Plutshack, Victoria

Victoria is a climate and energy specialist and qualitative social scientist with particular expertise in carbon markets, alongside broader knowledge in technology transitions, climate finance, international development, and gender. Her carbon market work includes leading two workstreams of a current EfD project funded by the Canadian International Development Research Centre (IDRC) that investigates how African countries and actors can improve governance in carbon markets to enhance both integrity and local development outcomes. She is also conducting research on the social acceptability of carbon pricing mechanisms in the UK, examining both voluntary carbon markets and compliance carbon markets.

In her recent role as Senior Policy Associate at the James E. Rogers Energy Access Project at Duke University, she collaborated with policymakers, private partners, foundations, and research institutions to develop research and knowledge outputs on scaling up renewable energy solutions, accessing finance, and improving equity for women and marginalized communities. In 2023, she co-authored two influential EfD reports – on gender and on climate finance and low-carbon transitions – funded by IDRC, which have directly informed the strategy of IDRC's future funding calls in their Sustainable Inclusive Economies workstream.

Her work has always had a strong policy interface. Previously, she was a member of the wholesale energy markets team at Ofgem, the UK’s energy regulator, as well as working for a public relations firm on British renewable energy developments. Victoria holds a Ph.D. in Land Economy and an M.Phil. in Technology Policy from the University of Cambridge.