Emma Cox

Senior VP, Impact

Emma serves as the Senior Vice President of Impact at ClimeCo. She generates new opportunities, supports existing accounts, and explores how to strengthen existing services for the Sustainability, Policy & Advisory Team. Before joining ClimeCo, Emma built and headed the Impact & Sustainability practice at MSL, a global PR and communications agency, helping companies better tell their stories and drive progress around environmental sustainability, social impact, DEI, and purpose.

Previously, Emma was the Global Renewable Energy Lead for McDonald’s Corporation, where she built and executed a strategy to achieve their ambitious climate goals. Within three years, she procured enough renewable energy equivalent to planting over 70 million trees. Emma also sat on the Board of Directors for the Clean Energy Buyers Alliance (CEBA). She advocated for a clean energy policy on Capitol Hill to make renewable energy more accessible and affordable for all. She incorporated environmental justice, human rights, and community impact considerations into McDonald’s procurement strategy, demonstrating that large brands can use their Scale for Good to transform the renewable energy market. In 2020, McDonald’s became the US’s fourth-largest corporate buyer of renewable energy. Emma also led all energy, water, and waste sustainability programs for the 15,000 restaurants in the US before heading up renewable energy for McDonald’s.

Before joining McDonald’s, Emma focused on driving impact through environmental and social sustainability. After graduating from Columbia University, she worked for the US Green Building Council, then moved to Chicago to lead business development and marketing for Green Per Square Foot, an energy and sustainability tech start-up. Emma later led the energy and sustainability consulting group at Cushman & Wakefield, where she worked with large occupier clients to develop their ESG strategies and created tools to help them achieve their goals.

Having worked in many areas within Sustainability, Emma has a diverse skillset but has always had a passion for improving the world. At home, she is Mom to three young kids with her husband and enjoys cooking and finding new restaurants to try in Chicago, where they live.