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Sophie Underwood

PartnerBrisbane

Leader in McKinsey’s Sustainability Practice in Australia and New Zealand, and managing partner of our Brisbane office

A sustainability expert, Sophie is passionate about working with her clients to solve their toughest challenges on the path to net-zero and achieve their broader ESG goals. She holds a broad, pragmatic view, having served financial institutions, mining companies, telecommunications and technology companies, NGOs, and governments across the UK, Asia, and her native country, Australia.

Sophie’s work is informed by the perspective that the climate challenge is one of the biggest humanitarian efforts facing the world today, and that the private, public, and social sectors each have a critical role to play in enabling the transition to net-zero. This has been cultivated through her work, which includes:

  • Serving a leading Australian bank to develop its net-zero strategy, including the articulation of its climate ambition, and building sector-level glidepaths for financed emissions
  • Working with a leading infrastructure investor to develop a transition strategy, including scenario analysis, Paris target setting, transition risk identification, and climate-related capability building
  • Contribution to McKinsey’s global research into the net-zero transition, and the socioeconomic impact across sectors and geographies of transitioning to a decarbonised economy
  • Helping multiple leading Singaporean investment companies and financiers develop their net-zero strategies, including identifying ‘green’ opportunities while assessing climate risk

Sophie is also passionate about sustainability and economic development in her home state of Queensland, where she leads the local McKinsey office.

Sophie couples her sustainability knowledge with a sophisticated understanding of Australia’s regulatory and policy landscape, which is drawn from her prior role as an associate to a justice at the High Court of Australia, and a lawyer at Allens.

When not consulting clients or leading colleagues in her home state of Queensland, Sophie can be found at the park or on the beach with her young family.

Published work

The net-zero transition: What it would cost, what it could bring,” McKinsey & Company, January 2022

In the battle against climate change”, McKinsey & Company, March 2022

Managing financed emissions: How banks can support the net-zero transition”, McKinsey & Company, November 2022

Past Experience

Associate to the Hon Chief Justice Kiefel AC, High Court of Australia
Lawyer, Allens

Education

Bachelor of Laws (Hons I) (Valedictorian), University of Queensland
Bachelor of Commerce, University of Queensland