MCJ AMA: Diego Saez-Gil (Pachama) & Sam Gill (Sylvera)
Join us in the MCJ Community Slack for a 24 hour 'Ask Me Anything' with Diego Saez-Gil (Pachama) & Sam Gill (Sylvera).
Our next MCJ Ask-Me-Anything has not one, but two special guests! We’re joined by Diego Saez-Gil, Founder & CEO at Pachama, and Sam Gill, Co-founder and President of Sylvera.
Let’s meet our guests…
Meet Diego: Diego Saez-Gil is a climate-tech entrepreneur, Founder & CEO of Pachama, a startup with the mission of restoring nature to solve climate change by harnessing AI and satellite data to monitor and finance effective reforestation and nature conservation. The company has raised more than $80M. Diego has been selected as Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum and has been awarded as Innovators 35 Under 35 by the MIT Technology Review. His company Pachama has been awarded as the Most Innovative AI Company of 2021 by FastCompany as well as 20 Most Impactful Startups by Fortune Magazine. Diego is a serial entrepreneur having co-founded Bluesmart and WeHostels, two travel-tech companies acquired by major industry leaders. Diego studied entrepreneurship at Stanford GSB and project management at LaSalle University in Barcelona. Diego was born in Tucumán, Argentina and currently resides in California.
Meet Sam: Sam Gill co-founded carbon intelligence platform Sylvera alongside CEO Dr. Allister Furey in 2020. Sam started his career working for global law firms, where he advised high-profile asset managers on multi-billion dollar hedge funds and the complex regulation surrounding highly-liquid trading. Wanting to make a more direct, positive impact on people and the planet, Sam moved to Baker McKenzie, where he focused on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) products. It was at this time that Sam first advised on a major carbon offset issuance. This sparked his interest in carbon markets, and he was concerned that the market lacked the necessary infrastructure to allow it to scale quickly and with integrity. He left law to found Sylvera to tackle these issues. Sam is a regular speaker at industry events and a trusted advisor to multilateral institutions, government bodies and sustainability professionals. He was named on the Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe list in May 2022.
Want to listen? Catch up on Diego and Sam’s podcast episode here.
Want a reminder for this AMA? Add it to your calendar by registering for this event!
Our AMA with Diego and Sam will start on Wednesday 19th April at 9am PST - 12pm EST - 5pm GMT and will run asynchronously in the MCJ AMA slack channel for 24 hours.
In their episode with Cody, Diego and Sam cover:
Diego's background and intro to Pachama
Sam's experience and an overview of Sylvera
Forests in the world today and why they matter for climate
Risk of deforestation and the Amazon becoming a self-reinforcing negative feedback loop
How the story of biodiversity has changed from a forestry perspective
Economic levers at play with regard to forests, including reforestation and afforestation
The link between forest credits, offsets, and carbon markets
Problems associated with deforestation credits and managing illegal activity
The voluntary market for deforestation credits, who's buying and why
How deforestation credits are measured now and historically
Measuring reforestation and afforestation projects
Diego and Sam's thoughts on a recent article in The Guardian claiming that most forest carbon offsets are worthless
How Sylvera assesses forest projects and its reaction to The Guardian article
Pachama's approach to creating synthetic baselines and validating the uncertainty of predictions
Overcoming challenges through collaboration
Predictions for the future of forest carbon markets
You can also catch up with progress made by Pachama and Slyvera via:
Pachama lands its first forest conservation, carbon capture deal in Mexico
Pachama's Josh Parrish on the benefits of forest carbon credits
Building the Modern Carbon Market the Planet Demands (Pachama’s Blog)
[We need to talk about claims: a call for cross-sector alignment](https://www.sylvera.com/blog/we-need-to-talk-about-claims?) (Slyvera’s Blog)
Set your reminders, and get your questions ready! You can ask Diego and Sam anything!
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NOTE: This event will act as a placeholder in your calendar. Only MCJ members will be able to attend. Not yet a member? Apply to join here.
