Carbon Direct, a firm that guides big conglomerates to meet their decarbonisation goals and invests in carbon technology, was a perfect place for Nili Gilbert, a student of Harvard University, to contribute to society in the best way possible. Her journey in the firm from a portfolio manager to the vice-chairperson, is evidence of the passion that is still driving her to make strategic investments in companies to achieve net-zero carbon goals.
An MBA in finance from Columbia Business School, Gilbert started her journey with a career in international development at Synergos, an American non-profit. The job role introduced Gilbert to the world of quantitative investing. Synergos laid down the path that paved the way for Gilbert to co-found a hedge fund and equity asset management firm called Matarin Capital Management.
However, right before co-founding Matarin, another organisation nudged Gilbert to work for the relationship between climate and capital. Prior to Matarin, Gilbert was a senior director and research analyst at Invesco, an investment management firm. For her efforts, Gilbert has been honoured with multiple awards, including the honour of World Economic Forum Young Global Leader award.
In a world that is emitting 50 Gigaton of carbon every year, Gilbert is diligently working to first reduce the emission to net-zero, and then lead to a more sustainable path.
“We need to do a huge amount of work both on reducing the flow and getting our hands around the stock,” said Gilbert, in a recent interview with Barrons.
As per the estimate given by Gilbert, the amount of CO2 already infused in the atmosphere is 1.5 trillion tonnes, which is roughly 40 times what we are injecting into the atmosphere. By directing the major manufacturers to commit to their decarbonisation target, Gilbert is helping them to invest in suitable and efficient technologies and reduce their emissions to net-zero.
(Edited by : Bivekananda Biswas)
