Andrew Howard

As Senior Director, Climate Policy and Strategy, Andrew leads Verra’s strategic engagement to develop opportunities for carbon-related standards and build greater ambition in climate action. He works with initiatives in the voluntary market as well as governmental and intergovernmental programs to shape new frameworks for private and public sector finance, and to feed needs and priorities back into Verra’s work programs.

Andrew has been developing climate policy and carbon markets for over 20 years. As an independent consultant before joining Verra, he worked on projects with a range of government clients, international institutions, and business groups. Much of this work fed into the UNFCCC negotiations, particularly on international cooperation under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, as well as the development of country strategies to support the growth and success of carbon markets.

Prior to this, Andrew spent over 15 years with the United Nations Climate Change Secretariat. He started there to help build up carbon markets under the Kyoto Protocol, including by establishing the Clean Development Mechanism, international emissions trading, and Kyoto’s international accounting framework and infrastructure. Later he led the secretariat’s support to the executive boards of Kyoto’s CDM and JI crediting programs. Andrew also coordinated the secretariat’s work on the strategic development of carbon markets and the negotiation of market issues under the UNFCCC until Article 6 was adopted as part of the Paris Agreement.