Cecilia (Sid) Embree, a Canadian citizen, specializes in business and project development, management and financing for low-carbon and clean energy businesses and investors. For +18 years, she consulted with the International Finance Corporation (IFC) where she raised +$50M to start up their carbon trading activities and was a key team member responsible for +$75M in carbon funds management, deal origination and due diligence, contract structuring, and portfolio management. She also advised IFC on bond structuring, portfolio development and deal negotiations for its $152M Forest (REDD) Bond. During the 2000s, she set up and operated AtmosClear Canada’s retail and wholesale carbon business. During the past 5 years, Sid led development of the Jaguar Corridor Investment Fund, a +$100M fund to invest in enterprises operating in mature and emerging conservation and carbon markets in Latin America. The Fund pipeline includes several large-scale land restoration projects that blend cabron, debt and commodities finance.
Ms. Embree has experience with a variety of low-carbon technologies and processes, including renewable energy and advanced technologies that produce power, heat, biogas, biofuels or valuable products from stacks, wastewater and waste. She has consulted for oil majors, an electric utility, start-up energy (heat, power, biofuel) companies, and fund managers (private equity, HNW, hedge) and investors. Sid advised the IDB on design considerations for a $200M biodiversity bond and separately developed a model for a carbon-linked biodiversity bond. In 2010, she worked with major GHG emitters in Canada to design a performance-based mechanism to procure carbon credits for the benefit of the emitters. Sid has an MBA in finance and international business from New York University, a master’s degree in environmental studies (York University), and a bachelor’s degree in urban & regional planning and environment & resources management (University of Waterloo).