Neha Rao

As Director, Energy & Industry, VCS Program Management, Neha heads the Energy and Industry project portfolio. She helps ensure efficiency in the registration and issuance process for these projects in order to grow and further scale up Verra’s activities.

Neha has over 17 years of experience in the field of climate change. Prior to joining Verra, Neha worked with SustainCERT, the certification body for Gold Standard for the Global Goals as the Subject Matter Expert lead for all environmental markets’ software services to leverage technology to drive continuous improvements in the certification process of Gold Standard projects. Neha played a key role in setting up a performance management system for external experts and validation/verification bodies to bring systemic improvements in both certification and validation/verification activities. She also worked closely with the Quality & Compliance team in drafting and implementation of various standard operating procedures for the ISO14065 accreditation.

Before SustainCERT, Neha worked with The Gold Standard Foundation for over 10 years directing and overseeing the strategy of the Certification Functions including the scope and quality assurance of project reviews, implementation of new certification processes, development of new tools and improvement of registry in accordance with the scheme requirements.

Neha holds a Master’s degree in Natural Resources Management and performed a brief stint of as a Research Associate for 6 months at Yale School of Environmental Law and Policy, Yale University, USA. She currently lives in Hyderabad, India, and enjoys reading, travelling, and spending time with family in her free time.