Nexus for Development, a non-profit that provides access to finance for renewable energy and water projects in developing Asia, has appointed Clarisse Kehler Siebert as executive director.
Siebert, a lawyer by background, brings 15 years of experience in climate change and sustainable development research and policy to the role, and joins following a stint working for the United Nations Development Program providing technical support for Cambodia’s environment ministry.
She joins Nexus to spearhead strategic planning for the 10 year-old non-profit, whose projects have included financing solar technology for microgrids in Cambodia, environmentally-friendly cookstoves in Laos, and transforming waste into biogas in Vietnam.
“Accessible and fair financing for many smaller-scale sustainable transitions is necessary to progress on our shared global journey that is Agenda 2030,” said Siebert in a statement. “Amid the economic and climate challenges of 2020, Nexus’ mandate to pursue environmentally sustainable solutions while financing good development is more relevant than ever.”
She succeeds Jennifer Louie, who has moved on after a year and a half as executive director, to impact investment fund Beneficial Returns.
Over her career, Siebert had a 10-year spell with the Stockholm Environment Institute, a sustainable development policy thinktank, where she managed the climate and policy unit. Her research included the ethics of geoengineering as a response to climate change.
She has also worked for the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency as a senior policy advisor, and at a Canadian law firm where she helped provincial governments implement a carbon tax and trading scheme.
Siebert will be partly working remotely as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Nexus has partially re-opened its office in Phnom Penh, but is limiting the number of people in the office on a given day.
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