Research team

Professor Simon Dietz is the research lead for the TPI Centre. He is Professor of Environmental Policy in the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, and the Department of Geography and Environment. He is also a Visiting Fellow at the Oxford Martin School and a Research Associate of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, Oxford University, a CESifo Research Network Fellow, a Principal consultant at Vivid Economics, co-editor of the Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Carmen is the Executive Director (Professor in Practice) of the TPI Centre which she leads by setting and delivering the Centre’s strategy, as well as overseeing its research and operations. Prior to joining the TPI Centre in the spring of 2023, Carmen was Head of Fixed Income at the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment. She started her career as a sovereign analyst at Salomon Brothers in 1993, with subsequent roles in economic and market analysis research at Citigroup and Morgan Stanley. Since 2014 the focus of her research has been on supporting financial market participants embed sustainability as well as environment, social and governance (ESG) topics in their assessments and investment decisions.

Beata is the Deputy Director at the TPI Centre. Beata has over 12 years’ experience working across the public sector on national level and EU institutions, and academia. Most recently, she served as a Programme Manager at the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership Accelerator leading the Innovators for Change Acceleration Programme. Prior to this, her focus was on developing policies and dialogues, and supporting businesses in the area of energy and climate and economics while working for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European External Action Service. She holds a postgraduate degree in energy and economics from the Warsaw School of Economics.

Ali is a researcher at the TPI Centre contributing to carbon performance assessments and sectoral methodology development. Before joining the TPI Centre, Ali worked as an Analyst at the UK National Audit Office, working on value for money (VFM) reports to support the UK Parliament’s scrutiny of major environmental projects. He also held a secondary role as the co-lead of the Modelling discipline to provide technical and analytical support to office-wide teams. Ali holds a First-Class Honours BEng in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Warwick and graduated with a Distinction in Sustainable Energy Futures from Imperial College London.

Shafaq is the Project Lead for the Climate Action 100+ project at TPI Centre. Before joining the TPI Centre Shafaq has worked on different projects focused on environmental sustainability in urban, rural and agricultural context with the Asian Development Bank and Oxfam GB. Shafaq, did a BSc (Honors) in Economics from the Lahore University of Management Sciences and completed a Masters in Global Development from Queen Mary, University of London. Shafaq also completed a summer semester at London School of Economics during her bachelors.

Alfie is an Analyst at the TPI Centre where he works for the Carbon Performance Team. Prior to working at the TPI Centre, Alfie worked for the University of Warwick on the ‘FIDELIO’ project. Here, he analysed and mapped social data from European national parks to understand the relationships between people and nature. He has also worked for a renewable energy company analysing solar assets. Alfie has an MSc in Environmental Geography from the University of Amsterdam and a BA in Human Geography from the University of Sheffield.

Algirdas is a Policy Officer at the TPI Centre where he focuses on assessing banks’ net zero transition performance. Before joining TPI, Algirdas was a sustainability consultant at McKinsey and Company and Vivid Economics, working primarily with banks to set their sectoral decarbonisation targets. Algirdas holds an MSc in Economics and Policy of Energy and the Environment from University College London, an MSc in Public Administration and Government from the London School of Economics and Peking University, and a BSc in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from King’s College London.

Cristóbal works as a Policy and Data Analyst at the TPI Centre contributing to carbon performance assessments and sectoral methodology development. He works mainly in the Cement and Steel sectors. He previously worked as a Consultant at the UN-Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) on the Economic Development and International Trade and Integration Divisions. Cristóbal graduated with Distinction from the MSc in Environmental Economics and Climate Change programme at the London School of Economics. He also holds a Professional Degree (with distinction) from the University of Chile in Business and Economics.

Camila is a Policy Officer at the TPI Centre where she works for the ASCOR (Assessing Sovereign Related Climate Opportunities and Risk) team. Before joining the team she worked with the Technical Secretariat of the Transition Plan Taskforce in the UK.  She also has four years of professional experience working with consultancy firms and think tanks in Latin America advising financial companies and regulators on making investment decisions and policy adjustments that promote the transition of the financial system to a low-carbon economy. Camila holds a Master's in Public Policy from the University of Oxford, a diploma in financial management, and a Law Degree with a minor in Development Studies from Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia. 

Nelson in a Policy Officer working at the TPI Centre , where he contributes to assessing the world’s biggest banks in their alignment with the goals of the Paris Agreement. Before joining TPI Centre he worked at Transforma – CCADI. This role involved supporting the main actors of the Colombian financial system to transition to a low-carbon economy by providing assessments, recommendations and engaging with public officials. Nelson holds Professional Degree from Andes University in Bogotá, Colombia.

Robin is an Analyst at the TPI Centre and is part of the Climate Action 100+ team. Before joining the TPI Centre Robin spent two years working as a Research Analyst in Responsible Investment at Chronos Sustainability. Robin graduated with 1st Class Honours in BSc Environmental Policy with Economics from LSE, providing a strong foundation in climate science, environmental and resource economics, and environmental policy and regulation.

Akos is a Policy Officer at the TPI Centre, where he contributes to the net zero transition assessment of financial institutions and sectoral methodology developments. Prior to joining the TPI Centre, Akos worked as an ESG Research Analyst at Morningstar - Sustainalytics, focusing on ESG risks and controversies in the global banking sector; and as a Corporate Credit Officer at Commerzbank. Akos holds an MSc in Spatial, Transport and Environmental Economics from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and a Double Degree in International Business Economics from Budapest Business University and Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences.

Nikolaus is a PhD candidate at LSE and a part-time researcher at the TPI Centre. In his PhD research, he aims to explore the impact of sustainable finance on corporate carbon emissions. Previously, he was sector lead at the TPI Centre for banking, oil and gas, cement, autos and shipping, after working as a sustainability consultant at Deloitte and as an ESG analyst at Vigeo Eiris. Nikolaus graduated with a Distinction and the Best Overall Performance Prize in the MSc in Development Studies from the London School of Economics. He also holds a Franco-German Double Degree with Distinction in Political and Social Sciences from Sciences Po Bordeaux and the University of Stuttgart.

 

Setenay Hizliok is an Analyst (Policy Officer) at the TPI Centre. She contributes to the Carbon Performance and Assessing Sovereign Climate-Related Opportunities and Risks (ASCOR) project teams. Setenay previously worked as an Expert at the Ministry of Treasury and Finance in Turkey. Setenay holds a BSc in Political Science and Public Administration and an MSc in European Studies from the Middle East Technical University. She also graduated with a Distinction from MSc in Energy and Climate Policy at the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU), University of Sussex.

Johannes works on the ASCOR project which involves researching climate risk for countries and developing a framework for assessing these risks for sovereign bonds. Before joining the TPI Centre Johannes worked at the 2°C Investing Initiative e.V. as Junior Analyst and Research Intern where he conducted research on how central banks approach climate change risks. At the Institute for the World Economy, he investigated carbon budgets and how they can be manipulated with negative emissions. Johannes also deepened his quantitative skills at PriceWaterhouseCoopers, where he contributed to time-series forecasting. Johannes holds a M.Sc. in Economics from the University of Munich (LMU) and the University of Bologna and B.Sc. in Economics and Political Science from the University of Cologne.

Robert is an Analyst at the TPI Centre working on the Climate Action 100+ and Management Quality projects. Prior to joining the TPI Centre, Robert worked in environmental cost-benefit analysis for a local government, and in methodology development and technical scoring at CDP. Robert has an MSc in Carbon Management from Edinburgh University and a BA in Political Science.

Valentin is Lead Research Analyst and the TPI Centre’s CA100+ Project Lead. Previously he has worked at a health consultancy in Germany and an investment bank in Peru. He holds a BA in Philosophy and Economics from Bayreuth and a MSc in Climate Change, Management and Finance from Imperial College.

Sylvan is an Analyst (Policy Officer) in the ASCOR team (Assessing Sovereign Related Climate Opportunities and Risk) at the TPI Centre. Before joining the TPI Centre Sylvan worked as a researcher at the Intergenerational Foundation (UK) where he led the development of a tool to improve long-term decision-making/risk analysis for a UK County Council and at the Institute for Fiscal Studies and Democracy (Canada). Sylvan holds a BSS. Joint Honours in Economics and Political Science (Suma Cum Laude) from the University of Ottawa and a double MSc. in Environmental Technology, Policy and Health (Environmental Economics and Climate Change) from Peking University (Excellence) and the London School of Economics (Distinction). 

Modir works as an Analyst and Policy Officer at the TPI Centre contributing to carbon performance assessments and sectoral methodology development. Before joining the TPI Centre, he worked at the Research Institute of Petroleum Industry (RIPI) researching carbon management strategies in the Iranian Petrochemical sector. He also has extensive experience working as a climate change expert collaborating with Iran's Department of Environment in UNDP's "Climate Promise" projects. Modir completed his master's thesis on mitigation policies in Iran's energy system. He studied Environmental Management in the department of Civil Engineering at the University of Tehran, where he obtained his MSc in 2020. He also holds a BSc in Civil Engineering from the University of Tehran.

Giorgia is an Analyst (Policy Officer) in the ASCOR team (Assessing Sovereign Climate-Related Opportunities and Risks). She contributes research in climate policy, fossil fuels, sectoral transitions and just transition. Before joining TPI Giorgia worked on Environmental Performance Reviews and the Convention of Industrial Accidents in the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. Giorgia has also assisted on European level projects. She holds a master’s degree in international security with specialization in Environmental Security, Energy Security and Natural Resources from Rijksuniversiteit Groningen and a BA in Politics and International Relations.

Antonina is a Policy Fellow and Research Project Manager at the Transition Pathway Initiative (TPI) Centre. She manages the Assessing Sovereign Climate-Related Opportunities and Risks (ASCOR) project, developing the associated framework of indicators and coordinating the delivery of annual country assessments. She also carries out analysis on carbon-intensive industry sectors, contributes to the development of various TPI Centre methodologies and reports, and leads research on the just transition as an associate of the Just Transition Finance Lab. Antonina holds an Honours BSc in Environmental Sciences from McGill University and graduated with Distinction from the MSc in Environmental Change and Management at the University of Oxford.

Jared is a Data Analyst at the TPI Centre and Lead for the Net Zero Standards project. Before joining the TPI Centre Jared worked for the Centre for Research in Energy Demand Solutions (CREDS) on projects related to negative satisfiers within food consumption and the implications of changing transport technology for energy demand. Jared graduated with Distinction from his Masters in Climate Change and Environmental Policy from the University of Leeds and holds a Bachelors in Physics from Durham University.  

Filipe works as an Analyst and Policy Officer at the TPI Centre contributing to carbon performance assessments and sectoral methodology development. Filipe is an economist with a Master's Degree in Economics of the Industry and Innovation from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. Before joining the TPI Centre, Filipe acquired research experience on both national and international fronts by serving as a consultant for IGOs and the private sector. During his career, he has engaged in research concerning strategies to finance the net-zero transition, competition policy and applied economics.