Alumni Excellence Award Recipient: Jennifer Jenkins ’16

Winning a Nobel Prize wasn’t part of Jennifer Jenkins ’16 MBA’s life prospectus growing up in Washington, D.C. Instead, she was simply a kid who was thrilled with science. 

The daughter of an environmental toxicologist mother, Jenkins’ passion bloomed in the seventh grade at the National Cathedral School for Girls. There, curiosity was both expected and virtuous. “We were girls doing science,” she says. “Because, of course we were.” 

Flash ahead to 2007 and Jenkins, then a scientist appointed to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, shared the Nobel Peace Prize with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and other Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) scientists, all of whom were raising awareness about human-made climate change and the dangers of global warming. 

Today, Jenkins lives in Massachusetts and is Chief Science Officer at Rubicon Carbon, an investment and management firm that helps businesses manage, buy and invest in high-quality carbon credits in the voluntary carbon market. The VCM supports carbon offsetting initiatives, such as renewable energy projects, reforestation and carbon capture technologies. 

Carbon dioxide emissions – caused by the burning of fossil fuels – are a top source of global warming. Jenkins has always found inspiration in the natural world, and while the rate of climate change can be “depressing,” she’s driven to advocate for places that long have held a personal allure. 

“I spent my summers in high school in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest,” she says. “I was always hiking, kayaking, river rafting and rock climbing – all sorts of adventures. All of that was really foundational for me.” 

Jenkins joined the private sector after spending years working in academia and government, including a stint with the EPA during the Obama administration. She grew frustrated at the pace of government climate action. The process was too political, too limited. 

Earning an MBA at Maryland allowed Jenkins to move into the private sector, “where the emissions are actually happening.” She remains connected to her alma mater, serving on the board of the Center for Social Value Creation, which sponsors speakers, conferences and fellowships through the Robert H. Smith School of Business. 

Jenkins is widely known for developing the “Jenkins equations”: formulas that are used nationally to measure tree biomass – specifically, the number of trees in a region, and the amount of carbon trees absorb. 

Trees are a reliable carbon “sink,” absorbing carbon-based emissions, which make them important players in the battle against climate change. The work helped to earn Jenkins a seat at the IPCC. 

She’s understated about her Nobel. “It’s always been weird when people say I got the Nobel Prize,” Jenkins says. “I was part of the IPCC. We were just doing our job.” Still, she admits it carries weight and responsibility. “Now I feel like I have to live up to it.” 

The voluntary carbon market, meanwhile, is struggling in the face of the current political climate. Growth has slowed. New companies are hesitant to enter. Jenkins doesn’t sugarcoat the reality. “We’re not moving fast enough,” she says. “Global emissions are still increasing. As an environmentalist, as a climate change activist, I just have to keep working.”