Patrick Bürgi

Patrick Buergi is a sustainability entrepreneur with twenty years of experience in carbon markets, climate policy, corporate sustainability and impact investing. He is a co-founder of both the myclimate Foundation in 2002 and South Pole in 2006.

As South Pole’s Chief Technical Officer until 2012, he was responsible for implementation and quality control of the entire project portfolio of South Pole, supervising more than 200 climate change mitigation projects in 25 countries. During this period, he co-shaped and contributed to the evolution of carbon markets and leading standards, such as the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), Gold Standard and Verified Carbon Standard.

From 2012 to 2014, Patrick was in charge of diversifying South Pole’s business model through the creation of a new business line focused on advisory services for the public and the private sector – with a focus on climate policy, climate finance and carbon markets. Between 2015 and 2018, Patrick led South Pole’s offering and business development activities within the public sector – with a focus on advisory services, R&D and innovation. Between 2018 and 2021, Patrick was in charge of strategy and business development under South Pole’s “Funds & Platforms” business line (now “Climate Investments”), with a focus on Impact Funds and impact-oriented multi-stakeholder platforms to tackle major sustainability challenges

From 2021 to mid 2022, as Director Innovation, Patrick oversaw a portfolio of innovation and R&D initiatives within South Pole, including Net Zero strategies, carbon removals, regenerative agriculture, plastic stewardship and digital growth opportunities, for example. In September 2022, Patrick relocated to Tokyo to lead the establishment of South Pole’s presence in Japan.

Patrick holds a M.Sc. in mechanical engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich.