Vanessa Carolina Nunes Biral

As Senior Program Officer, Natural Climate Solutions, Vanessa reviews registration and verification requests for NCS projects, focusing especially on REDD, ALM, and other forestry projects (such as ARR and IFM activities). She also collaborates with the Auditing and Accreditation Team on assessing VVB performance and acts as a subject matter expert within the Program Management Department on NCS projects.

Before joining Verra, Vanessa served as technical director for a project development company in Brazil, where she managed and developed carbon offset projects, particularly in the agricultural sector. She was also responsible for leading stakeholder interactions to analyze the feasibility of carbon project development and determine applicable methodologies.

Vanessa has also worked at Oklahoma State University as a research assistant, where she helped graduate students collect and process various data (e.g., soil samples, tree cores, and tree identification). These data were primarily used in a statistical model to predict carbon dynamics after reforestation. Vanessa also has over three years of experience in certification processes, serving as a reviewer and lead auditor.

Even before pursuing her Bachelor’s degree, she knew she wanted to work on climate change mitigation. Therefore, during her undergraduate years, she completed summer internships with non-profit organizations in different Brazilian regions to learn about climate change, greenhouse gas emissions, and REDD+ programs.

Vanessa holds a Bachelor’s degree in Agronomy from Universidade Estadual Paulista Julio de Mesquita Filho (UNESP) and a Master’s degree in Natural Resources Ecology and Management from Oklahoma State University.