Christian Braneon, PhD
Head of Climate Justice
Environmental Science & Policy + Geospatial Analysis
Meet our world-class science team
Our scientists will guide your organization to achieve its climate goals with the right carbon management program.
Dr. Christian Braneon is Head of Climate Justice at Carbon Direct.
Dr. Braneon leads the integration of climate justice into Carbon Direct’s culture, operations, and services across the carbon management industry.
Background & Bio
Dr. Braneon brings a broad range of experience in climate science and civil engineering as well as environmental and climate justice to Carbon Direct. He co-leads the Environmental Justice and Climate Just Cities Network at Columbia University’s Earth Institute, serves as Co-Chair of the New York City Panel on Climate Change, and sits on the newly formed Center for Climate Solutions’ Advisory Committee, which was established to further New York City’s efforts to respond to the climate crisis.
Prior to joining Carbon Direct, Dr. Braneon served as a climate scientist in the Climate Impacts Group of NASA GISS and as Co-Director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s inaugural Environmental Justice Academy for community leaders.
Education
PhD, Civil Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology
MS, Civil Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology
BS, Civil Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology
BS, Applied Physics
Morehouse College
Awards
Quantification of Historic and Future Changes in Atlantic Coastal Marshes and Implications for Global Modeling
NASA
Robert H. Goddard Award
AXA Award for Climate Science
Climate Action Plan Award
White House
Publications and Features
Dr. Claudia Herbert is a Science Advisor at the intersection of climate science and software.
Background & Bio
Dr. Herbert received her PhD in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management from UC Berkeley. Her doctoral work focused on applications of geospatial analysis and remote sensing in the context of North American fire and forest carbon management. She now focuses on software innovation in the fight against climate change.
Education
PhD, Environmental Science, Policy, and Management
UC Berkeley
BS, Conservation and Resource Studies
UC Berkeley
Awards
Honorable Mention, Earth Observation Dashboard Hackathon
NASA
Department Citation, Environmental Science, Policy, and Management
UC Berkeley
Jared is applying his forest management and software development expertise to building the Carbon Direct platform.
Background & Bio
Jared is in the final semester of his PhD in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management at UC Berkeley, where his dissertation work has focused primarily on examining forest carbon offsets within California's cap-and-trade program.
He is interested in the intersection of environmental policy and land use, and uses various tools and frameworks such as remote sensing, cloud-based tools, causal inference, machine learning, and spatial and econometric modeling. He received his BS in Environmental Studies from Utah State University and his MS in Ecology and Environmental Sciences from the University of Maine.
Education
PhD Candidate, Environmental Science, Policy, and Management
UC Berkeley
MS, Ecology and Environmental Sciences
University of Maine
BS, Environmental Studies
Utah State University
Van Butsic, PhD
Principal Scientist
Forest Management + Geospatial Analysis
Dr. Van Butsic employs geospatial analysis and statistical modeling to improve nature-based carbon removal.
He leverages his expertise in forest science to help clients understand the principles for high-quality carbon removal in the forestry sector. He works closely with Carbon Direct's tech team to integrate science with software.
Background & Bio
Before joining Carbon Direct, Dr. Butsic was an Associate Professor and Cooperative Extension Specialists at UC Berkeley where he combined novel econometric methods with geospatial analysis to understand the causes and consequences of land use policy.
Dr. Butsic has developed methods to look at diverse drivers of land use change including carbon offsets, protected areas, wildfires, agricultural subsidies, war, and the regulation of illicit drugs.
Education
PhD, Forestry
University of Wisconsin
MS, Applied Economics
University of Wisconsin
BS, Economics
Reed College
Awards
Humboldt Research Award
Alexander Von Humboldt Foundation
