Carbon Dioxide Removal: Global Goals and Regional Realities

Nicole has worked in environmental science and data since 2017. At Bloomberg L.P. she served as the Carbon Data Product Owner, leading management of the firm’s global carbon-market data portfolio—standardising datasets, leading back-end modelling and coordinating across data, engineering and product teams to keep Bloomberg’s environmental offering ahead of market needs.

Before joining Bloomberg, Nicole spearheaded data analytics for the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance’s Giraffe Conservation Program, applying machine-learning algorithms and remote-sensing techniques to millions of camera-trap images. Her analyses delivered the population insights that supported the IUCN’s decision to reclassify giraffes from Vulnerable to Endangered.

While completing her graduate studies at Duke University, Nicole held several research appointments: she led a distance-sampling survey of cetaceans with the Duke Marine Geospatial Lab; collaborated with the Poulsen Lab to deploy allometric equations for estimating forest carbon stocks in Gabon; and completed a master’s thesis linking environmental drivers to giraffe occupancy patterns in Kenya.

Earlier, Nicole worked on the Conservation Innovation team at The Nature Conservancy, and developed an innovation framework used as a mandatory process for proposed conservation projects to increase cross-functional transparency, communication, and equitable project development.

Beyond her technical work, Nicole founded the non-profit Piano for Patients, which coordinates performances of musically inclined high school students at nursing homes and hospitals. She is also an award-winning screenwriter, and enjoys using the medium of film to spread awareness about the importance of nature.

Sanna works closely with clients to advise them on high-quality carbon reduction and removal strategies and solutions, bridging science and impact-focused outcomes.

Sanna has worked in environmental science advisory since 2014. She draws on her professional experience in environmental engineering and strategic advisory with expertise in climate earth systems, land use and water resource management, and urban climate adaptation. 

Prior to Relae, Sanna was the Carbon Dioxide Removal Lead for the Energy Transitions Commission, publishing Mind the Gap: How Carbon Dioxide Removals Must Complement Deep Decarbonisation to Keep 1.5°C Alive in 2022. While at SYSTEMIQ, a sustainability-focused systems change company, Sanna was research manager for the Food and Land Use Coalition during the publication of Growing Better: 10 Critical Transitions to Transform Food and Land Use (laying out one of the first roadmaps for the global food systems transition). She also provided advisory services to the UNEP International Resource Panel on their 2021 strategic direction. She began her career as an civil and environmental engineer, focusing on climate resilient design for major infrastructure developments. 

Sanna is a Fulbright Scholar, and has worked in New Zealand, the United States, and the United Kingdom.