Lombard Odier Investment Managers has hired Ruben Lubowski for a newly created role as chief carbon and environmental markets strategist. He will be responsible for developing carbon and nature-based solutions products, including working on Lombard Odier’s first carbon strategy for private markets set to launch this year.

Lubowski is based in New York and has previously held roles as chief natural resource economist and associate vice-president for climate and forests at the Environmental Defense Fund in New York. He also co-founded and serves as special adviser to the Emergent Forest Finance Accelerator, which manages and provides the platform for the LEAF Coalition, a public-private initiative that mobilized $1bn to protect tropical forests last year. He has advised governments and stakeholders around the world on carbon markets design and has testified to the US Senate on the role of forest and agriculture offsets. He also serves as Adjunct Professor at Columbia University, specializing in carbon pricing and economic analysis of environmental policies. He has previously held professorship and economist roles in related fields at New York University, Harvard University and the US Department of Agriculture.

He reports to Lorenzo Bernasconi, head of climate and environmental solutions, who said: “Ruben brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise that will be invaluable to the growth of the firm’s carbon and nature-based investment offering. The carbon markets are growing and evolving rapidly, driven by the wave of both government and corporate commitments to address climate change.”