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People

CRU has appointed Mark Jeavons as the head of its CRU Sustainability division. He will be based out of London with a global remit.

Mark brings extensive experience and knowledge to the role, including more than 15 years in leadership positions in environmental, social and governance (ESG) and investment. Most recently, he was the head of climate change insights at Aon, a leading multinational financial services firm.

In his new role, Mark will spearhead the growth of CRU Sustainability, working closely with CRU’s highly regarded team of analysts, pricing experts and consultants. This team offers guidance to businesses on major sustainability challenges, including the drive to cut carbon emissions and the shift to a circular economy, alongside market intelligence on trends and regulations for specific commodities. The overall aim is to help customers accelerate their transition to net zero – arguably the most pressing issue facing company decision-makers today.

“Mark brings a wealth of knowledge of sustainability and investment themes which is the perfect fit for CRU Sustainability as we look to consolidate our position as market-leading experts in the transition to a low-carbon world,” said David Trafford, CRU’s CEO. “New and existing customers alike will benefit from Mark’s experience, and we are excited to welcome him to the team.”

In reply, Mark Jeavons said: “This is a fantastic opportunity to use my sustainability experience to drive forward a significant business offering and bring CRU’s expertise to a new component of operation for its clients. I look forward to getting to work and supporting customers to get the insights they need to support their strategic decision making.”

Mark Jeavons, new head of CRU Sustainability.

The Mosaic Company elected João Teixeira to its board of directors in November. He was formerly the CEO of Brazilian sugar and ethanol producer Copersucar.

“Our board will benefit from João’s rich experience in agriculture and financial services, and from his remarkable breadth of knowledge of Brazilian institutions,” said Gregory Ebel, Mosaic’s chairman.

Mr Teixeira served as CEO of Copersucar from 2018 until earlier this year. Prior to that, he founded Inviste, a private investment firm, and served as the CEO of Banco Votorantim. Mr Teixeira also held senior roles at Santander Group, ABN Amro and Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein earlier in his career, He holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree from Pontifical Catholic University in Rio de Janeiro and an MBA from the London Business School.

Mr Teixeira currently serves on the boards of two other public companies.

Yara has awarded its prestigious Birkeland Prize to Dr Kaiqi Xu this year in recognition of his PhD thesis on artificial photosynthesis.

Yara’s annual Birkeland prize recognises outstanding achievements by individuals in the field of environmental technology and interdisciplinary research and development. The NOK100,000 prize celebrates and remembers the remarkable Norwegian scientist Kristian Birkeland, 1867-1917.

“In Yara, we are extremely proud of our heritage. The science of Kristian Birkeland led to what has been called the most lifesaving innovation ever – mineral fertilizers,” the company said in a statement.

Dr Xu’s ground-breaking renewable energy research has resulted in a new electrochemical method for splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen using sunlight. This breakthrough method successfully produces ‘solar fuel’ – a synthetic chemical fuel produced by solar power. This was achieved by selectively reducing carbon dioxide in an artificial photosynthesis cell. This offers a sustainable process route for producing hydrogen from the humidity in air.

Dr Xu’s scientific work advances sustainable hydrogen production, according to Yara, and will have a significant impact on ongoing work to develop and commercialise artificial photosynthesis and solar fuels.

Commenting on the relevance of this year’s prize, Per Knudsen, Yara’s vice president for technology said: “So far this year, 400 million more people have become food insecure. And we have seen world leaders suddenly speaking about the importance of fertilizers and keeping food production high.”