![Image by Flintpro. Image by Flintpro.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/32XghFRykTWK8psrWNhdBMC/8b735c09-3e9f-47aa-a781-21fd436a0c61.jpeg/r0_138_1080_769_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
One of Australia's most established players in the fast emerging carbon accounting sector, has chosen a former US military police captain and scientist to lead the company's push into the US market, and beyond.
Subscribe now for unlimited access to all our agricultural news
across the nation
or signup to continue reading
In Colorado, Tina Morris has taken the helm at natural capital accounting software and consulting company, Flintpro, from its Canberra-based co-founder and climate scientist, Dr Rob Waterworth.
Her appointment means the business, known, until recently, as Mullion Group, moves its headquarters to America as part of a plan to beef up services to farmers and other landholders overseas.
Over the past decade Mullion Group has gained international expertise in greenhouse gas inventory systems, providing policy and technical advice to governments, non-profit and business organisations on sustainable forest and land management practices.
Its Fintpro analytics platform measures and predicts land-based greenhouse gas emissions and carbon sequestration options.
RELATED READING
Ms Morris joined after four years as chief operating officer with global financial research and commodity analysis outfit, Standard and Poor's Global Ratings, and 20 years in total with S&P in New York.
Prior to that, the second generation West Point Military Academy graduate spent seven years in the US Army and military police based in Hawaii and the Guantanamo Bay military prison in Cuba.
She also has science and business degrees.
Her appointment will mean Flintpro's headquarters shifts to Fort Collins in Colorado from where the company plans to turbocharge growth of its services, funded in part by a $13.5 million capital raising from investors in May.
Lucky old Colorado
"Colorado is not just a relatively central part of the US and a prominent ranching state, it's a vibrant startup environment with a lot of financial and climate technology expertise," Ms Morris said.
"It's a great base for environmental science initiatives, with a lot of ideas coming out of Colorado State University and the University of Colorado."
![Tina Morris Tina Morris](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/32XghFRykTWK8psrWNhdBMC/55f279d6-32c0-467b-aacc-6d8957b89e88.jpg/r0_617_2602_2283_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Flintpro uses geospatial mapping and converts remote sensing data to model carbon emissions from farmland, forests, coastal mangroves and heaths and grassland.
Its service was developed so farmers or corporate landholders could capture and manage their own data without needing external consultants to perform carbon accounting.
The newly re-branded company's expansion overseas comes as more businesses look to nature-based solutions such as the agricultural and forestry sectors to sequester and offset carbon in credible ways.
Flintpro wants to cement itself as a leading platform for land sector sustainability and greenhouse gas estimation in the US market and eventually Britain and Europe where large global corporates are pushing for net zero projects and environmental credentials and want credible transparency.
It will also target financial institutions and asset managers looking to measure carbon footprints and participate in carbon offset projects.
Credibility, transparency
"I see incredible potential in our technology and believe in its mission to bring transparency and a credible methodology to the carbon accounting space," said Ms Morris.
Although his business is spreading its base offshore, Flintpro co-founder and former CEO, Dr Waterworth, will remain in Australia, leading research and innovation.
He said, unfortunately, while Australia was a nation of innovators, its geographical isolation and relatively small customer and capital market base often hamstrung the growth of brilliant local technologies, making the North American push a common sense move.
Dr Waterworth is a recognised leader in land sector monitoring and management with a focus on greenhouse gas estimation.
His credentials include being an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change author and expert reviewer and recipient of Australia's premier science award, the Eureka Prize.
Earlier this year he won the Telstra national Embracing Innovation Award.
"We've got a series of new global products under development for launch in the near future that will change how we can integrate spatial data into systems," he said.
There's a lot of semi-solutions out there so it really helps to sit down with clients, and describe all the challenges
- Dr Rob Waterworth, Flintpro.
For some carbon management and realistically accounting for greenhouse gas emissions could be a "very confusing space".
"There's a lot of semi-solutions out there so it really helps to sit down with clients, and describe all the challenges at the technical, policy, and reporting levels, showing how we can meet those and deliver them," he said
"Tina has delivered multiple metrics and software platforms before and can clearly take products that have a fantastic base out to the market."
Start the day with all the big news in agriculture! Sign up below to receive our daily Farmonline newsletter.