Rethinking ‘Beyond Carbon’ - the insider view
Carbon markets have come a long way since Kyoto.
Quality. Integrity. Credibility. Whatever the preferred buzzword, the bar for carbon projects is continually being raised by the private and public sector alike.
But climate projects don’t operate in a vacuum. While assessing carbon efficacy is hard enough, understanding the risks and benefits impact beyond carbon comes with a distinct set of challenges. We believe that understanding project safeguards, SDG claims and co-benefits, and how these fit together in a holistic way, requires fresh thinking.
Join us on Thursday 10th April to dig deeper into the topic. We’ll be convening expert voices from across the carbon market value chain, including:
Bonnie Lei, Principal, Climate Intelligence, RMI
Callum Hunt, Carbon Markets Manager, Cloverly
Jess Hinojosa, Carbon Removal Program Manager, Microsoft
Moderated by Sarah Heard, BeZero’s Beyond Carbon Director, the panel will discuss why the market isn’t going far enough in terms of disclosure and transparency, the efforts being made to bridge this gap, and the tools available to help market actors better understand the non-carbon impact of their projects.
Don’t miss out on a unique chance to hear from industry insiders, and learn how the market really thinks about Beyond Carbon risk.
Moderator:
Sarah Heard, Senior Director, Beyond Carbon, BeZero Carbon
Sarah Heard is an expert in sustainable development, with a focus on creating new markets that align environmental and economic incentives.
Before joining BeZero, she led an innovative function at The Nature Conservancy that used market-based mechanisms to accelerate conservation outcomes and was a consultant on corporate sustainability and environmental economics.
Speakers:
Jess Hinojosa, Carbon Removal Program Manager, Microsoft
Jessica Hinojosa is Carbon Removal Program Manager at Microsoft with a diverse background in energy and climate. Her work focuses on procurement of high-quality carbon removal across a diverse set of pathways, with an emphasis on nascent and highly scalable methods like soil carbon and marine CDR.
Prior to Microsoft she spent seven years at Shell, where she worked in the Upstream business and then Nature-Based Solutions R&D. For two months between her time and Shell and joining Microsoft, Jessica consulted for Isometric, a carbon removal registry, and helped co-author Isometric's Reforestation Protocol.
Before Shell, Jessica was a postdoctoral fellow at Caltech in the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences. She holds a PhD in Marine Geochemistry from the University of Otago in New Zealand, where she was a Fulbright fellow. Before that, she received her BS and MS from Stanford University. Jessica currently resides in Houston, Texas, with her husband, two sons, two cats, and a large rock collection.
Bonnie Lei, Principal, Climate Intelligence, RMI
Bonnie is Principal of the Carbon Markets Initiative within RMI’s Climate Intelligence Program. She leads a team that leverages technology and data to enhance the transparency, quality, and equity of the voluntary carbon market. Previously, she was head of Environmental Justice, Employee Engagement, and Ecosystems at Microsoft. She was also a founding member of Microsoft AI for Earth ($50 million program for applying machine learning technology at cloud scale to address environmental challenges) and helped build the first Planetary Computer.
Bonnie started her career as a conservation biologist, from helping initiate Wildlife Conservation Society’s marine program in Myanmar to discovering a new sea slug species in the Caribbean.
Callum Hunt, Carbon Markets Manager, Cloverly
Callum is the Carbon Markets Manager at Cloverly, specialising in constructing high-integrity carbon credit portfolios that deliver lasting environmental and social impact. He provides strategic insights and due diligence on carbon credit quality, develop market positioning strategies to help innovative climate projects scale, and navigate evolving dynamics across carbon markets and policy.
His experience spans working with diverse corporate customers—including banks, private equity firms, and multiple S&P 500 and FTSE 100 companies—as well as established and early-stage carbon project developers. He's provided comprehensive carbon-related due diligence for major investments, has hands-on experience in carbon capture technologies (including storing carbon in concrete), and conducted extensive research on emerging topics (such as insetting, Article 6, CRCF, CORSIA, etc.).
Callum studied at the University of Cambridge, holding an MPhil in Economics with a distinction in applied macroeconomics.