In December 2023 the world held its breath. All eyes were focused on the COP28 climate summit underway in the United Arab Emirates. The big question was: Would the delegates from 198 governments agree to speed up the transition away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy?
If an agreement was to be reached, the support of non-state actors – business, finance, mayors, academics, and more – would be key. Rebecca was at the heart of efforts to build this support, working with many organisations to help them participate in the process and develop the confidence to call for ambitious outcomes. After countless hours of painstaking negotiation, she and her fellow Climate Champions Team members had a clear message to deliver to the COP president and all of the country negotiators. An agreement was reached – and the rest is history.
It was a moment that’s now widely acknowledged as a milestone on the journey towards a more sustainable world. And Rebecca’s chance to play such a vital role on the global stage came through working at PwC, from where she’s currently seconded to the Climate Champions. It’s an opportunity she thinks she probably wouldn’t have got working anywhere else.
“A few years ago, when I was with PwC Singapore, I did a piece of work around valuing the financial impacts of climate change for a client. And that was when a light-bulb went on. That project helped me really understand the sheer scale of the climate problem and how it would ultimately affect everything. It became obvious to me that if we don't tackle the climate challenge, then anything we do to address things like social issues will simply be dwarfed by the negative impacts from climate.”
Rebecca’s journey to COP28 in the UAE began many miles away, at Cambridge University in the UK. Having gained a master’s degree in Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology in 2012, she spent three years in technical materials research at the University. But two things made her feel she was on the wrong path. First, research isn’t a team sport, and she loves collaborating with people. Second, she didn’t feel she was driving the kind of impact at scale that she wanted.
Having decided change was needed, Rebecca made it happen. She moved to Singapore, where in early 2018 she joined PwC. Why PwC Singapore? Because she believed PwC would enable her to take her wide variety of interests and experience, and apply these in a structured way to real-world problems where she could actually see the difference she was making.
Six years on, and four different roles later, Rebecca knows she made the right choice. After starting as a sustainability and climate change consultant – “client-facing work that gave me a huge amount of exposure to different sectors and projects” – she became Responsible Business Lead for PwC Singapore, where she led internal sustainability initiatives from strategy through to execution and operation.
As she carried out this role, the cross-cutting nature of sustainability – touching and involving so many different parts of PwC’s business – brought Rebecca connections and experience that set her up for the next stage of her career: going global. A confluence of events including the COVID-19 pandemic and Rebecca’s husband getting a job in the Netherlands saw her move to Amsterdam to become Global Net Zero Lead, developing and implementing the net zero strategy and milestones across PwC's global network.
This was fascinating and complex work, enabling Rebecca to make the visible, measurable impacts she’s always craved, while also balancing the diverse needs, priorities and business environments of PwC member firms worldwide. Then in early 2023 she got the opportunity to join the High-Level Climate Champions on secondment as Business Engagement Lead. She jumped at the chance – and that led to her pivotal role in initiatives supporting COP28.
“I think I'm intrinsically sort of curious and a bit impatient, and I like to do different things. At this point, I could have had four jobs in four separate companies. But I haven't had to do that – because I've managed to do all of these really, really different things staying within the PwC network. There are so many different opportunities across PwC and such a variety of things going on that, if you're good at what you do and passionate about doing something, then you’ll get the chance to do it.”
Rebecca says that to improve their collective impact, the Climate Champions apply a concept called the “ambition loop”. It works like this: if they can get businesses to do more – and commit to doing more – to address climate change, this gives elected officials more space to commit to do more and feel confident about being able to deliver it. Then when the elected officials put the relevant policies in place, businesses can do even more because they've got more certainty from those policies, which in turn emboldens the politicians to go further. “It's kind of a flywheel of progress,” she sums up.
Rebecca is also passionate about women’s involvement in climate action, and believes female role models are important. As she points out, statistics show women worldwide are more adversely impacted by climate change – and when we’re restructuring the economy and societies to tackle the climate crisis, this provides a huge opportunity to also address some of the design flaws and imbalances that are currently baked in. Rebecca’s part of the Women in Climate community who are helping to realise this opportunity.
When she’s not working, Rebecca loves travelling, cooking and – of course – eating what she cooks. During her lifetime she’s visited about 70 countries for work or pleasure, including recent trips ranging from Azerbaijan to Mexico to Uganda. And having been educated in Switzerland, she speaks “three-and-a-half” languages fluently. That’s always a useful skill when the chips are down in global climate discussions!
Lightning round: quick questions and quick answers
From your experience, how do you sum up Inclusion & Diversity at PwC?
It's about valuing different perspectives and inputs to get to the best solution.
What should others know about PwC’s commitment to Inclusion and Diversity?
PwC’s commitment is real. When we say it, we actually mean it.
We are for all
Our focus on inclusion unlocks the power and potential of a diverse community of solvers
Women and climate
Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow
