John Firth

John has over 25 years’ experience in assessing the impacts of climate change.  He has a particular expertise in the impacts of climate change on SMEs, multi-national corporates and their supply-chains and the financial services sectors (risks and opportunities); and is actively engaged on work related to the ‘Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures’ (TCFD).  John has worked extensively on country National Adaptation Plans developing the linkages between non-state actors, government and politicians to create shared agendas for policy reform. John is also interested in the legal implications for business, disclosure of information to investors, the mobilisation of private-sector finance, climate funding in developing countries, and the integration of adaptation/resilience into national policy making. He has a particular interest in the value of Earth Observation data and its use by the financial services and business sectors to assess climate risk and opportunities to adapt and build resilience.

John has worked on projects in Europe, Africa, North America, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean, the Middle East, Australia, South and South-East Asia for banks, governments, insurers, investors, development partners, and the private sector. 

Acclimatise was one of the seven founding partners of the Global Centre of Excellence on Climate Adaptation (GCECA) which was launched at COP 23 and has now become the Global Center of Adaptation.  John worked closely with the Netherlands Government, chairing the Implementation Group during the GCECA’s first year and was a member of the GCECA’s Governing Board.  John is an active member of the Global Adaptation and Resilience Investment (GARI) working group and was an expert advisor to the Climate Bonds Initiative’s Adaptation Resilience Working Group, the EU Sustainable Finance Taxonomy Expert Group, and the Global Commission on Adaptation. He is currently an advisor to Winrock International's Private Investment for Enhanced Resilience (PIER) programme, the Global Center for Adaptation’s Climate Bond Expert Working Group, the World Meteorological Organisation’s financing facility for the Global Basic Observing Network and the Intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations (GEO) Climate Change Working Group.

Acclimatise was the first private sector company to become an Associate Member of GEO.