About us

Opilio snow crab - sustainability advisory on affected communities

Guided by resilience.

We provide sustainability advisory on affected communities, supporting organizations to manage risks and strengthen resilience across nature-dependent supply chains and across investment portfolios.

Opilio is a name inspired by quiet strength and ecological interconnection. It refers to the marine snow crab — Chionoecetes opilio —  a sentinel species for climate disruption whose rapid population decline signals the growing instability of ocean ecosystems and the interconnected systems beyond.

Our work centers on protecting forest ecosystems and the communities that depend on them, while recognizing the deep interdependence of land, water, and life. In practice, we help organizations identify, assess, and manage environmental and social risks. Our goal is to align economic activity with ecological integrity, and the rights of Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and nature.

From forest floors to ocean depths, our work bridges the systems that sustain life. In a time of accelerating climate vulnerability and ecological breakdown, Opilio provides clear, grounded guidance — helping partners navigate complexity and uphold their responsibilities with transparency, accountability, and care.

Guided by resilience.

We provide sustainability advisory on affected communities, supporting organizations to manage risks and strengthen resilience across nature-dependent supply chains.

Opilio is a name inspired by quiet strength and ecological interconnection. It refers to the marine snow crab — Chionoecetes opilio —  a sentinel species for climate disruption whose rapid population decline signals the growing instability of ocean ecosystems and the interconnected systems beyond.

Our work centers on protecting forest ecosystems and the communities that depend on them, while recognizing the deep interdependence of land, water, and life. At Opilio, we help organizations identify, assess, and manage environmental and social risks — supporting alignment between economic activity, ecological integrity, and the rights of Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and nature.

From forest floors to ocean depths, our work bridges the systems that sustain life. In a time of accelerating climate vulnerability and ecological breakdown, Opilio provides clear, grounded guidance — helping partners navigate complexity and uphold their responsibilities with transparency, accountability, and care.

Opilio snow crab - sustainability advisory on affected communities

Rooted in values.
Designed for impact.

Opilio is a boutique ESG consultancy. We provide sustainability advisory on affected communities by helping organizations identify, assess, and address risks and material impacts on Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and ecosystems—especially across biodiversity, forest, climate, deforestation, and land conversion contexts.

We provide expert support to companies, financial institutions, and ESG & sustainability firms operating in nature-dependent sectors, strengthening rights-based engagement, resilience-building, and shared value.

As a sustainability advisory on affected communities, we strengthen rights-based engagement, resilience-building, and shared value creation.

Founded by Nicole Perkins Baddou, Opilio brings over 20 years of global experience in sustainability, climate, conservation, and social impact, with fieldwork across Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Americas. Nicole’s work has shaped responsible investment and sourcing strategies, Indigenous and community rights integration, and climate-resilient development for governments, NGOs, corporate clients, and global partnerships.

How We're Structured

Opilio Advisory Ltd. is a founder-led, purpose-driven practice with a growing network of aligned collaborators and service partners. Rather than following a traditional consultancy model, Opilio operates as a nimble, networked platform—designed to scale and adapt flexibly to each client’s needs, geography, and context.

This structure allows us to:

  • Draw on deep subject-matter expertise across Indigenous rights, ESG reporting, FPIC, biodiversity, and social performance;
  • Mobilize culturally competent, locally rooted collaborators when direct community engagement or facilitation is required;
  • Maintain a lean, responsive approach while delivering credible, high-impact solutions for corporate and sustainability clients.

 

Whether integrating community perspectives into ESG diagnostics and double materiality assessments, designing locally grounded engagement strategies, translating material risks into actionable mitigation plans, co-creating shared value frameworks, or strengthening community engagement governance aligned with ESG disclosure standards—Opilio offers clients a trusted, fit-for-purpose partner. Our flexible model supports the delivery of high-impact services across diverse geographies and contexts, grounded in strategic insight, field legitimacy, and lived experience.

Forest moss

What We Stand For

Our mission is to advance responsible corporate practices and foster resilient communities, ecosystems, and supply chains—anchored in biodiversity protection, forest stewardship, and climate resilience—through collaborative, culturally respectful engagement with affected communities.

Six core principles guide our work:

Why Opilio?

  • We work alongside communities centering rights, knowledge, and co-benefits.
  • As a provider of sustainability advisory on affected communities, we understand affected community-related ESG complexity across sectors, regions, and portfolios — from disclosure frameworks to community engagement to grievance mechanisms and derisking investments.
  • From strategy to implementation, we build practical solutions — from rights holder and affected community engagement strategies to shared value creation and impact monitoring frameworks.
  • We bring a global lens with localized intelligence — prioritizing legitimacy, equity, and sustainability.
Tree canopy

Who We Work With

We support corporations, ESG consultancies, foundations, and investors — and collaborate with Indigenous and civil society partners, researchers, and sustainability intermediaries to co-create place-based solutions.

Where We Work

While Opilio is based in British Columbia, Canada, our scope is global. We work across diverse geographies — from forest landscapes and mining regions to agribusiness and renewable energy supply chains.

Meet the Founder

GRI Certified Sustainability Professional

Sustainability leadership rooted in collaboration, resilience, and rights-based practice.

Nicole Perkins Baddou is the Founding Principal of Opilio and a sustainability strategy advisor with over 20 years of international experience advancing ethical and regenerative supply chains.

Nicole helps corporations and mission-aligned partners identify, assess, and address risks and material impacts on Indigenous Peoples, local communities, forests, and ecosystems. She works across agriculture, forestry, mining, renewable energy, and the financial sectors to reduce risk and to increase resilience and shared value. Her expertise includes sustainability advisory on affected communities in nature-dependent sectors, ensuring impactful strategies that are both globally-aligned and locally-relevant.

Throughout her career, Nicole has worked across Africa, North America, Europe, and Southeast Asia, advising multinational corporations, ESG advisory firms, funders, investors, development organizations, Indigenous partners, and policymakers. She brings grounded expertise to ESG frameworks and disclosure standards, including GRI, TNFD, CSRD/ESRS, and the Accountability Framework Initiative (AFi), translating them into practical, locally adapted action for businesses and supply chains.

Nicole’s background includes:

  • Designing culturally informed stakeholder engagement strategies that strengthen ESG disclosures and build trusted, long-term partnerships with affected communities
  • Mobilizing over $100 million in funding for green investment, climate resilience, and community-driven development initiatives
  • Contributing to global initiatives, including the development of the Battery Passport through the Global Battery Alliance (GBA)  working groups, advancing traceability, human rights due diligence, and nature-positive supply chain practices
  • Advising on affected community-related double materiality assessments, ethical sourcing strategies, and carbon and climate finance programs
  • Leading inclusive stakeholder processes and resilience-building programs across forest landscapes, agricultural frontiers, and climate-vulnerable regions

Nicole holds a Master of Applied Science (MASc) in Environmental Policy and Management from the University of Denver, a Certificate in Forest Carbon Management from the University of British Columbia’s (UBC) Faculty of Forestry, and is a GRI Certified Sustainability Professional.

Fluent in English and French, Nicole is based in British Columbia, Canada, and works globally to help bridge corporate sustainability commitments with tangible, community-centered outcomes.

Meet the Founder

GRI Certified Sustainability Professional

Sustainability leadership rooted in collaboration, resilience, and rights-based practice.

Nicole Perkins Baddou is the Founding Principal of Opilio and a ESG and sustainability strategy advisor with over 20 years of international experience advancing ethical and regenerative supply chains.

Nicole specializes in supporting corporations and mission-aligned partners to identify, assess, and address risks and material impacts on Indigenous Peoples, local communities, forests, and ecosystems across nature-dependent sectors, including agriculture, forestry, mining, and renewable energy, in order to increase resilience and shared value.

Throughout her career, Nicole has worked across Africa, North America, Europe, and Southeast Asia, advising multinational corporations, ESG advisory firms, funders, investors, development organizations, Indigenous partners, and policymakers. She brings grounded expertise to ESG frameworks and disclosure standards, including GRI, TNFD, CSRD/ESRS, and the Accountability Framework Initiative (AFi), translating them into practical, context-responsive action for businesses and supply chains.

Nicole’s background includes:

  • Designing culturally informed stakeholder engagement strategies that strengthen ESG disclosures and build trusted, long-term partnerships with affected communities
  • Mobilizing over $100 million in funding for green investment, climate resilience, and community-driven development initiatives
  • Contributing to global initiatives, including the development of the Battery Passport through the Global Battery Alliance (GBA)  working groups, advancing traceability, human rights due diligence, and nature-positive supply chain practices
  • Advising on affected community-related double materiality assessments, ethical sourcing strategies, and carbon and climate finance programs
  • Leading inclusive stakeholder processes and resilience-building programs across forest landscapes, agricultural frontiers, and climate-vulnerable regions

 

Nicole holds a Master of Applied Science (MASc) in Environmental Policy and Management from the University of Denver, a Certificate in Forest Carbon Management from the University of British Columbia’s (UBC) Faculty of Forestry, and is a GRI Certified Sustainability Professional.

Fluent in English and French, Nicole is based in British Columbia, Canada, and works globally to help bridge corporate sustainability commitments with tangible, community-centered outcomes.

 

Meet the Founder

GRI Certified Sustainability Professional

Sustainability leadership rooted in collaboration, resilience, and rights-based practice.

Nicole Perkins Baddou is the Founding Principal of Opilio and a  sustainability strategy advisor with over 20 years of international experience advancing ethical and regenerative supply chains.

Nicole helps corporations and mission-aligned partners identify, assess, and address risks and material impacts on Indigenous Peoples, local communities, forests, and ecosystems. She works across agriculture, forestry, mining, and renewable energy to increase resilience and shared value. Her expertise includes sustainability advisory on affected communities in nature-dependent sectors, ensuring impactful strategies that are both globally-aligned and locally-relevant.

Throughout her career, Nicole has worked across Africa, North America, Europe, and Southeast Asia, advising multinational corporations, ESG advisory firms, funders, investors, development organizations, Indigenous partners, and policymakers. She brings grounded expertise to ESG frameworks and disclosure standards, including GRI, TNFD, CSRD/ESRS, and the Accountability Framework Initiative (AFi), translating them into practical, locally adapted action for businesses and supply chains.

Nicole’s background includes:

  • Designing culturally informed stakeholder engagement strategies that strengthen ESG disclosures and build trusted, long-term partnerships with affected communities
  • Mobilizing over $100 million in funding for green investment, climate resilience, and community-driven development initiatives
  • Contributing to global initiatives, including the development of the Battery Passport through the Global Battery Alliance (GBA)  working groups, advancing traceability, human rights due diligence, and nature-positive supply chain practices
  • Advising on affected community-related double materiality assessments, ethical sourcing strategies, and carbon and climate finance programs
  • Leading inclusive stakeholder processes and resilience-building programs across forest landscapes, agricultural frontiers, and climate-vulnerable regions

 

Nicole holds a Master of Applied Science (MASc) in Environmental Policy and Management from the University of Denver, a Certificate in Forest Carbon Management from the University of British Columbia’s (UBC) Faculty of Forestry, and is a GRI Certified Sustainability Professional.

Fluent in English and French, Nicole is based in British Columbia, Canada, and works globally to help bridge corporate sustainability commitments with tangible, community-centered outcomes.

 

Our Values

Core Principles

Guiding everything we do at Opilio

Respect for Indigenous Rights and Jurisdiction

We honor the sovereignty, self-determination, and traditions of Indigenous Peoples globally. Our work is grounded in FPIC and bridges Indigenous and jurisdictional governance to achieve shared sustainability and stewardship goals.

Protection of
Natural Ecosystems

We support deforestation-free and conversion-free supply chains. Our approach safeguards biodiversity and ecosystem functions essential to long-term social and environmental resilience.

Human Rights and
Social Equity

We embed global human rights standards in all our work. We prioritize dignity, inclusivity, and the meaningful participation of marginalized groups, including women, Indigenous Peoples, and local communities.

Collaborative and
Inclusive Engagement

We support the co-creation of solutions through culturally grounded, rights-respecting engagement with affected rightsholders and stakeholders. Our facilitation models emphasize local knowledge and shared leadership.

Transparency and Accountability

We uphold ethical communication and mutual accountability — and help clients strengthen theirs through human rights principles and ESG-aligned disclosure frameworks including GRI 101, GRI 411, GRI 413, ESRS S3, TNFD, and the UNGPs.

Continuous Learning
and Adaptation

We believe in reflective practice. We evolve our tools and strategies through iterative design, feedback from partners, and deep listening to those most affected by ESG decisions.

Our Commitment to the SDGs

At Opilio, we are committed to supporting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through rights-based ESG strategies that build resilience for communities, ecosystems, and supply chains.


Our services contribute directly to several global goals, particularly in the areas of climate resilience, biodiversity protection, ethical sourcing, and equitable governance.

SDG Alignment

SDG

Goal

How Opilio contributes
Responsible Consumption & Production We help companies align ESG strategy with sustainable procurement and production practices, especially across forest, agriculture, mineral and nature-dependent consumer goods supply chains.
Climate Action Our advisory services integrate community climate risk planning and resilience dialogues.
Life on Land We support biodiversity co-benefits, community land rights, and forest ecosystem protection through investment planning and new regenerative models.
Partnership for the Goals We co-create solutions with Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and social ventures to achieve shared sustainability outcomes. This work is supported through our sustainability advisory on affected communities.

Opilio supports the Sustainable Development Goals

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