Cervest appoints Shell VP to bolster climate policy work

Sachin, who has already been working with Cervest in an advisory capacity, has today officially joined the leadership team. He will work with CEO and Founder Iggy Bassi to refine and direct Cervest’s strategy for supporting policy makers, and those managing risk around the globe, to make climate smart-decisions relating to land use, biodiversity, soil degradation, and deforestation.

Cervest is already working with world-leading crop science and food companies, as well as farmers on the ground, through its proprietary AI-powered short-term and long-range prediction products FarmVest and DecisionVest. It has also recently won backing from the Newton Fund to work on a pilot project in Colombia. Working with several government supported partners in the UK and Colombia, it will fuse data and science to help improve the productivity, quality, and sustainability of cocoa bean production.

Sachin will be tasked with extending the potential of Cervest’s next-generation technology to those responsible for developing policy that has a direct impact on the world’s natural capital – including governments, multi-laterals, insurers, foundations, NGOs, and firms financing adaption strategies.

Sachin most recently served as VP in Shell’s Government Relations team, working with global organisations including World Bank, IFC, OECD, G20 and UN to ensure effective coordination of Shell’s policy in energy and climate. Prior to this role, he had sole Group responsibility for establishing global biodiversity policy, he developed tools and guidelines for forestry carbon, as well as building relationships with global organisations.

Previously he has worked for environmental consultancy ERM, covering EMEA, LATAM, and SE Asia. He holds an MSc in Environmental Technology from Imperial College London.

Sachin Kapila, Chief Policy Officer, Cervest, said:“Cervest has built an incredibly important platform with the ability to provide valuable science-backed evidence for vital decisions about natural capital that will shape the future of our planet. I am very excited to be on board and to work with Iggy and the team as Cervest continues to build its proposition for the world’s policy makers.”

Iggy Bassi, Founder & CEO, Cervest, said: “Sachin brings with him a wealth of impressive experience in the policy and natural capital space through his work with global organisations and governments around the world. I am very much looking forward to working with him to harness the potential of Cervest’s next-gen machine learning technology for policy makers – helping those responsible for the world’s natural capital to make climate-smart decisions, mitigate risk and help to rebalance our planet.”