Lydia Sheldrake
Lydia is the Director of Policy and Partnerships at VCMI. She leads the team working on engagement and collaboration with companies, governments, civil society and other initiatives involved in carbon markets to develop high integrity standards for voluntary carbon markets. She also oversees VCMI’s Access Strategies Program which supports policymakers to unlock and channel carbon finance into priority sectors.
Lydia has worked on climate finance and carbon markets across private, public, non-profit, and philanthropic organisations. Prior to joining VCMI, she advised on programmes and tools designed to raise the bar on corporate climate action at the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF). In the UK Government, Lydia was Head of Voluntary Carbon Markets, managed c.£250 million climate finance investments, and represented the UK in international negotiations on climate and trade. Ahead of COP26, Lydia led UK Presidency’s efforts to establish VCMI as an independent multi-stakeholder initiative.
In private and non-profit sectors, Lydia has advised multinational corporations on environmental reporting and sustainable supply chains. She has degrees from Imperial College London and the University of Oxford.