Marie Calmel

As Technical Director, Nature Climate Solutions, Marie supervises the VCS Program’s Natural Climate Solutions (NCS) portfolio. She ensures that NCS projects developed under the VCS Standard (including the JNR program) are able to maintain the highest quality and integrity. Marie also ensures that existing and under-development standards rules for REDD+ and NCS-related methodologies and program innovations are technically sound and able to support and align with relevant international and domestic policy frameworks.

Before joining Verra, Marie worked as a consultant for about 5 years, supporting project developers, international donors, and national governments to understand technical, institutional, and financial implications of a multi-scaled and nested approach for REDD+. Prior to being a consultant, she worked with a subsidiary of the French National Forest Office called ONF International where she provided expertise to different stakeholders on REDD+ and forest-related climate change strategies. Marie has worked in many countries in the Congo River basin and in Southeast Asia, as well as in the Guiana Shield where she led a 3-year technical cooperation project between French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana, and Brazil.

Her career began in 2008 in Indonesia, where she supported the North Sulawesi government to assess key challenges of forest carbon projects implementation following the UNFCCC COP13 in Bali. Marie holds a Master of Science in philosophy from the University of Provence. She is is also a graduate of the Higher Institute for Environmental Engineering and Management (ISIGE – AgroParisTech).