Navigating Net Zero: Richard Lawrence on Getting It Right in Carbon Markets & Climate Philanthropy

Host Alexia Kelly sits down with Richard Lawrence, founder of Overlook Investments Group and co-founder of multiple climate-focused organizations, to discuss carbon markets, climate philanthropy, and what has driven his work in both over the decades. Richard shares how a medical mission to Honduras transformed into a 20-year journey of installing more than 400,000 fuel-efficient cookstoves and how high-integrity carbon finance makes it possible.

Key Topics Discussed:
  • The Origin of Proyecto Mirador: How an 11-year-old girl identified a public health crisis that led to a massive climate solution.
  • Continuous Improvement: Why technical innovation—like a simple $1 ash wiper—is the key to project durability.
  • The "Top of the Pyramid": Comparing high-performance investment portfolios to high-integrity carbon projects.
  • The Future of the Market: The role of transparency, the ICVCM, and transitioning from "voluntary" to "verified" carbon markets.
  • Tripling Down on Climate Philanthropy: Why the ultra-wealthy need to increase their payout ratios to address the climate crisis.

Creators and Guests

Alexia Kelly
Host
Alexia Kelly
Alexia Kelly has worked for more than 18 years at the intersection of policy and finance to address the climate crisis. Alexia is the Managing Director of the Carbon Policy and Markets Initiative (CPMI) at High Tide Foundation. The CPMI accelerates ambitious climate action and capital mobilization through robust rules and guidance for voluntary corporate action and disclosures, and building the next generation of high-integrity carbon and environmental services markets. She currently serves on the Board of the Integrity Council for Voluntary Carbon Markets (IC VCM) and the Board of the Advanced and Indirect Mitigation Initiative, as well as on the Expert Advisory Group of the Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative (VCMI). Prior to joining High Tide Foundation, she served as Director of Net Zero + Nature at Netflix, where she led the company’s inaugural greenhouse gas inventory, renewable energy strategy, Science Based Target and global carbon credit portfolio. Previously, she worked at the U.S. Department of State, where she served as lead negotiator to the UNFCCC on Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. She has also held senior roles at the World Resources Institute, The David and Lucille Packard Foundation, The Climate Trust, and in private equity.
Matt Jordan
Producer
Matt Jordan
Matt Jordan is a Director within the High Tide Foundation’s Carbon Policy and Markets Initiative (CPMI). Matt has been working in climate action for more than 15 years, and has a long track record of envisioning, developing and scaling innovative programs and financing tools that deliver lasting global impact. Matt built CLASP’s Clean Energy Access program from a single small project to an integrated portfolio of technical, research, and market stimulation programs with a coherent, issue-defining theory of change and a global team of more than 20. He co-founded Propel Clean Energy Partners, a consulting firm with clients such as the World Resources Institute, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, and the Asian Development Bank. Following their acquisition of Propel’s work and team, Matt served as a Director in RMI’s Global South portfolio and led their global clean energy workforce development initiative. He holds a BA in Philosophy from Colgate University, a Master’s in Public Policy Analysis from the University of California, and a Professional Certificate in Financing and Deploying Clean Energy from Yale University.
Richard Lawrence
Guest
Richard Lawrence
Richard H. Lawrence, Jr., is the Founder and Executive Chairman of Overlook Investments Group, which he established in 1991. Richard grew up outside New York City and graduated from South Kent School in 1974, and Brown University in 1978 with a degree in Economics. Richard relocated to Asia in 1984 and worked as a founding Vice President at First Pacific Special Assets (FPSAL), a Hong Kong Stock Exchange listed company that invested in undervalued assets throughout the Asia Pacific region. In 1986, he became the second Chartered Financial Analyst in Asia. When First Pacific was sold, Richard established Overlook. Richard is a director and co-founder of several non-profit organizations with specific focus on climate change mitigation. In 2004 Richard and his wife, Dee, founded Proyecto Mirador Foundation, a non-profit that has built over 365,000 fuel-efficient stoves in rural communities across Honduras and Guatemala. In 2016 the Lawrences founded Cool Effect, a non-profit online platform that enables individuals, SMEs and Fortune 500 companies to offset their carbon emissions through the highest quality carbon reduction projects worldwide. In 2017 they established High Tide Foundation, a non-profit organization involved in the fight against climate change. In 2020 Richard founded the non-profit Carbon Mapper, which develops satellite technology to pinpoint and track point source emissions, particularly methane. In 2021 he helped establish Global Methane Hub with over $200 million in philanthropic funds to support methane advocacy and mitigation. Richard lives in San Francisco, California, with his wife. They have two adult children and two grandchildren. Richard is the author of two published books: The Model and Carbon Done Correctly.
Navigating Net Zero: Richard Lawrence on Getting It Right in Carbon Markets & Climate Philanthropy
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