Matthew D. Potts, PhD
Chief Science Officer
Forest Ecology and Management + Biodiversity + Carbon Markets + Biomass Carbon Removal and Storage (BiCRS)
Dr. Matthew Potts leads Carbon Direct’s global science team in its work on decarbonizing the global economy. Dr. Potts helps clients decarbonize food, fiber, and fuel supply chains, assess high quality carbon removal from managed landscapes, and works to ensure climate actions are just and equitable.
Dr. Potts draws on his interdisciplinary background with formal training in mathematics, ecology, and economics to inform his work in nature and community based climate solutions.
Dr. Potts has over two decades of experience in resource management issues in low- and middle-income countries. This expertise supports his work as the S.J. Hall Professor in Forest Economics at the Department of Environmental Science, Policy, & Management and as the Associate Director for Sustainable Development, Blum Center for Developing Economies, where he leads an interdisciplinary lab that focuses on the co-production by human and natural systems of ecosystem services and natural pathways for carbon sequestration.
Dr. Potts recently served as a coordinating lead author on the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Land Degradation and Restoration Assessment.
Education
PhD, Applied Mathematics
Harvard University
AM, Applied Mathematics
Harvard University
BS, Mathematics
University of Michigan
Awards
NRT-AI: Digital Transformation of Development (DToD)$3,000,000 (2021-2026)
US National Science Foundation
INCLUDES Alliance: Broadening Career Pathways in Food, Energy, and Water Systems with and within Native American Communities (Native FEWS Alliance)
$7,071,915 (2021-2026), US National Science Foundation
Coordinating Lead Author, Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
Land Degradation and Restoration Assessment (2015-2018)
