“Brazil has a unique opportunity to contribute positively with sustainable solutions to the current crisis. Our role is to influence and engage both policy makers and corporate leaders in finding new ways of doing business and valuing the environment.”

Based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Clarissa is Executive Director of the Brazilian Foundation for Sustainable Development – FBDS, a non-profit organization which aims at promoting sustainable development in Brazil. She heads up the corporate sustainability area, where she is responsible for coordinating both consultancy projects and think tank activities.

Clarissa has expertise in helping the major Brazilian companies (e.g. Suzano, Itaú, Light, BM&FBovespa, Duratex), focusing both sustainability strategy, management and reporting, as well as raising awareness on the corporate agenda towards sustainability. Clarissa has also served on numerous award panels in Brazil, always related to sustainability practices.

Previously, Clarissa worked for the private and public sectors. At the Ministry of Finance, she was an economic advisor to the team that drafted the stabilization plan (Plano Real). She was advisor to the President of the National Development Bank of Brazil (BNDES), where she was responsible for structuring privatization programs at the State level, as well as project finance in infrastructure. After that, she worked for the Brazilian oil and gas state owned company (Petrobras), reporting to its CEO. Her principal objectives there were to contribute to the restructuring of the company, as head of the Corporate Strategy unit and responsible for the relationship with the Board of Directors.

She is an economist and holds a master degree in international economics from the Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro – PUC Rio (Brazil).