Meet Camille Petre, Co-Founder at Women in Carbon and Chief Financial Officer at BeZero Carbon

Tell us about Women in Carbon

Women in Carbon (WiC) is a platform I co-founded alongside nine of my brilliant peers, aimed at empowering and amplifying the voices of women working in the carbon sector. We provide a safe and supportive environment for women working in carbon to share their perspectives and learn from each other. We hold regular events, meetings and roundtable discussions and also have a dedicated social networking channel to help women connect.

How did you come up for the idea for Women in Carbon?

I spent most of my career working in private equity and management consulting, before transitioning to climate and sustainability. I am now proud to be Chief Financial Officer at the carbon ratings agency BeZero Carbon, where we provide ratings of carbon credits to enable better net zero decision-making.

The carbon sector is relatively new, rapidly scaling, creating new and innovative green jobs for the future and we have a unique opportunity to shape the gender balance and work towards a better balanced industry.

Despite green jobs growing at four times the rate of the rest of the market, last year Boston Consulting Group released shocking projections that women will hold only a quarter of global green jobs by 2030.

I strongly defend that diversity is not about percentages but about shifting mindsets, company cultures, and systems that were designed for historically male-dominated workforces – however, these projections prove that the industry needs a push to achieve gender balance.

Fostering an environment that embraces, appreciates, and encourages differences requires proper representation to start with. This forms the essence of WiC’s mission – to create a supportive network to help women’s careers to grow and flourish. I also knew that my company, BeZero, would be supportive and would allow me to dedicate time and energy to this endeavour – which inspired me, alongside my incredible peers, to set up the WiC platform.

How has Women in Carbon evolved?

We were proud to launch WiC in March this year. In just a matter of months, we have brought together women from the most senior positions in the industry to the most junior, to share their journeys in the carbon sector and their insights on how to reach the very top of their careers. We’re delighted to have now expanded and to have chapter branches in New York and Toronto, and to have held our first international event at New York Climate Week.

What can we hope to see from Women in Carbon in the future?

Our hope is to grow and scale as an organisation, so we can continue to inspire and empower women from across the carbon and climate tech sectors and reverse the awful statistic that only one in four green jobs will be held by women in 2023. We want to give an opportunity to women that have succeeded in the Carbon industry to give back to it and inspire ambition in young people. The Carbon industry has plenty of great jobs and opportunities and we want to make clear to women all over the world that a career in this burgeoning sector is not only accessible, but also interesting and inspiring.