Catherine Atkin

I’m all about identifying what’s keeping us from achieving climate impact and rolling up my sleeves to change the rules of the game in ways that increases ambition, drives action, and builds the climate economy. I also love looking around the corner for solutions that can unlock greater impacts.

This passion has taken me on an exciting journey that continues to evolve. It led me to launch Carbon Accountable, a climate data initiative dedicated to corporate transparency in GHG emissions reporting. I was the architect and chief technical and legal advisor on California’s recently enacted corporate GHG emissions reporting law (SB 253), a first in the nation requirement for full scope emissions reporting by the largest US public and private companies.

Since then I have been thinking a lot about how we translate the work here in California – and across the globe – into measurable growth in the multi-trillion dollar climate economy we need. One thing is certain – we need to show tangible results and so I launched with Liv Watson the Global Digital Single Market Data Alliance, a project of the Capitals Coalition. The Western Balkans Digital Single Market Data Alliance (WB DSMDA) is the first regional initiative supporting governments in the region to develop the digital and data infrastructure needed for reporting solutions and carbon markets needed to address the immediate impacts of CBAM and CSRD ensure broader alignment with the EU Green Agenda and unlock green finance.

As the Co-chair of the Stanford CodeX Climate Data Policy Initiative (CDPI) I bring together climate experts, policy makers and technologists to explore the development of digital and climate and sustainability data standards foundation and how AI, blockchain, and big data can drive the availability of the robust, available and actionable climate data needed to build markets and inform smart decarbonization.