Maria del Mar Rojas, Europe Engagement Manager, Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi)

Maria del Mar Rojas is the Europe Engagement Manager for the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), where she drives efforts to support European companies and sector initiatives in setting climate targets aligned with a 1.5°C pathway. In this role, she engages stakeholders across the corporate, financial, and NGO sectors to promote the work of SBTi and support the development and refinement of the SBTi’s standards, to advance ambitious corporate climate action to achieve emissions reductions at scale.
Maria’s career spans international NGOs and the private sector. Before joining SBTi, she was the Global Impact Manager at Compass at Google, integrating sustainability and well-being interventions across global operations. She has also worked with the Food and Land Use Coalition, advancing sustainable food systems and land-use policies, and at The Climate Group, spearheading a campaign to improve energy productivity across industries. Maria holds an MSc in Sustainable Development and is passionate about aligning climate targets with a resilient, inclusive economy.

Jihyun (June) Kim is the Stakeholder Engagement Manager at the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). In this role, she drives stakeholder engagement throughout the development of SBTi standards. She collaborates closely with NGOs, and academic, scientific and corporate communities around the world to ensure their input is heard and considered—so that the SBTi standards are credible, equitable, and widely accepted by global stakeholders.
June’s career has focused on international organizations and public relations. Prior to joining the SBTi, she worked at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) as a Project Coordinator, where she supported stakeholder engagement strategies and coordinated efforts to strengthen the impact of OECD publications on global policy issues. She also served as the Climate & Energy Programme Officer at WWF-Korea, where she advanced private sector climate action, including promoting and building capacity for the SBTi within the Korean industry. June holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from HEC Paris and studied Global Affairs as a visiting student at Yale University.

Kae Takase joined Renewable Energy Institute in 2023. Previously she was Associate Director at CDP Worldwide-Japan, where she was responsible for helping Japanese companies and investors to set science-based targets (SBT), procure renewable electricity (RE100), and disclose TCFD-aligned sustainability information. She worked as a modelling analyst at the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan, the Research Institute of Innovative Technology for the Earth, and Center for Low Carbon Society Strategy under the Japan Science and Technology Agency, built and ran Integrated Assessment Model for Climate Change, Computable General Equilibrium Model, Econometric Model, Energy System Model, bottom-up model for the energy system. She also initiated and conducted pilot projects for ‘Pay as You Save’ scheme for solar power and other energy efficiency improvement measures in several municipalities. She graduated from Keio University (B.A., M.A.) and the University of Tokyo (PhD). She has also spent a year in Yongin University in South Korea to devote herself to taekwondo and take a break from research.

Akihiko Haga joined WWF Japan in January 2023 after working at Ministry of the Environment of Japan and the Embassy of Japan in Vietnam as Environmental Attaché. He is driving corporate engagement on climate and energy, while supporting companies in the implementation of their Science Based Targets (SBTi). He holds a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) in Global Environmental Law from Sophia University, and a Master of Science (MSc) in Conservation Ecology from the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE), University of Kent, UK.

Sherry Madera is a prominent thought leader on sustainability, with afocus on sustainable finance, environmental data and public policy.As CEO, Sherry manages a global leadership team and staff acrossthe UK, Europe, North America, Singapore, Japan, China and LatinAmerica.
Prior to joining CDP, Sherry was Chair of the Future of Sustainable Data Alliance (FoSDA), a global organization focused on supporting data requirements to drive success in sustainable finance. As Senior Vice President, Public Policy for Mastercard, Sherry led on identifying trends and issues that are a priority for governments, industry and regulators for strategic engagement.
A unique combination of former investment banker and diplomat, Sherry has held roles at the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), the City of London and the British Embassy in Beijing, as well as Non-Executive Director Roles at Sondrel Limited and the University of Nottingham.
Sherry speaks regularly in global forums on topics including sustainable finance, FinTech, international trade, data policy and geopolitics. She is also author of the book, “Navigating Sustainability Data: How Organizations can use ESG Data to Secure Their Future, published in January 2024.

Ken Tanaka works for WWF Japan and serves as the secretariat of the Japan Climate Initiative (JCI) that is co-organized with CDP Japan and Renewable Energy Institute. Before joining WWF-Japan, he worked the Fukuoka Prefectural Government and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in environmental conservation, especially in waste management and recycling including the work supporting the Japanese companies to develop overseas recycling businesses. After that, he worked as a science communicator at the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation, and he was actively involved in a diverse of projects cooperating with overseas museums, businesses, research institutions etc. He holds a Master of Science in chemistry from Kyushu University.