About Us

Climate Navigator is on a mission to unlock the power of people and places to accelerate just climate & energy transitions. This mission is our foundation and underpins everything we do.

We are a purpose-driven consultancy business.
We are a social enterprise, committed to putting our money where our mouth is, including by allocating a significant share of our profit to support climate action.
We aim to make our services accessible and affordable for any organisation committed to bold climate action.
We aim to be climate positive by offsetting at least 120% of our emissions through ecologically-beneficial forests.
We believe that collaboration is critical, and seek to create an ecosystem of organisations working together to enable bold climate action.

If you are on a similar mission, say hello and let's explore how we might work together to grow our impact.

Meet Our Team

Sam Elder

Founder & Director

Sam thrives when working with others to tackle the major challenges and opportunities we face as a society. She started out in the 1990s working on some of the world's highest-risk space programmes, from an early mission to measure sea surface temperature and detect climate change, through to the James Webb Space Telescope.

Since moving to Aotearoa in 2006 her eclectic career has included:

Coordinating NZ's largest Outcomes Based Investment science research programme at Plant & Food Research.
Creating industry-leading insight capability and a smart energy programme as the Retail Insight Manager at Meridian Energy.
Building capacity in social enterprise, innovation and impact as Southern Director of the Akina Foundation.
Leading the development of a first of its kind 'Climate Change Integration' programme at Environment Canterbury.
Establishing a new Energy Futures team at OrionNZ, bringing an energy systems transition approach to Orion's purpose of 'Powering a cleaner, brighter future with our communities'.
Establishment co-chair of the ENA's Future Networks Forum (FNF) which is putting collaboration on steroids between EDBs to help AoNZ meet its climate goals.

Along the way Sam has gained a BEng (Hons) in Mechanical Engineering; qualified as a UK Chartered Engineer and a Project Management Professional; gained an MSc in Architecture (Advanced Environmental and Energy Studies) and GARP's Sustainability & Climate Risk (SCR) certification.

LinkedIn / sam.elder@climatenavigator.co.nz / +64 (0)21 245 8945

Rachel Montejo

Managing Director

Rachel has been a sustainability proponent throughout her 25 year career. She began as a chemical engineer for Dupont, working on ozone depletion reduction projects. From there she began to focus on pan-organisational, Six Sigma initiatives and received her Black Belt certification through programmes that reduced waste and increased organisational efficacy.

On moving to New Zealand, Rachel’s career turned towards innovation in the energy efficiency sector. Working for organisations such as Energy Mad, Meridian Energy and the University of Canterbury, she has led technical, continuous improvement, product strategy and various other project/programme teams. Rachel has worked for/with organisations as small as fledgling social enterprises through to some of the largest New Zealand businesses and multi-national corporations.

Rachel currently consults for and provides governance advisory support for several business-for-good organisations in Christchurch. She is working towards certifications in climate-related financial disclosures and climate governance.

LinkedIn / rachel.montejo@climatenavigator.co.nz

Margarita Parra Cobeleda

Associate

Jamie Silk

Associate

Margarita is an 'electrify everything' enthusiast and engineer with experience advising and engaging utilities, local and national governments in delivering cost effective transport and energy decarbonisation solutions while bringing economic benefits, such a reduction of energy burden, reduction of emissions, increased mobility options for all, and modernization of the grid.

Margarita has worked for more than twenty five years with global non-profit organizations in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and the United States starting with ICLEI Local Governments for Sustainability, ClimateWorks Foundation, the Hewlett Foundation and Clean Energy Works. She has served on the Board of Directors of the Silicon Valley Bike Coalition, the Sustainable and Low Carbon Transportation Partnership and Hispanics in Philanthropy. In 2020, Margarita was highlighted as one of 50 global changemakers in the Remarkable Women in Transport publication from Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative (TUMI).

Passionate cyclist and connector. Margarita made Aotearoa her home for a second time in 2020. She graduated from Canterbury University with a Masters in Engineering, has a Diploma in Sustainable Development from Jawaharlal Nehru University in India and a degree in Chemical Engineering from Universidad Nacional de Colombia.

Jamie is a strategic advisor bringing commercial innovation, financial and business case and specialist sector skills to the low carbon transition. His capability is founded in a deep analytical ability to understand and simplify complexity, detail and emerging trends to road-map, validate and deliver new solutions.

Jamie’s career has spanned:

Heading product management and development steering a leading global banks clearing products and business through the transformation of the Euro and Europe’s financial scene;
Working with multiple start ups spanning environmental science, smart grid, P2P & community energy, social justice and clean transport;
Leading multiple future thinking smart network projects including fringe of grid integration of solar, battery and demand side changes; smart home and network integration projects; smart sensors (IOT)/ data and infrastructure optimisation trials;
Low carbon transition advisory projects and pilots – with a particular focus on organisational and consumer behaviour change – covering energy, waste, cleaner transport, governance and organisational/ human dynamics and transition roadmaps across multiple sectors;
Deploying tools and techniques that have equipped teams from start-ups to global businesses to deliver innovation award winning transformation

On his hikoi, Jamie qualified from the London School of Economics (BSc Economics and Econometrics), as a Chartered Accountant (ICAEW, UK) and Transition Engineer (GATE). Jamie is owner of Silk Advisory, a sustainable transitions consultancy, and is enthused by the synergies with the Climate Navigator framework and depth of team in enriching the opportunities for businesses to accelerate their low carbon programmes.

Sea Rottman

Associate

Dr Chrys Horn

Associate

Dr. Sea Rotmann has a PhD in marine ecology and environmental studies, but has focused on sustainability implementation in policy, practice, and research, since 2005. In late 2011, she started her own consultancy called SEA - Sustainable Energy Advice Ltd, focusing on turning behaviour change theory into (global) best practice. She ran Task 24, the first global research collaboration on behaviour change in demand-side management (DSM) for the DSM Technology Collaboration Programme (TCP) by the International Energy Agency (IEA) from 2012 to 2018. She has been researching hard-to-reach energy users in the residential and commercial sectors for the IEA’s Users TCP since 2019.

She has researched and utilised storytelling and narratives in her work since 2010 and has developed a BEST (Behaviour, Energy and Sustainability Training) Programme for Energy Managers with her research partners at the Californian See Change Institute. She’s also been a 3-time Green Party candidate, Co-Chair of the Guardians of the Bays (fighting the Wellington Airport runway extension) and coordinated XRANZ’s 2019 week of action.

Sea and her fiancé Karl have recently bought 35ha of land in paradise in Mohua / Golden Bay. They’re planning to turn it into an eco-community, with wetland and forest restoration projects and a regenerative farm.

As a systems scientist, Chrys is interested in how we work with the uncertainty inherent in a system with myriad unexpected connections and across our political, cultural and professional differences to achieve the results we want. She is passionate about the “why” and the “how” of things, because, while human beings seem pretty good at coming up with what to do, they often miss the “why” and the “how” of doing that.

Chrys spent eight years at Landcare Research working with people in a range of contexts (community groups, local government, central government, business) on everything from catchment management, biodiversity and pest management, to climate change. The work used adaptive management techniques and an in-depth understanding of human behaviour and behaviour change principles to help communities address their issues, by integrating science knowledge with knowledge from their own mixed contexts.

Since leaving Manaaki Whenua at the end of 2008, she has worked as an independent contractor in science communication, social research and evaluation, and community development where she has put a lot of her research learnings into practice to bring about change.