Meg McDonald has career experience at senior levels in business and government across the fields of energy and environment. From 2013 to 2015, she was the chief operating officer of the Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC) and from 2010 to 2013, she was the chief executive of Low Carbon Australia Limited (LCAL) where she led the organisation’s development of innovative financial solutions for energy efficiency and investment partnerships for financing projects deploying low emissions technologies. Over three years, LCAL financed more than $80 million in projects valued at over $270 million. LCAL merged with the CEFC in 2013. From 2002 to 2010, Ms McDonald held roles with the global resources and manufacturing corporation Alcoa, including as director of global issues at Alcoa in New York and as global president of Alcoa Foundation. The Foundation was one of the largest US corporate foundations, managing a fund with assets of over US$500 million and made annual grants up to US$50 million across 24 countries in environment, sustainability and social projects. While in the Australian Public Service from 1978 to 2002, Ms McDonald had roles across a variety of portfolios including as a senior Australian diplomat and in Geneva as assistant secretary of environment and Antarctic branch, and in the Australian Embassy in Washington as Australia’s deputy chief of mission to the US. As Australia’s Ambassador for the Environment from 1997 to 1998, Ms McDonald was Australia’s lead negotiator for the Kyoto Protocol and played a key role in shaping those negotiations and other environment treaties. She holds an Honours Degree in Applied Science from the University of NSW and has served on boards and a variety of advisory bodies in Australia and the US.
