Our Core Team

“James is beyond doubt one of the world leaders in the application of a capitals approach and valuation. With a wide range of experience in different sectors and as a valued member of the Capitals Coalition Advisory Panel, I respect and rely on his wise advice and counsel.”

Mark Gough, CEO, Capitals Coalition

Robert West

Consultant

Robert joined Sustain Value in February 2023 and since then has been involved in multiple natural capital projects. He contributed to two TNFD pilot studies, one for a major financial institution and another for a multinational extractives company based in West Africa. He is currently engaged in developing Natural Capital Accounts (NCA) for a national government in the Middle East and provides research support to the Capitals Coalition on integrated capitals assessments. Additionally, Robert is involved in a project with a development bank, aiming to develop an innovative finance mechanism to protect coral reefs across four countries in Southeast Asia.

Prior to joining Sustain Value, Robert gained two years of experience as a Consultant for the World Health Organization in Almaty, Kazakhstan. He worked on a range of projects, from co-authoring an in-depth country assessment of Slovenia to performing detailed data analysis on the results of a pan-European health survey during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Robert holds an MSc in Global Environmental Politics from the University of Edinburgh, where he earned a distinction and received the Best Overall Performance award. His research focused on global biodiversity governance, theoretical and practical approaches to valuing nature, and the integration of ecological and economic thinking. He also has a first in his BA in Geography from the University of Leeds, where he received the highest mark in the year for his dissertation.

Outside of work, Robert seeks to spend as much time outdoors as possible. He is a keen trail runner, hiker, sailor and wildlife enthusiast. He is currently based in Bogotá, Colombia, where he is making the most of being in the second most biodiverse country on Earth.

Samir Fryatt

Analyst

Samir is an advanced data analyst who harnesses his skills to quantify natural capital and value the benefits it provides to society through ecosystem services. He is highly proficient with various software packages (particularly ArcGIS, QGIS, and R) and has a wealth of experience in data analysis including his Biodiversity & Conservation MSc from the University Leeds.  

Since joining Sustain Value, Samir has helped create ecosystem service maps and natural capital accounts for a national government in the Middle East; developed and presented training programmes on tools and data requirements for the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD); compared nature metric requirements for the TNFD and EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) for mining operations in West Africa; and supported a site prioritisation analysis for coral reef insurance and sustainable financing products for Indonesia and Fiji. He is currently developing a GIS based tool for screening company sites for their sensitivity in relation to biodiversity and water.

Samir is based in Leeds, UK and is a passionate mountaineer, skier, and hiker.

Matt Smith

Core Associate

Matt is a Core Associate Consultant with Sustain Value and has 20 years’ experience undertaking nature related projects throughout Europe, Africa and Latin America. His work involves applying natural capital and integrated capitals thinking to inform socio-economic development, sustainable use of natural resources and implementing nature-based solutions.

For over a decade he worked as a technical advisor to UK Government on biodiversity and natural capital, with an international portfolio. This included being a principal investigator on a UK government initiative using trade data to develop metrics and impact models for monitoring the UK environmental footprint from resource extraction overseas. He also co-led (until 2020) the Ecosystem Service Partnership Sectoral Working Group on Business and Ecosystem Services and contributed to the biodiversity supplement of the Natural Capital Protocol.

Matt is also an expert on open-access data services that support dynamic ecosystem natural capital accounting and environmental reporting. This includes leading a European Space Agency project increasing the uptake of Copernicus data in natural capital assessments, and coordinating a UK Space Agency project using remote sensing and ecosystem models to implement ecosystem-based management and sustainable livelihood development in forestry and agriculture production landscapes in Peru, Colombia and Chile.   

Matt holds a First-Class BSc Honours Degree in Ecology and Biogeography from the University of Brighton and MSc in Conservation Science from Imperial College London.  He is currently based in Brazil.