Ricardo Tomé

Ricardo is a biologist and ecologist who specialises in the impacts of renewable energy on biodiversity. His 15 years’ experience in environmental services has been focused on wind energy-wildlife conflicts and on implementing the mitigation hierarchy to address the impacts of onshore and offshore energy projects.

A strong proponent of the power of technology to drive positive conservation outcomes, Ricardo has led the design and successful implementation of several turbine shutdown on-demand programmes in Djibouti, Egypt, Israel and Portugal, and is a specialist in radar ornithology – applying the technology to reduce bird collision risk and to study bird movements.

Beyond renewable energy, he has gained broad experience reconciling development with the conservation of biodiversity in complex environments, and in complying with lender’s environmental standards (IFC PS6, World Bank ESS6, EBRD PR6).

A committed nature conservationist, Ricardo sat on the Board of Directors of the Portuguese partner of BirdLife International for nine years, serving as President for two mandates. He was also involved in the initial design of BirdLife International’s Soaring Bird Sensitivity Map tool, as well as in other guidance and risk evaluation approaches.

Ricardo is based in Portugal and besides his native language, is fluent in English and Spanish and manages quite well in French.