Sergio spent more than 15 years in various technical and managerial positions in the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment and associated agencies before engaging with sustainable investing in 2020. Sergio started his career at the national Institute for the Environment at first working with the environmental assessment of energy projects and then moving over to Protected Areas. His years in government exposed him to both technical and managerial challenges, as well as legislation drafting and negotiation. After taking over several managerial roles in the Institute, he transferred to the Ministry of the Environment and was appointed as Director of Protected Areas and then deputy National Secretary for Biodiversity. During this time, he negotiated the third phase of the Amazon Region Protected Areas Program, raising a USD 230 million fund from private and governmental donors. Sergio holds a Bachelor degree in Biological Sciences and a MPhil in Animal Biology form the University of Brasilia. He is currently finishing his PhD at the University of Oxford, and has published academic papers on several topics, including the description of new termite species. He recently contributed both as an academic and as a practitioner to the setting of criteria for issuing green bonds, and to the development of guidelines for private investment in conservation.