Hi everyone, I’m Zach!
I’m very excited to be joining the CO2balance team as a Carbon Projects Officer. I currently live in a little village near Edinburgh, Scotland where I will be working remotely until the Bristol office opens.
My background includes a BSc in Geology from the University of Edinburgh which involved an Erasmus exchange year at Lund University, Sweden. Geology has provided me with opportunities to visit some incredible places, including a strong practical fieldwork-based component. My final year culminated in a research project in the Spanish pre-Pyrenees where I spent six weeks independently mapping the paleoclimatic evolution of the region.
Following my undergraduate degree, I spent a year teaching English in Murcia, Spain. Living in a region of Spain where English was a lot less spoken, I was compelled to pick up the language a lot faster than might have been the case elsewhere. Learning Spanish has since become a hobby and a passion of mine.
On return to the UK, I began an MSc in Global Sustainability Solutions at the University Exeter. This year opened my eyes to more of the social element of the climate crisis. I was fascinated to learn more about how to achieve a socially just transition to a more sustainable world. Alongside this, I developed an interest in blue carbon, building on my previous knowledge of oceanography from my geology background. Ultimately, I combined these passions during my thesis where I engaged with local stakeholders in Antigua and Barbuda to understand how they are impacted by the Sargassum seaweed crisis. The study drew on the importance of procedural justice when developing new blue carbon projects.
In my free time, I try to get outside as much as possible, hiking in the Highlands and ‘bagging’ Munros when I get a chance. You may also find me stuck halfway up a wall, as I regularly go bouldering and climbing.
I look forward to this new opportunity at CO2balance and I am very excited to be contributing towards impactful change within this exciting field.