Karen McClellan

Lecturer in Management
Faculty photo of Karen McClellan

Bio

Ms. McClellan has dedicated most of her international career to deploying institutional capital for climate change infrastructure and carbon finance. Based in London, Ms. McClellan has deep experience in international carbon policy, emerging markets’ renewable energy finance, and zero- carbon technologies, having deployed more than £700 million in innovative investment funds and transactions. She sits on the Board of Riverstone Energy (LSE: RSE) and served for five years in an advisory capacity to TT International’s Environmental Solutions Fund in London. As a technology advisor, she invests in and advises climate tech companies ranging from bioplastics and solar thermal technologies to biochar and other carbon removal strategies.

Until recently, Ms. McClellan was Head of Climate Investment for The Lemos Group, a leading Greek shipping family seeking to invest in carbon offsetting technologies. Other executive roles included special advisor to a UK hydrogen fuel cell company and CFO of a distributed wind startup. As Head of Asset Management, Carbon Capital Markets, Ms McClellan raised one of the world’s first methane capture funds under the Kyoto Protocol, investing in large scale waste-to-energy projects in the Global South. Concurrently, as principal she developed and exited from 220 MW of pioneering wind energy projects in northeast Brazil.

During two decades as an investment banker at Lehman Brothers, Robert Fleming and the EBRD, Ms McClellan structured private equity funds backed by emission reductions and energy savings. She established the EBRD’s first carbon strategy and, as its inaugural representative, attended UNFCC COP negotiations in an official capacity in 2001. She has attended over 15 COPs since that time.

Ms. McClellan has substantial public sector and policy experience, most recently with Prince Charles’ Sustainable Markets Initiative. She is currently a member of the Global SDG Future Fuels Council and has spent years acting as an expert for the UK Accelerated Climate Transitions program and for UNDP, where she has authored finance strategies for national emission reduction commitments under the Paris Agreement. Finally, she served for five years as a member of the Panel of Experts (ex-Chair) for the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), making loans to a wide variety of clean energy projects in developing economies.

She has contributed to textbooks on climate markets and risk and is a frequent speaker and panelist.

Academic Degrees

  • MBA, Stanford Graduate School of Business, 1987
  • BA in Economics, Yale College, 1981

Academic Appointments

  • Lecturer, Stanford Graduate School of Business, since 2024
  • Co-wrote and taught case study with Professor John G “Jack” McDonald, 1990s

Awards and Honors

  • Tallberg Leaders Programme, Tallberg Forum, Sweden
  • Shortlisted (top 3%), FT Sustainability Award, Carbon Finance
  • CNBC Business, Top 50 Low Carbon Pioneers, June 2007

Other Publications

Book Chapters

Karen McClellan
The Finance of Climate Change: A Guide for Governments, Corporations and Investors
2005
Frank Joshua, Karen McClellan
A Guide to Emissions Trading: Risk Management and Business Implications
May 2004

Teaching Statement

Karen McClellan brings a unique teaching perspective to the Graduate School of Business as an experienced fund manager, investor and board member, focusing for decades on worldwide decarbonization. She seeks to help students consider career positions at the nexus of technology, climate finance and the $900 billion carbon markets opportunity. She is also interested in the use of technology and the evolving national and UN regulations to promote a Just Transition.