About Us
Karen is the Director of Firnline, a practice she founded to keep human connection at the centre of climate action. As AI increasingly shapes how organisations gather stakeholder input, assess climate risk, and produce sustainability disclosures, Karen focuses Firnline's work on the parts of the process that remain fundamentally human - stakeholder engagement, capacity building, and the people that make up climate and sustainability teams.
Karen is a Senior Manager at the International Public Sector Accounting Standards Board (IPSASB), where she focuses on sustainability reporting technical projects and led the development of IPSASB SRS 1, Climate-related Disclosures, through to its approval. She also leads the adoption and implementation work of IPSASB SRS 1, including managing IPSASB's sustainability advisory groups - the Sustainability Reference Group and Sustainability Implementation Forum.
Prior to joining the IPSASB, Karen worked at EY's Climate Change and Sustainability Services, Financial Services team in Hong Kong, where she delivered sustainability advisory, climate risk advisory, GIS-based climate risk modelling, sustainability reporting, and greenhouse gas accounting projects. In addition, Karen was involved in sustainable finance assurance engagements across various green bonds, green deposits, social deposits, and sustainability-linked loans.
Since 2024, Karen has been a Climate Mentor at Women4Climate Toronto, an initiative under C40 Cities and the City of Toronto where she mentors women founders working on climate-adjacent solutions to deliver on the City's TransformTO Net Zero Strategy.
Earlier in her career, Karen was also involved in international climate risk consultancy projects with the Digital Technology Institute for Development (DTIT), and worked at Esri, providing professional GIS consulting services with a particular focus on flood mapping.
Karen is an EFFAS Certified ESG Analyst and holds a GARP Sustainability and Climate Risk (SCR) Certificate. She holds a MSc in Sustainable and Green Finance from the National University in Singapore, a BSc (Hons) in Geology from the University of Edinburgh, and has studied Arctic Geology at the University Centre in Svalbard and Geology at the University of Calgary.
Her experience in academia has involved research on nanoparticle formation in urban environments with the NUS Environmental Research Institute (NERI), bankable nature-based solutions in Asia Pacific with the WWF Singapore Sustainable Finance Hub, modelling microplastic contamination in the subsurface and quantifying potential releases to aquifers in the Midland Valley of Scotland with the University of Edinburgh School of Geosciences, and understanding the effects of climate change on permafrost and the built environment with the University Centre in Svalbard.
Outside of work, Karen is a keen outdoor lover and spends time trail running, sailing, and camping. She is also a classical musician - an Associate and Licentiate of Trinity College London in Cello Performance, and holds a DipABRSM in Piano Performance.