By Virginia Furness
LONDON (Reuters) -The head of South Pole, a carbon finance consultancy and project developer, has left his role and will be replaced by current chief financial officer Nadia Kaddouri with immediate effect, two people familiar with the matter said on Thursday.
Daniel Klier, who became South Pole’s CEO in May 2024, had been tasked with leading a turnaround in response to concerns about the Kariba forestation project in Zimbabwe in which it was involved.
It was unclear why Klier was leaving the Swiss-based firm and he did not immediately reply to a request for comment. Klier will join the company’s advisory board, one of the people said on condition of anonymity. The sources were not authorised to speak publicly on the matter.
‘COMPREHENSIVE TRANSFORMATION’
Over the last two years, the company has focused on a “comprehensive transformation” of its carbon finance consultancy, South Pole said in a statement published in September.
The turnaround included a review and strengthening of its quality, risk and compliance protocols and the appointment of a new strategic advisory board. The company, which is backed by impact investor Lightrock, also tightened rules on due diligence.
South Pole was criticised in 2023 for its involvement in the Kariba REDD+ project, part of United Nations efforts to curb carbon emissions by protecting forests.
Media reports questioned whether the project had preserved as much forest as it had promised and alleged the communities involved had benefited less than has been expected.
South Pole, which was carbon asset developer for the project and responsible for selling credits generated to the market, ended its relationship with the Kariba in October 2023.
In a statement at the time it said it only sold carbon credits from the project that were fully valid and verified by carbon registry Verra.
South Pole’s board, however, in November 2023 appointed new leadership to improve governance and project selection. The board then said it was “determined to learn from the experience of working with the Kariba REDD+ project in Zimbabwe.”
Verra last month said a review had found more than 15 million excess credits were issued.
“The actual deforestation observed in the Kariba project… was significantly lower than the initially estimated deforestation,” it said.
Before joining South Pole, Klier was global head of sustainable finance at HSBC between 2017 and 2021 following a five-year stint as group head of strategy, according to his LinkedIn profile. Immediately before joining South Pole, he led sustainability data firm ESG Book.
(Reporting by Virginia Furness; editing by Barbara Lewis)
