MCS Appoints New Director of External Affairs

4 August 2020

MCS, the certification scheme for low-carbon technology, is pleased to announce the appointment of David Cowdrey as Director of External Affairs from July. 

David Cowdrey brings 25 years’ experience of successful political lobbying, and a track record of working for several leading environmental and conservation organisations. He will now lead the development and delivery of the external affairs strategy for MCS. 

Ian Rippin, CEO of MCS said: “We are delighted to welcome David on board. He brings a wealth of experience that we know will allow him to support our strategic aims of influencing government policy for the benefit of our industry at a critical time for renewable energy. 

Our policy landscape is a complex and quickly evolving one. We’ve worked hard to build relationships with government and now, with David’s expertise we hope to push this to the next level for the benefit of all our stakeholders. His appointment demonstrates our commitment to achieving a government policy environment that can support the sustainable growth of the small-scale renewables sector, benefitting consumers, MCS certified contractors and the manufacturers of MCS certified products alike.” 

David said: “I am looking forward to taking on this new challenge and fully support the mission of MCS – to give people confidence in low-carbon energy technology by defining, maintaining and improving quality. 

I look forward to helping MCS to influence the agenda and transform the way our energy is generated, and our homes are built.  I am thrilled to be joining MCS at this exciting time and to have the chance to play an active role in advocating real solutions that will not only boost the UK’s Green Economy, but as we help more and more people embrace a home-grown energy future.” 

David has a passion for political advocacy campaigning to create real substantive change and works extensively across the UK political environment. His experience ranges from the Environment Agency, WWF, RSPCA and IFAW and he was recently responsible for helping to introduce one of the toughest Ivory bans in the world through his advocacy campaigns.