Executive Director, Asia-Pacific
Stephanie Downes joined WRAP as the Executive Director for the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region in January 2025. She is a passionate leader with over 20 years' experience in using science-based evidence to tackle global climate and sustainability issues, adaptation and resilience, and help transform global value chains.
Prior to joining WRAP, Stephanie was a national Director in Deloitte Australia’s Climate & Sustainability team, bringing climate data and research directly to Board-level decision-making and strategy through advisory services for major governments, and for dozens of large organisations (including across waste, recycling, retail, insurance, FMCGs, insurance, health, energy, and heavy industrials sectors) in over 20 countries.
She helped pioneer a future climate projections tool (Deloitte Decarbonisation Solutions) to support climate adaptation, risk management, and potential financial impacts anywhere globally.
Stephanie worked in government, having led the program research design and project planning for the $18M NSW government climate resilience program supporting NSW government’s climate strategy, local councils and critical infrastructure.
She has a PhD in ocean and climate sciences and over a decade of academic research experience in global climate change trends and was an expert reviewer for the past 5 IPCC reports. She also has extensive experience in implementing climate and sustainability standards globally.
Stephanie strives to includes circular living in her daily life and educate her children on use of preloved and reusable textiles, reusable packaging, and growing many fruits and vegetables in her yard.