Thomas is an engineer by education, trained in operations and drilled in business acumen at McKinsey & Company. He built the very first ‘McKinsey Marginal Abatement Cost Curve’ in 2005 and spent the following 8 years building what would become a full scale Practice (business area) around Sustainability and Resource Productivity. Thomas brings broad cross-sector insight in Energy and Climate related opportunities and extensive experience from on-site work with industrial facilities to improve productivity of energy, carbon and other resources, through 100+ site visits globally.
Background
Prior to joining RMI, Thomas spent the majority of his professional career at McKinsey & Company, where he launched and built up the Sustainability Practice together with a small core leadership team, through entrepreneurial leadership and by spearheading new methodologies and developing expertise. His expertise has been built together with clients, applied to specific industrial facilities. The primary focus of his work has been on energy intensive industry, metal processing and mining in particular.
Examples of relevant projects:
Metal processing clean sheet redesign – Europe
Integrated Energy Strategy program (sourcing, operations, system design) – Europe
Yield optimization of chemical plant – Middle East
Big Data-based optimization of mineral processing plant – Central Africa
Establishment of annual sustainability conference for 10 top global mining companies
Numerous on-site energy efficiency diagnostics of industrial manufacturing sites (e.g., steel, cement, chemicals and pharma, dairy)
Selected roles as senior advisor to large sustainability strategies:
Sustainability Strategy for Kazakhstan
Energy Strategy for Singapore
Education
MSc in Engineering Physics, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm (2003)
Russian Language and Culture, State University of St Petersburg (2001)
L3 qualifications in Resource Productive Operations at McKinsey & Company
Location
Boulder, CO
Twitter
@KochBlank
Authored Works
Outlet Blog Post
We know that a higher-than-1.5°C pathway will result in severe natural disasters, including flooding, rising sea levels, hurricanes, drought, and lethal temperature exposures. The increasing regularity of these extreme climate events will create drastic stresses on food and water supply, with ripple effects including hunger, market disruption, increased migration, and…
insight
Pressure is building on companies to disclose the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that form both the direct and indirect carbon footprint of their operations. In aggregate, industrial supply chains are responsible for over 40 percent of all GHG emissions.
Outlet Blog Post
“New Record Set for World’s Cheapest Solar.” A headline like this makes for great social media fodder. The downward trend in renewables prices is fantastic—it’s the most important driver for the growth of solar and wind energy. However, when your business or utility is comparing different energy projects, looking…
insight
A growing number of electric cooperatives and municipal utilities are capturing the economic, grid, and environmental benefits from community-scale solar (CSS) installations as institutional barriers to development are addressed for this emerging technology solution, according to a new report by Rocky Mountain Institute.
Outlet Blog Post
Yesterday, the U.S. government presented a new challenge for the clean energy industry. The confused logic of the solar PV import tariff challenges all reason: intended to boost the domestic manufacturing of cells and modules—which currently employs less than 38,000 people—and add some jobs while reducing imports, the tariff also…
Outlet Blog Post
Will 2018 be the year when solar power reaches so-called grid parity, providing a cost of energy over its operating life that is equal to or less than the cost of energy from existing conventional energy sources? This levelized cost of energy (LCOE) comparison informs new grid investments and, as…
