Richard Barker is an Adviser to Counteract – a specialist VC investor focused on investment into early-stage businesses in the carbon capture space. He brings over 25 years’ experience in sustainability, investment banking and strategic consulting.
Richard also advises private equity investors in sustainable investment – most recently with Iona Capital, a specialist sustainable infrastructure investor. Earlier, Richard was the CEO of Biogen, the UK’s leading builder and operator of renewable energy plants that convert food waste to energy via anaerobic digestion. He was also the CEO of RecovCo Affimet, a specialist aluminium recycler that acquired and operated Alcan’s French aluminium recycling business. Earlier in his career, he was Head of Strategy for ANZ Investment Bank in Australia, focused on the Australasia and the Emerging Markets.
He has also been a strategy consultant on a range of international projects for MMG and AT Kearney after lecturing in Economics at University College Cork in Ireland. Richard has an MEng in Engineering Economics and Management from Oxford University.
He is a passionate climate change advocate and is a leader in Al Gore’s Climate Reality initiative. Richard has also given a TEDx talk on the subject of “What the abolition of slavery in the UK teaches us about climate change”.