As Head of Platforms and Ecosystems at Climate Impact X (CIX), Geneviève Soh leads her team to drive environmental impact and increase access to quality carbon credits. We spoke with Soh to learn more about his role in the global market and trading carbon credits.
Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your role as Head of Platforms & Ecosystems at CIX?
I’ve always been intrigued by companies that can balance profit and purpose. CIX was an opportunity to bring together two of my passions: technology and a purpose-driven mission. It also gave me the opportunity to work with innovative companies that are leaders in their field, such as the Nasdaq.
As Head of Platforms and Ecosystems at CIX, I am responsible for leading a team responsible for building trading platforms such as our exchange, market and auction platforms, all of which aim to increase the access to quality carbon credits and to generate a large-scale environmental impact. I also wear a second hat of overseeing our communications and community building efforts, ensuring that we articulate our purpose in the way that makes the most sense for different stakeholder groups.
How did you get involved in the carbon space?
Prior to joining CIX, I was a Principal and Enterprise Architect at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where I worked with companies in Southeast Asia and North America on a variety of on the things that matter. Carbon markets became an area of interest for me as it was clear that companies were increasingly grappling with the challenge of climate change and what it meant for their operations and the world we live in.
CIX is on a mission to create real climate impact through carbon markets. This is the core value that drives us. We work hard to ensure that what we do makes a difference, whether it’s increasing access to quality carbon credits or creating a community to advocate for the responsible use of carbon credits. .
How has technology influenced your role at CIX?
Technology has a multiplier effect – it allows us to tackle many different problems with different solutions. However, the technology itself is not enough. Many solutions don’t work, not because the underlying technology isn’t available, but because they need to be brought to life in a practical way for the solutions to be widely adopted. Technology does not work in silos. Solving this problem in carbon markets remains a major challenge, and I find it really exciting.
During your career, what challenges have you encountered and had to overcome?
Being able to effect systemic change has always been a challenge, no matter what industry you work in. I remember working on a project that aimed to migrate hospital patients to digital platforms to ease the administrative burden on staff members and most importantly allow more time to focus on patient care. Surprisingly, most of the people who resisted such a change were doctors and nurses, who didn’t want to replace a system they were already used to. Human beings are generally resistant to change; finding the right incentives is absolutely essential, as well as adopting a customer-centric mindset. When users themselves are able to grasp the value of change and what it means to them, adoption rates tend to increase.
How do you break the bias as a woman in tech?
Show up – because the only way to break the stigma is for more people to show up. Of course, it’s also important to find the right people who will recognize your abilities, provide you with opportunities, lend credibility to your efforts, and support you. I was lucky to have “sponsors” at every stage of the process who advocated for me.
What advice would you give to people interested in working in the carbon space?
Make your intention known and look for opportunities. It is a nascent but rapidly growing and evolving space. There’s a real opportunity to shape the market here, which I think is super exciting. There’s no better time to join us than now.
