People Moves 20 April: Nigel Topping, Bezos Earth Fund, ThomasLloyd, CSSB, and more
Bezos Earth Fund lures BlackRock executive Paul Bodnar while ThomasLloyd has appointed Nadir Maruf as its new chief investment officer
An overview of this week's most important hires and departures within the net zero community.
Nigel Topping as Net Zero Global Ambassador
Nigel Topping, UN Climate Change High Level Champion at the COP26 climate event in Glasgow, Scotland, has been appointed to a new role as global ambassador for Race to Zero and Race to Resilience.
He will be working alongside fellow UN High-Level Climate Champions, Razan Al Mubarak and Mahmoud Mohieldin, looking to accelerate the implementation of zero carbon targets and build climate resilience globally.
The move comes as the world’s first stocktake on climate progress is due at COP28, to be held later this year in Abu Dhabi.
Topping also acts as an external member to the advisory committee at AXA Investment Managers, and as a non-executive director at the UK Infrastructure Bank.
Paul Bodnar leaves BlackRock
Paul Bodnar has been named as a director at the Bezos Earth Fund, operating out of Washington DC.
Bodnar was previously head of sustainability policy and engagement at BlackRock, from October 2022. Previously he was global head of sustainable investing at the firm from April 2021.
The Bezos Earth Fund was established by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos with the largest philanthropic commitment ever to fight climate change and protect nature. The $10 billion grant commitment is due to have been disbursed by 2030, the date by which the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are supposed to have been achieved.
Nadir Maruf to ThomasLloyd
Impact investment solutions provider and asset manager ThomasLloyd has appointed Nadir Maruf as its chief investment officer.
Maruf joins ThomasLloyd’s executive management team from Tesco Pension Investments, where he was head of private markets from September 2020. Previously, he spent more than a decade at DWS Group, including as head of alternatives for the Asia Pacific region.
At ThomasLloyd, Maruf will be reporting to chief executive Michael Sieg,, and will be responsible for developing and executing the group’s investment strategy. Based in Zurich, Switzerland, Maruf will also be expected to help drive ThomasLloyd’s expansion as an impact investor in sustainable energy infrastructure projects across Asia.
Charles-Antoine St-Jean as CSSB chair
The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) has welcomed Charles-Antoine St-Jean as the first-ever chair of the Canadian Sustainability Standards Board of Canada (CSSB).
The CSA will work with St-Jean on the development of international sustainability disclosure standards that reflect Canada’s capital markets and look to provide investors with comparable, decision-useful information.
The Canadian Sustainability Standards Board (CSSB) will work with the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) to support the uptake of ISSB standards in Canada.
St-Jean has been regional director for the Americas at the IFRS since July 2022.
Garrault to Eurosif
Pierre Garrault has been named as senior policy adviser at the European Sustainable Investment Forum (Eurosif), based from Brussels, Belgium.
Garrault was previously policy advisor for sustainable finance at climate change think tank E3G from April 2022, and junior executive for European affairs at French asset management firm AFG from 2017-2022. Both positions were also based from Brussels.
Of his appointment, Garrault said: “I’m very much looking forward to working with Eurosif’s team and members to support appropriate and well-designed regulations and industry practices in sustainable finance.”
