Chris Stark to lead Britain’s clean energy push

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero has appointed the former head of the Climate Change Committee Chris Stark to lead the government’s new “Mission Control” to deliver clean energy by 2030. He will step down from his role as CEO of the Carbon Trust, which he took up in April after six years as head of the UK’s climate panel. Stark was previously the Scottish Government’s director of energy and climate, as well as deputy director of the UK’s business environment unit and spent more than four years at the Treasury.

Abrdn has promoted Danielle Welsh Rose as deputy chief sustainability officer for investments. She joined the asset manager in 2019 as ESG investment director for Asia Pacific and was most recently head of sustainability for the Asia Pacific region. She will continue as a director of Abrdn Oceania. Welsh-Rose was previously head of ESG at Victorian Funds Management Corporation in Australia. She was also managing director at Sustainability Advisers for more than four years after spending eight years working in sustainability investing at VicSuper.

EFRAG is looking for technical staff to assist in the development of industry standards for its European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS). EFRAG is currently working on the ESRS for high-impact industries and financial institutions. The standard setter is looking for experts with knowledge of agriculture, food and drink, energy production and motor vehicles – the focus industries for which drafts are expected in 2025 – as well as construction/real estate, water and waste services, entertainment, healthcare, hospitality, manufacturing, sales and trade, and services and technology. Drafts for the latter standards are expected in 2026 or later. Work is expected to start in the second half of September and last for about a year. The application deadline is 19 August.

Mari Schwartzer has joined Shareholder Commons as director of investment engagement after spending the past six months as a consultant to the U.S. nonprofit. In December, Schwartzer left her position as director of shareholder activism and engagement at NorthStar Asset Management after more than 15 years to launch her own corporate engagement and stewardship advisory firm, Cotton and Quill Advisory.

Heather Slavkin – Corsetwho resigned from her position as policy director at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in May, has joined the nonpartisan policy organization Mindset as director. She previously served as director of capital markets policy at the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations. Corzo also served as U.S. policy director at the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) for more than two years.

Pension giant AustralianSuper is expanding its ESG and Stewardship team and is hiring an ESG Associate Director for its London office. The successful candidate will assist with the integration of material ESG factors into the fund’s investment portfolio and will report to Deborah Gilshan, Head of ESG and Stewardship in Europe. The application deadline is 3 August.

The PRI promotes Remi Fernandez as Head of Human Rights, Social and Governance Issues. He joined the organization as a staff member in 2020 and was previously Manager of Human Rights, Social and Governance Issues. Before the PRI, Fernandez was a sustainability advisor at Nestlé.

David Gayle is leaving his post as nature and biodiversity policy adviser at the Bank of England in August for two years to study for a Masters in Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School. He returned to the central bank in 2021 as a senior climate analyst, after previously serving as a climate analyst for two years. Gayle has an MPhil in environmental policy from the University of Cambridge.

OMERS is hiring a Senior Manager, Sustainability Reporting. The appointed candidate will lead the consolidated reporting of carbon metrics, work closely with the Sustainable Investment team and industry peers to ensure alignment with sustainability reporting standards and best practices, and act as a subject matter expert to train other OMERS teams. They will also work with external and internal auditors on sustainability reporting engagements.

Nils Hums has resigned from his post as Head of the German branch of the Net Zero Banking Alliance at the Green and Sustainable Finance Cluster Germany. He leaves the position after one year after initially joining as an expert in sustainable finance in early 2023. Previously, Hums was Group Sustainability Officer at the Börse Stuttgart Group. He has also held sustainability positions at Deutsche Börse, KfW and Jaron and Amann.

Standard Chartered is seeking a Director of Sustainable Finance for its Hong Kong office. The successful candidate will work on identifying sustainable finance transactions, developing and implementing sustainable finance product strategies, and promoting new sustainable finance transactions across products, loans, bonds, trading derivatives and deposits.

Jean-Charles van den Branden has been promoted to lead the global sustainability practice at Bain and Company. He has worked for the firm for nearly three decades and previously served as co-leader of the sustainability and responsibility practice.

The International Corporate Governance Network is recruiting a new Policy Executive. The successful candidate will be involved in monitoring legislative and regulatory developments in sustainability and corporate governance, participating in public consultations and engaging with policymakers to promote high quality corporate governance and reporting standards. The application deadline is 23 August.