Carbon credit checker Verra has appointed Mandy Rambharos, a former South African climate advisor and senior official at United States non-profit Environmental Defense Fund, as its new chief executive.
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Rambharos takes over from interim head Judith Simon, who had been in charge since founding chief David Antonioli left in May 2023. Rambharos had been on Verra’s board from 2019 to 2021, and again since 2023.
Rambharos had for over 15 years been a negotiator for South Africa and the African continent at United Nations climate talks and had chaired negotiations on global carbon markets.
She was on South Africa’s presidential climate commission and had advised the country on its US$8.5 billion Just Energy Transition Partnership with wealthy countries and donors in 2021. The deal was to help South Africa switch to clean energy and slash emissions faster.
Rambharos was during that period also a general manager at South African state-owned utility Eskom, where she spent 20 years before moving to the Environmental Defense Fund in 2022 as vice president for global climate cooperation.
Ken Markowitz, chair of Verra’s board, said Rambharos’ experience is “unparalleled”. The appointment from an existing board member “eliminates the need for an extended learning curve”, a Verra statement said.
“Carbon markets are crucial to enable carbon neutrality and they must work efficiently and with unquestionable integrity,” Rambharos said. She said she will drive “strong governance, responsive global stakeholder engagement that is inclusive and transparent, efficient processes with quick turnaround times, and high-performance standards” to help the world decarbonise quicker.
Since 2009, Verra has issued over a billion carbon credits, each signifying a tonne of carbon dioxide emissions saved, from projects that for instance better protect forests or develop clean energy infrastructure. About 70 per cent of all credits in the voluntary carbon offsetting market were issued by Verra.
Rambharos takes the helm at a time of uncertainty for the voluntary carbon market. Its value had tumbled to US$723 million last year, a third of its 2021 peak, on the back of several controversies.
Verra had been accused early last year of having rules that allowed forest carbon projects to massively oversell carbon credits – a charge the organisation had denied. It has since been updating several of its methodologies, and recently received endorsement by industry watchdog Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market.
Earlier this month, market tracker AlliedOffsets forecasted the sector to grow to US$27 billion by 2035, pointing to a potential resurgence as businesses worldwide face greater pressure to decarbonise.
