COP26: Mobilising finance for net zero

Outside Impax, Ian is a member of the UK government’s Net Zero Council, which provides strategic leadership to support delivery of the government’s low carbon objectives, and its Net Zero Innovation Board, which provides strategic oversight of public sector funding of energy innovation programmes.  He is a board member of the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change, the European membership body for investor collaboration on addressing climate change a commissioner with the Energy Transitions Commission, a global coalition of leaders developing transition roadmaps to achieve net-zero emissions, and the chair of the Net Zero Committee of the Confederation of British Industry.  His past roles include being a board member of the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), the UK’s leading funding agency for environmental science, and a Commissioner with the Severn Estuary Commission.  Prior to Impax, Ian was an engagement manager at McKinsey & Company advising clients on environmental strategy.

Ian has a first-class honours degree in physics from Cambridge University and a Master’s in Public Administration from Harvard University.  After his first degree he initiated and led an expedition to complete the first summer crossing of the Sahara Desert by tandem bicycle.

Within the Sustainability Centre, Chris’s team is responsible for client partnerships, sustainability reporting and policy advocacy. Chris directs the firm’s engagement with policymakers worldwide, working to advance frameworks that support a net‑zero, climate-resilient and nature‑positive economy.

Chris joined Impax in 2019 after more than a decade shaping UK and international climate policy. During his time in the UK Government, he led the domestic implementation of the EU Emissions Trading System and headed the UK delegation to the UN climate negotiations. Subsequently, as Director of Climate Change at Ricardo Energy & Environment, Chris advised over 15 governments on developing and delivering their national climate strategies under the Paris Agreement.

Chris serves on a range of industry policy committees and advisory groups, including the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC), the Investor Policy Dialogue on Deforestation (IPDD) and the Transition Finance Council.

He holds a BA (Hons) in Classics from the University of Cambridge and an LLM in Environmental Law from University College London.