Saskia Feast - Carbon Offsets and Renewable Energy Markets

Saskia Feast is VP of Western Region at Natural Capital Partners. Saskia works with companies in the Western Region of North America to ensure they have access to the right mix of market-based solutions to meet their sustainability objectives. Prior to joining Natural Capital Partners, she helped launch a new class of offset into the voluntary and compliance market at EOS Climate. Saskia has an MBA in sustainable management from the Presidio Graduate School, where she now serves as member of their Board of Directors. She also has a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Liverpool University.  Saskia Joins Sustainable Nation to Discuss: Carbon Offsets and Renewable Energy Purchasing carbon offsets to meet sustainability goals Global vs local carbon offset purchasing Sourcing carbon offset projects for Natural Capital Partners Carbon Neutral certification Advice and recommendations for sustainability leaders Saskia's Final Five Responses: What is one piece of advice you would give other sustainability professionals that might help them in their careers? The one piece advice of advice that I would give to other sustainability professionals is to spend the time to talk to your colleagues in other business areas - operations, finance and sales. You really need to be able to tie your actions into helping them being successful. So you need to be making the business case. What are you most excited about right now in the world of sustainability? I am most excited about the push for 100 percent renewable energy globally and what that can mean in some of the countries outside of the western world. I think it's happening. It's going at different rates and different countries, but it's already happening. We're seeing the impacts of climate change already and policy leaders and business leaders in other countries are seeing those as well. So, this is a global move towards action. What is one book you would recommend sustainability professionals read? Well, this is not really directly a sustainability book, Turning to One Another by Margaret J. Weatley. I have found this to be a very helpful book and it's really about starting conversations for the future, sitting down, listening, talking to each other about different topics. She provides some guidelines in there. We're so busy these days and we're all rushing to achieve something. I think it's really important to spend the time talking and listening. What are some of your favorite resources or tools that really help you in your work? Environmental Finance does the State of the Voluntary Carbon Market Report every year. The ICROA website, which is the best practices for the voluntary carbon market is very helpful. REBA, the Renewable Energy Buyer's Alliance is an amazing organization helping drive renewable energy through the world. As is RE100, this initiative that came from We Mean Business and CDP. I think these organizations and websites are really helpful. Where can our listeners go to learn more about you and the work that you are leading at Natural Capital Partners? Naturalcapitalpartners.com. We have a lot of details about the projects. You can look at a global map, click on the little blue dots and find out more about those projects. We also have a YouTube channel - Natural Capital Partners. We host webinars regularly and you can contact me a [email protected] and connect with me on LinkedIn. I look forward to hearing from you. Contact Saskia: https://www.naturalcapitalpartners.com/  Contact Josh Prigge: https://www.sustridge.com/