Planning for Nature: Breakfast Briefing

Sophie leads on ethical labour, responsible sourcing of commodities, and circular textiles. 

Her work cuts across key areas of sustainability: from ethical labour and responsible sourcing to food waste and circular fashion. In her role, she engages and leads retailers on the latest policy developments, reactive issues and sustainable initiatives, as well as ongoing communication with government on the most pressing issues for retail.

Dr Richard Young is a biodiversity scientist, conservationist, business leader and sustainability consultant. Currently he is Managing Director of Nature Positive Ltd, where he leads a team of dedicated sustainability professionals supporting businesses with their nature, climate and social sustainability ambitions and challenges.  

Through a 25-year career, Richard has extensive global experience of conserving and restoring biodiversity and the role communities, charities and businesses can play within the nature positive agenda. He has a PhD in biodiversity and has published over 80 scientific papers on nature, ecology and conservation.

Jenny specialises in environmental sustainability and has over 11 years’ experience delivering assessments, corporate strategies, research and reporting projects.

She has worked with a range of global sectors including manufacturing, consumer goods, development and infrastructure to improve organisations relationships with nature and deliver positive impact for the UNSDGs.

Jenny has experience delivering environmental studies for landscape scale nature restoration in the UK, and is currently advising businesses on double materiality assessments, nature strategies and reporting. 

Tom has five years of experience supporting clients in a range of industries with management of sustainability topics, including climate change and nature risk management.

Tom has completed Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) aligned gap assessments and nature risk assessments for clients with global operations, including analysis of water-related risks and control measures.

He has also supported several agrifood value chain companies with development of ESG and sustainability strategies. Tom holds a MSc in Environmental Technology from Imperial College London. 

Tom leads engagements with corporates and financial institutions to help them assess their biodiversity impact across their operations, supply chains, products and services.  

Tom has over 10 years of experience in multinational organisations across diverse sectors including manufacturing and sustainable finance. A subject matter expert for corporate biodiversity, nature-related risk and reporting, Tom brings applied expertise in measuring nature-related impact in the context of business operations, products, and services.

Hannah works on market engagement for the Taskforce for Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD) where she supports UK company senior leadership to build the business case for nature and convenes sector groups to discuss disclosure approach.

She also works within the broader nature team on Nature-Positive Transition Pathways (NPPs) and local nature-based co-investments. Prior to joining GFI, Hannah worked in built environment decarbonisation and Net Zero investment strategy at Buro Happold and Evora Global. She holds an MSc in Environmental Technology from Imperial College London.