Gus Stovold

Current Employer/Organisation Name

Morelli Consulting Ltd. 

What have you been doing since leaving Exeter, and what are you doing now?

Since leaving Exeter, I have been working in London as a sustainability consultant. My first role was an internship with a challenger consultancy firm called Anthesis, then moving to one of the “Big 4” (EY) and then returning back to Anthesis, and finally landing on the boutique firm that I currently work at. My first permanent role was as a generalist sustainability consultant at EY, which allowed me to have a broad exposure and training to all the different elements of sustainability consulting (social sustainability, climate change, governance and reporting etc). I then specialised in Climate Risk in my move to Anthesis, where I developed the global methodology for assessing the financial impact of climate-related risks and opportunities. This was an amazing experience, but after specialising early in my career I wanted to branch back out again and provide more holistic advisory services. In order to do this, I moved to a boutique firm that focuses on building long-term partnerships with clients, acting as an embedded support network for in-house sustainability teams. 

Why did you choose this career? And what do you enjoy most about your work?

I chose this career because I wanted to work in something that was impactful, whilst also grounded in professionalism. I did a variety of internships during university, a couple as part of work modules (including third sector) and one as part of the Green Consultants module that Penryn used to run. On that one I decided that sustainability consulting was for me – I love it because it’s like working for a new company every time you get a new client, and you have the ability to understand in detail a very broad range of stakeholders and sectors. I also thoroughly enjoy the opportunity to speak about climate change to people who wouldn’t normally hear about it (e.g. finance teams). 

What did you enjoy most about your programme and what was the biggest highlight?

It was very easy to tailor my degree towards my interests – because I was a combined honours student, I think I had one compulsory module per year, and the rest were all elective from either social sciences or humanities. This meant that I could study topics that were interesting to me, allowing me to develop my own thought process on how I wanted to conduct my degree. The highlight was being able to write my dissertation on the relationship between Queerness and Environmentalism, which I genuinely don’t think I would’ve been able to do elsewhere. 

What did you most enjoy about studying here?

Studying in Penryn was the best. The class sizes were intimate, the modules were varied and inclusive, and the setting is incredible. 

Why did you choose to study at Exeter?

I primarily chose to study at Exeter because of Penryn and where it was in the world – it was the only Russel Group university that has a beach and a lovely town, as well as a strong reputation with employers.