Carbon Pulse has significantly strengthened its unrivalled voluntary markets coverage by hiring one of the longest serving environmental journalists on the beat and a world renowned expert in the role of forestry and other land uses in combatting climate change.

Steve Zwick has been appointed Carbon Pulse’s first Net Zero Correspondent, joining the specialist news and intelligence service this week to bolster its reporting on the global transition to a climate neutral economy.

“We’ve got 10 years to cut net emissions in half if we’re to meet the climate challenge, and that means we need clear, concise coverage of all available options,” Zwick said.

“Carbon Pulse has a diverse team of reporters who know the global carbon markets better than anyone, and I hope to round that out with my own background in nature-based solutions.”

Zwick will help lead Carbon Pulse’s fast-growing coverage of the global voluntary carbon market (VCM), while also focussing on corporate efforts to achieve carbon neutrality through the deployment of new technologies and practices.

His reporting will touch on the various measures and strategies – including hydrogen and carbon capture technologies, and sustainable agriculture and soil-based programmes – that are being employed by the world’s biggest companies in the race to net zero.

He started covering the economics of climate change in the late 1990s while working for TIME Magazine, where he was twice short-listed for the World Leadership Forum’s Business Journalist of the Year Award.

Zwick also produced and hosted Deutsche Welle Radio’s news magazine “Money Talks” before shifting full-time into environmental finance as managing editor of Ecosystem Marketplace in 2006, where he was lead author of the widely-read annual State of the Voluntary Carbon Markets report.

“At Forest Trends, I spent 15 years deep in various valleys of land-use – from water and biodiversity to climate and forestry,” Zwick said.

“Now it’s time to focus on the nitty gritty of what works and what doesn’t.”

He will also contribute to Carbon Pulse’s new weekly VCM report, while digging deeper into the stories that will shape this burgeoning yet crucial sector for years to come.

“Reader interest in voluntary carbon offsetting has exploded in recent months, and few are better positioned to assess how this relates to past trends and where the industry may go from here than Steve,” said Matt Lithgow, Carbon Pulse’s senior North America correspondent who is helping direct the development of the firm’s expanding coverage of the VCM.

Zwick will continue to produce and host his popular podcast Bionic Planet, which focuses on natural climate solutions and will soon be available through Carbon Pulse’s website.

With at least two or three more hires this year, including new correspondents in Asia, Carbon Pulse’s full-time headcount is expected to hit double-digits, representing continued investment in boosting news coverage as the company celebrates its sixth birthday on Mar. 4.

news@carbon-pulse.com