RI People & Appointments, December 3: Yvo De Boer named head of Gold Standard

Yvo De Boer, the former Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, has been named president of sustainability standards body Gold Standard, taking over from founding director David Shelmerdine. Since leaving his UN role in 2010, De Boer has been Director-General of the Global Green Growth Institute and Global Chairman, Climate Change and Sustainability Services at KPMG Advisory. Gold Standard was set up in 2003 by WWF and other international. In 2017 it launched Gold Standard for the Global Goals to certify against the Sustainable Development Goals.
Dr. Tauni Lanier has been named as a director of Carbon Tracker, according to a filing with Companies House. Lanier, formerly Executive Director of IMPACT 2030, the only private sector-led initiative with the United Nations and other stakeholders to unite companies in their corporate volunteering efforts on the Sustainable Development Goals, is Sustainability Director at World Wide Generation (WWG), a UK fintech firm. Earlier in her career she was the first Managing Director of the Dow Jones Sustainability Group Index and subsequently, Senior Project Manager for the Sustainable Development Reporting Project with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.
Randal Quarles, Governor and Vice Chairman for Supervision at the US Federal Reserve, has been named Chair of the Financial Stability Board, the top-level body behind the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). He takes over from Bank of England Governor Mark Carney. Klaas Knot, the President of the Dutch central bank who has called calls for more adequate carbon pricing, was named Vice Chair – and will become chair in 2021.
Angela Emslie (HESTA), Xander den Uyl (ABP) and Laetitia Tankwe (Ircantec) have been elected to the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) Board as asset owner representatives. Wellington Management’s Wendy Cromwell has been elected to the PRI Board as investment manager representative.
CICERO’s Harald Francke Lund and Christa Clapp are co-founders and CEO and Partner respectively of a new green bond spin-off, CICERO Shades of Green. Atle Christiansen will be Chair of the Board, while ex- Norwegian Finance Minister Kristin Halvorsen and former AP4 expert Ulf Erlandsson will complete the board.
Clare Hierons has joined Prince Charles’ Accounting for Sustainability (A4S) initiative. She was previously Chief Operating Officer at campaign group ShareAction.
Fergus Moffatt is now ShareAction’s Head of UK Policy, joining from the UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association (UKSIF). He replaces Bethan Livesey, who moves to a part-time role as Senior Fellow.
Doug Heron has been named as CEO of the s £6.7bn (€7.6bn) Lothian Pension Fund, Scotland’s second-largest pension fund. Taking over from Clare Scott, he joins from Edinburgh-based wealth and investment platform Nucleus Financial, where he has been CFO and chief operating officer.
Desjardins, the largest cooperative financial group in Canada, is seeking a Senior Advisor to work with the Governance and Responsible Finance Administrative Department.
RobecoSAM is looking for a Senior Energy Analyst (largely Fossil Fuels and Biofuels) with experience in credit analysis to join its Sustainability Investing Research Team, part of RobecoSAM in Zurich. This position is based in Rotterdam.ClientEarth has lost one of the founders of its climate litigation team, as Elspeth Jones moves to environmental charity Size of Wales at the start of next year. Jones claims to be one of the people to have secured funding for the law firm’s litigation programme, and is also Vice Chair of the Sumatran Orangutan Society. She replaces Rita Singh at Size of Wales, who will become Global Sustainability Lead for Kingspan Insulation.
Think-tank 2° Investing Initiative is on the hunt for a Senior Technical Manager to lead and grow its technical research programmes. The candidate will be responsible for building relationships with European institutional investors – particularly in France and the UK, and for securing funding. Experience in research on financial regulation, risk modelling and or fin-tech topics us required for the role.
UN Environment is looking for a Project Management Expert to help with two initiatives: one new research project on deforestation and sustainable commodity production – with a particular focus on coffee, beef and soy – and another management role on an existing Land Use Finance initiative. The role is based in Geneva, Switzerland and is based on a one-year contract. Applications close on December 5.
France-based proxy voting firm Proxyinvest is recruiting a Head of European Research, to be based in Paris. The candidate should have a masters in either Economics, Finance, Marketing, Public Policy, International Relations, Sustainable Development or Law, and should be fluent in both French and English. The role focuses on the Expert Corporate Governance Service – a European network of independent proxy advisors co-led by Proxyinvest. The position will require management of the network and ensuring its voting guidelines are implemented when providing advice to shareholders. “The Coordinator serves as the point person for local analysts in the ECGS network who produce in-depth resolution-by-resolution research reports for general meetings,” the application statement says.
The Office of the Illinois State Treasurer has advertised for an Investment Analyst, who will be responsible for “activities that enhance the diversity and inclusion objectives of the Office”. This includes the administering outreach activities to minority, women, veteran, or disabled-owned (MWVD) financial institutions, investment firms, and other businesses.
Fidelio Partners, a Board consultancy, has advertised for individuals with “experience of Boards, governance and/or research”. Successful applicants will support Fidelio clients through Board Evaluation, Board Development and Board and Executive Search. Expressions of interest can be directed to Wendy Love (wlove@fideliopartners.com) with short statements on (i) what you bring to Board advisory and (ii) why you are interested in Fidelio.
Oikocredit, a microfinance provider, has put out a call for “skilled and experienced individuals” to serve on its Supervisory Board. Applicants are expected to have “senior management/board experience in various functional areas, preferably in international cooperative organisations and development finance”. Oikocredit is looking to fill six positions, and applications and expressions of interest are welcome up to the deadline on March 22, 2019.