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Chief Executive Officer Michael Berends is a highly respected leader in the global carbon markets. With a decades-long career spanning North America and Europe, he has held senior positions in top energy and financial organizations, including Barclays Capital, Vattenfall Energy Trading, and ICL, in trading, origination, procurement, and sales.
Michael has successfully executed numerous global carbon product deals and devised pricing and risk management strategies for emitters in compliance and voluntary markets across more than 50 countries.
Under Michael's leadership, ClearBlue Markets has experienced remarkable growth, expanding sixfold, earning its place as a trusted partner for hundreds of corporations worldwide and launching the Vantage carbon intelligence platform. In 2023, ClearBlue Markets secured an investment of $8 million in financing led by the Royal Bank of Canada.
Michael holds a Master's degree in Conservation Biology from the University of Toronto and a Master's in Environmental Management from the University of Amsterdam.
Nicholas is a Manager at ClearBlue, where he leads the Market Intelligence service for the Canadian and Voluntary Carbon Markets. He conducts the firm’s Supply and Demand modeling, providing essential analysis of the Alberta TIER, B.C. OBPS, and Ontario EPS regulatory landscapes. In addition to his Canadian focus, Nicholas oversees coverage of the Voluntary Carbon Market, offering strategic insights into corporate demand trends, international policy, and global integrity standards such as Article 6, ICVCM, and VCMI.
Nicholas holds a Master’s Degree in Macroeconomic Policy and Financial Markets from the Barcelona School of Economics and has prior work experience in sustainability ratings for leveraged financed issuers and GHG inventory reporting.
Tyson advises some of North America’s largest companies on their environmental commodities transactions. He is regularly retained to advise on the development of carbon trading and compliance strategies, on agreements for the purchase and sale of carbon and clean fuel credits and renewable energy certificates, and on innovative long-term offtakes for carbon removal and avoidance projects. He has negotiated transactions in every major North American compliance market, and under every major voluntary standard.
Tyson also regularly advises on high-stakes, reputationally sensitive sustainability issues for major financial institutions, pension funds, asset managers and energy and resource companies. This work includes advising some of the country's largest companies – including several of Canada’s largest banks and most of Canada’s largest pension plans – on their climate transition strategies and disclosures. He also regularly helps clients with the evolving landscape of sustainability standards, methodologies and taxonomies and on strategies to mitigate greenwashing risks.
Tyson advises clients in many other sectors, including mining and metals, pulp and paper, water treatment, communications, iron and steel, chemicals, and manufacturing. He provides advice on the full range of issues in the environmental and energy-regulatory fields, including environmental assessments, project permitting, contaminated sites remediation, endangered species protection, spills response and reporting and the inspection, investigation and defence of environmental offences. In the mining sector, Tyson has acted for companies acquiring, financing, developing and operating major uranium, potash, coal and precious metals operations across the country. He has advised these clients on stakeholder relations and permitting, compliance and enforcement matters, including investigations and prosecutions under provincial and federal environmental laws.