ClientEarth appoints four new Trustees

ClientEarth has announced the appointment of four new members to its Global Board, all of whom bring significant experience to drive forward the organisation’s impact and ensure successful delivery on its mission.

Emma Howard Boyd, Chair of Global Board at ClientEarth, said:

“As we continue to use the law to create powerful change that protects all life on Earth, I am delighted to welcome Champa, Hilary, Rama, and Tom as trustees. Their collective knowledge and expertise, in both the public and private sectors, will help steer ClientEarth towards greater impact, and I’m looking forward to working closely with them.”

“The appointment of four new Trustees at ClientEarth comes at a significant time of political change, both in the UK, in Europe, and across the rest of the world. What we do now will determine whether we hit, or miss, critical targets on climate and nature, health and justice.”

The new trustees are:

Dr Champa Patel, Executive Director, Governments and Policy, The Climate Group

Champa is currently a senior member of The Climate Group, where she oversees the largest network of subnational governments to take climate action. Champa has also worked as Director of the Asia-Pacific Programme for Chatham House between 2017 and 2021, and in roles at international NGOs, such as Amnesty International. Her experience and expertise extends across Southeast Asia and the Pacific, and will ensure ClientEarth is better placed to understand both the environmental and human rights challenges we may face in these regions.

Hilary Wild, Chartered Accountant

Hilary has a wealth of experience across the banking and finance sector and, in 1986 was appointed as UNICEF's Chief of Finance. From 1999 to 2005 she was the Comptroller of the World Health Organisation, which managed around $1billion investment funds. In 2005, she took on the role of Director, Business Change which included responsibility for a global system transformation. Since retiring from executive work, Hilary has taken on multiple Chair and Trustee roles, including WaterAid UK, the Food and Agriculture Organisation, CGIAR. She also chairs the Audit and Risk Committee of the Church Commissioners who manage a £10billion leading socially responsible investment fund. Hilary’s extensive knowledge and understanding of financial flows, both in the private sector and within intergovernmental organisations, will support ClientEarth in achieving even greater impact in this area.

Dr Kilaparti Ramakrishna (Rama), Senior Advisor on Ocean and Climate Policy to the President of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Currently based in Massachusetts, USA, Rama is an environmental lawyer by background, and has built a career spanning the United Nations, UNEP, and Green Climate Fund. In 2017, he joined the Green Climate Fund as Head of Strategy and Planning and, in 2020, was promoted to Senior Advisor to the Executive Director. Rama currently sits on multiple Boards and advisory groups, including the Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project and Back to Blue. With a career path focused on impact-centred initiatives, he is well-placed to further drive ClientEarth’s bold and innovative use of the rule of law.

Tom Rivett-Carnac, Co-Founder, Global Optimism

Tom Rivett-Carnac is a political strategist, author and podcaster. He has spent more than 20 years working to address the climate and ecological crises.

Tom co-founded Global Optimism with Christiana Figueres after they left the UN in 2016. The organisation inspires individuals and builds transformative partnerships that tackle the climate crisis with the conviction, scale and speed that science demands.  His responsibilities at Global Optimism include strategic roles across the philanthropic, non-profit and private sectors.

Tom is also the co-author of the international bestseller The Future We Choose and co-host of the award-winning weekly podcast Outrage and Optimism. Tom was Senior Political Adviser to the Executive Secretary of the UN Climate Change Convention from 2013-2016, a position from which he helped co-develop the strategy that led to the landmark Paris Climate Agreement.

The new trustees will take up their roles on 11^th July 2024.