Mr. Schultz is the founder of Climate Adaptation Works and leads its tools innovation. He is recognized for creating and stewarding a numb er of groundbreaking concepts, investment projects, policies, plans and programs over a 30-year career addressing the climate disruption challenge, and as it further relates to sustainable development. His current interests include ex-post adaptation metrics and standards for international frameworks and project finance, adaptation economics and market making, techniques and tools for adaptation, and overcoming behavioral barriers to adaptation. He co-authored the Adaptation Metrics Mapping and Evaluation (AMME) Framework for IPAM and is creator of the climate Vulnerability Reduction Credit (VRC™)
Following graduate school in urban and regional planning, Karl worked in West Africa on urban environmental management planning, then worked for a decade in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Climate Protection Division managing a variety of climate mitigation voluntary programs. He then founded/co-founded climate and energy consultancies, and subsequently co-founded a start-up climate mitigation clean energy company that grew to over 500 employees. From 2009 he shifted his attention to climate adaptation.
He is Executive Chairman of The Higher Ground Foundation (HGF - stewards of metric/instrument and corresponding standard framework to encourage climate adaptation prioritization, results tracking and finance). He mixes consulting work with entrepreneurial, research, teaching, and voluntary activities. He currently is Chair of the International Platform on Adaptation Metrics (IPAM) and also leads its Techniques and Tools Committee.
Mr. Schultz has been involved in project and program designs and evaluations, including for the European Commission and Green Climate Fund/UNDP, and has undertaken a wide variety of vulnerability assessments, climate impact costings, and facilitated participatory climate risk mapping in a number of communities. Projects include ADB’s Coastal Towns Infrastructure Improvement Project, in Bangladesh, ADB’s Climate Change Capacity Building to the Royal Environment Commission of Bhutan.