, launched in June 2020, which included a recommitment to 1.5-degree Science-Based Targets, a new Net Zero by 2039 commitment, and the launch of a €1bn Climate & Nature fund, and led the development of the Climate Transition Action Plan which was approved with a 99.59% vote in favour at Unilever’s 2021 AGM.
Thomas joined Unilever in 1999, abandoning the finance and IT graduate scheme after 3 years in 2002 to take a role in UK Social & Environmental Affairs. After 6 years in Unilever’s UK business, Thomas joined the think tank Green Alliance as Deputy Director. Thomas rejoined Unilever in 2010 and was part of the original team that launched the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan, subsequently founding the Unilever Global Advocacy team to drive transformational change on systemic issues such as recycling, public health, and sustainable agriculture.
Other affiliations:
- Tech for Climate Adaptation Working Group at the World Economic Forum (part-time)
- Trustee for the Unilever UK Pension Fund
- Corporate Advisory Group Member with We Mean Business Coalition
Our Strategic Council
Our Strategic Council is made up of senior leaders across fields and geographies. They provide support, advice and support us to overcome challenges in their areas of expertise. In doing so, they support us to achieve our ambitious goals.
Anote Tong
Anote Tong
Anote Tong was President of the Republic of Kiribati having served the maximum three-term limit between 2003 to 2016. During his terms in office, he was responsible for drawing the international focus of attention to the human dimension of climate change by highlighting the existential threat faced by his people and those of other vulnerable countries on the frontline of the impacts of climate change, many of which are in the Pacific Region. On leaving office he joined Conservation International as a Distinguished Fellow from 2016 to 2018 and continues to speak on a worldwide basis at conferences and institutions.
He resides in his home country of Kiribati, a group of 33 atoll islands which are narrow strips of land which are on average less than 2 metres above sea level located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. He is married with more than twenty grandchildren hence his deep concern for the future of his people and of the global community.
Sanjiv Paul
Sanjiv Paul
Sanjiv is a sustainability leader with over 35 years of experience in the steel industry. Now self-employed, Sanjiv is the former Vice President of Safety, Health and Sustainability at Tata Steel.
Mr. Paul graduated in Metallurgical Engineering and joined Tata Steel in 1986 as Graduate Trainee. He started his career at Steel Melting Shops where working in various capacities till 1998. After completion of a Senior Management program at CEDEP France, he moved on to assume Leadership roles in areas of General Management in Tata Steel. He assumed the position of General Manager (of Town Services) in January 2003 and under his leadership, the Town Services Division became an independent company by the name of JUSCO (now Tata Steel Utilities and Infrastructure Services, which he headed as Managing Director till March 2010.
He was the Vice President of Corporate Services at Tata Steel from 2010 to 2013, after which he joined Tata Metaliks as Managing Director. From 2017, he has assumed the role of Vice President of Safety, Health, and Sustainability at Tata Steel. Under Sanjiv’s guidance, Tata Steel became Sustainability Champion for six consecutive years.
As well as being an active member of World Steel Association (worldsteel) and Confederation of Indian Industry, Sanjiv provided guidance as Chairman and Member of the Board to various organisations such as Tata Metaliks, Tata Pigments, and ResponsibleSteel.
Sharan Burrow
Sharan Burrow
Until recently, Sharan Burrow was the General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation, representing 200 million workers in 163 countries and territories with 332 national affiliates. The ITUC’s primary mission is the promotion and defence of workers’ rights and interests, through international cooperation between trade unions, global campaigning, and advocacy within the major global institutions.
Previously President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) from 2000 – to 2010, Sharan is a passionate advocate and campaigner for social justice, women’s rights, the environment, and labour law reforms, and has led union negotiations on major economic reforms and labour rights campaigns in her home country of Australia and globally. She has also served as a member of the Governing Body of the International Labour Organisation and is represented on a number of international commissions concerning climate action, industrial transition, and economic reform.
Anirban Ghosh
Anirban Ghosh
Anirban has worked with the US$20 billion Mahindra Group since 1999. He has just taken up a leading role as the Head of Centre of Sustainability at Mahindra University. Prior to that he was the Mahindra Group’s Chief Sustainability Officer. During his work Anirban has developed an award-winning sustainability framework, being the first in the world to commit to doubling energy efficiency, the first in the country to join the World Bank’s Carbon Pricing Leadership Consortium, commit to a carbon price, and to Science-Based Targets. He has helped harness more water than is consumed in the Mahindra Group and is currently striving to make Mahindra a zero waste to landfill, carbon-neutral organisation.
Anirban has enabled Mahindra World City, a 1500-acre integrated township, to become a food waste-free city, a model that is being replicated in other parts of India. He has, in partnership with the World Bank, helped create the Sustainable Housing Leadership Coalition to enable the spread of green buildings in India. Anirban has spread sustainability in communities by leading the implementation of a national award-winning watershed development project that tripled per capita income for 20,000 Indians. He has helped create an EHS+ centre, in partnership with the Institute for Sustainable Communities, to spread sustainability in the supply chain.
Pok Wei Heng
Pok Wei Heng
An advocate for indigenous solidarity, climate policy, and justice, Pok has contributed to prominent forums such as the Nobel Prize Dialogue, the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, COP26, and TIME Magazine.
Constantly learning (and unlearning), Pok was recently awarded grant funding from Climate Reality and the World Economic Forum to develop a regenerative framework for Auckland, drawing on indigenous wisdom and principles of sustainable development within planetary boundaries. His most recent projects are building on regenerative soil practice within community-supported agriculture, alongside tracing his genealogy back to China.
Bernice Lee
Bernice Lee
Bernice Lee is Hoffmann Distinguished Fellow for Sustainability and Research Director – Futures and Chair of the Sustainability Accelerator Advisory Council at Chatham House. An expert on the politics of climate change, innovation for sustainability, international trade, and China, she is a member of the UK Global Resource Initiative Task Force, the UK Climate Change Committee’s International Advisory Group and the Energy Foundation China Board, and the World Economic Forum Commission on Biodiverse Cities.
Bernice has previously been Director of Climate Change and Resource Security Initiatives at the World Economic Forum, Director of the Energy, Environment, and Resources Department, Director of the Global Economy and Finance department at Chatham House as well as the Founding Executive Director of the Hoffmann Centre for Sustainable Resource Economy (now relaunched as the Chatham House Sustainability Accelerator).
She also held positions at the UN Secretary-General’s office, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Aga Khan Foundation (UK), the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development and served on the Children Investment Fund Foundation’s Climate Change Advisory Board and Shell’s External Review Committee.
In 2011, she was awarded an OBE for services to UK–China climate change cooperation. She held degrees from the University of Oxford and the London School of Economics.
Fiona Reynolds
Fiona Reynolds
Fiona Reynolds is an independent director and advisory board member working across superannuation ESG and sustainability issues. Fiona served as the CEO of the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) for over nine years, stepping down at the beginning of 2022.
Fiona has 25 years experience in the financial services, superannuation and pension sector. She joined the PRI from the Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees (AIST), where she spent seven years as CEO.
Fiona was named one of the 20 most influential people in sustainability globally by Barron’s magazine and has twice been named one of Australia’s one hundred women of influence by the Australian Financial Review.
Fiona is the Chair of the UN Global Compact Australia, she also serves on the Board of Frontier Advisors and Client Earth Asia Pacific and the Advisory Boards of Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners, Affirmative Investment Management and Climate Catalyst and the ESG advisory board of BASF and PWC.
Matt Rogers
Matt Rogers
Matt Rogers is the founder of Incite.org, a values-based investor that provides catalytic capital and guidance for world-positive start-ups, non-profits, and activists. Matt is also the co-founder of Nest, where he built the team that created the first machine learning thermostat and the leading brand for the connected home.
Matt is a builder at heart. Prior to Nest, Matt started his career at Apple, building the software team for 10 generations of the iPod. He was one of the first engineers on the original iPhone and was involved in the development of 5 iPhone generations, and the first iPad.
Matt earned bachelor’s and masters degrees from Carnegie Mellon University. Together with his wife Swati Mylavarapu, he started Incite.org with the mission to empower teams with great ideas that solve important, underinvested-in challenges. Heeding the call to address the climate crisis, Matt leads Incite.org’s investments in climate solutions as well as nonprofits and advocacy groups advancing climate policy.
Shloka Nath
Shloka Nath
Shloka Nath is the Chief Executive Director of the India Climate Collaborative which is a first-of-its kind, India-focused collaborative that seeks to direct funding and visibility towards climate action in India. She also currently leads the Policy and Advocacy and Sustainability and Special Projects portfolio at the Tata Trusts, one of India’s leading philanthropic foundations.
In addition to her roles at the ICC and Tata Trusts, Shloka Nath is the Vice President of the Bombay Natural History Society, one of the largest non-governmental organisations in India engaged in conservation and biodiversity research, and she is a member of the Advisory Board to IUCN’s Nature-based Recovery initiative. Prior to this, Shloka co-founded and was the Managing Partner of Sankhya Women Impact Funds, a gender lens fund with a focus on sustainability.
She has spent over a decade in journalism with the BBC in London, as a news anchor with New Delhi Television (NDTV) and Principal Correspondent with Forbes in Mumbai. Shloka has a Master’s in Public Policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and a BSc in Government from The London School of Economics and Political Science.
Dr. Mukund Rajan
Dr. Mukund Rajan
Dr Mukund Rajan is the Chairperson of ECube Investment Advisors, a first of its kind platform created in 2019 to catalyse Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) changes in Corporate India. Prior to this, he held a number of senior executive positions through his 23-year career with the Tata Group, where he served as the first Brand Custodian of the Tata Group, Chief Ethics Officer of the Group, Chairman of the Tata Global Sustainability Council, and Member of the Group Executive Council at Tata Sons. He served on the boards of various Tata companies including Tata Teleservices, Tata Communications, Tata SIA Airlines and Tata AIG.
Dr Rajan serves as the Chairperson of the Environment and Climate Change Committee of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and is a member of the ESG Advisory Committee constituted by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). He serves as a member of the Council of Management of the Forum of Free Enterprise and is a member of the KPMG India ESG Council. He also serves as Advisor, Ethics and ESG, to Bank of Baroda.
In 2007, the World Economic Forum honoured Dr Rajan as a Young Global Leader. He was also part of the inaugural class of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)-Aspen Institute India Leadership Initiative.
Dr Rajan graduated from the BTech program at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi in 1989. He completed a Masters and Doctorate in International Relations on a Rhodes Scholarship at Oxford University. His doctoral dissertation, “Global Environmental Politics”, was published by Oxford University Press in 1996; his second book, “The Brand Custodian – My Years with the Tatas”, was published by HarperCollins in 2019; his third book, on Corporate Responsibility and ESG, titled “OUTLAST – How ESG Can Benefit Your Business”, co-authored with Dr Colonel Rajeev Kumar, was published by HarperCollins and won the Green Literature Festival Honour Book Award in 2022 for Business Literature; and his fourth book, “Tata’s Leadership Experiment – The Story of the Tata Administrative Service”, co-authored with Bharat Wakhlu and Sonu Bhasin, was published by HarperCollins in 2022.
