chatham house pavilion speakers at cop26 nov 2021
https://chathamhouse.cplus.live/event/chatham-house-climate-risk-and-security-pavilion
Antony Froggatt joined Chatham House in 2007 and is deputy director and a senior research fellow in the Environment and Society Programme. He has worked as an independent consultant for 20 years with environmental groups, academics and public bodies in Europe and Asia. At Chatham House, he specializes on global electricity policy and the public understanding of climate change. His most recent research projects cover the energy and climate policy implications of Brexit, the technological and policy transformation of the power sector, and the COP26 summit.
Oleksandr Dombrovskyi is occupied with the implementation of ‘green’ technologies within one of the most ecologically responsible businesses in Ukraine – agro-industrial holding MHP. Mr. Dombrovskyi is a co-founder and the Chairman of the Board of Public Union Global 100% RE Ukraine. He was the founder of one of the first IT and engineering companies in Ukraine. He served as Mayor of Vinnytsia, Head of Vinnytsia Regional State Administration, People’s deputy of Ukraine of the 7th and 8th convocations, Acting Head of the Energy Committee of the Verkhovna Rada. He holds a PhD in Economics.
Olga Stefanishyna was appointed as the Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine in 2020. Prior to that, she worked as Director of the Government Office for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, and served as Director-General of the Government Office for Coordination of European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. She graduated as a lawyer from International Law Faculty, Institute of International Relations, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, specialty. In 2016, she received a diploma in Finance and Credit from Odessa National University of Economics. She was awarded the Diploma of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.
Maxim has been DTEK’s Chief Executive Officer since 2005. Under his leadership, DTEK has evolved from a regional conventional energy company to Ukraine’s largest private investor as well as leading energy company. Since its inception 15 years ago, DTEK has invested USD 11.9 billion in Ukraine’s energy sector and the country’s sustainable development over past 15 years. In 2020, Maxim Timchenko presented DTEK's new 2030 strategy, based on ESG principles, as well as plans and actions for DTEK's transformation into a modern digital company. This would see the company become an innovative, environmentally-friendly and technologically advanced organisation, serving as the leading player in Ukraine's new economy.
Professor Tim G. Benton leads the Environment and Society Programme at Chatham House. He joined Chatham House in 2016 as a distinguished visiting fellow, at which time he was also Dean of Strategic Research Initiatives at the University of Leeds. From 2011 to 2016, he was the ‘champion’ of the UK’s multi-agency Global Food Security programme.
Tim has worked with UK governments, the EU and the G20. He has been
a global agenda steward of the World Economic Forum, and is a co-author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Special Report on Food, Climate Change and Land (2019) and of the UK’s Climate Change Risk Assessment (2017, 2022).
Tim has published more than 150 academic papers, many of these tackling how systems respond to environmental change. His work on sustainability leadership has been recognized with an honorary fellowship of the UK’s Society for the Environment, and an honorary doctorate from the Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium.
Dr Sam Geall is executive director of China Dialogue and associate faculty at the University of Sussex. His research focuses on climate policy and politics, energy transition, and environmental governance in China, as well as the impact of Chinese investment through the Belt and Road Initiative. He edited China and the Environment: The Green Revolution (Zed Books, 2013).
Sam’s writing has appeared in many leading publications, including The Guardian, Financial Times, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Index on Censorship, and Nikkei Asian Review. He has been interviewed extensively by media outlets including the BBC, PRI, Al Jazeera, and Monocle 24.
Sam was formerly departmental lecturer in Human Geography of China at the University of Oxford. He has a PhD in Social Anthropology from University of Manchester, a BA in Modern Chinese Studies from University of Leeds and was a Kennedy scholar at Harvard University. He is a fellow of the RSA and a senior visiting research fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies.
GUO Jiangwen is a Senior Research Fellow with the Environment and Society Programme at Chatham House. She specialised in energy policy in emerging economics, environment governance, sustainable supply chain, and green growth plan and implementation. She holds more than 20 years’ experience in the related areas in developing countries with significant policy deployment. She is currently directing the UK-China climate risk assessment project with strategic guidance to ensure that climate risk assessment leads to effective climate risk management at the global, national, and subnational levels.
Claire works on international cooperation, the energy transition and financial diplomacy. Her role focuses on making the case and providing concrete opportunities for countries to cooperate for faster climate action. Part of Claire’s responsibility is working with the UK, EU, US and other allies to promote cooperative geopolitics and concrete initiatives. Claire and her team are working on making climate a key part of the COVID-19 geopolitical and global governance agenda through ambitious plans spanning the G7 and G20, international finance institutions and the Convention on Biological Diversity. They are also working on landing a successful UN Climate Change Conference, COP26 in 2021. Prior to working at E3G, Claire worked in International Affairs at the US Department of Energy. Former roles include International Director for Al Gore’s Alliance on Climate Protection, Head of Delivery for Mayor of Los Angeles and Head of Policy for the British Labour Party. Claire has post-graduate degrees from Harvard’s Kennedy School and LSE.
Peter Betts became an associate fellow of Chatham House in November 2018. Before joining, he was a UK civil servant for nearly 35 years, working in a wide range of government departments.
From 2008 until 2018 he was the director responsible for international climate policy, leading on the UNFCCC negotiations (where he was EU lead negotiator for six years up to 2016) and bilateral engagement, and was responsible for an official development assistance programme worth around £3bn.
From 2016 he was also responsible for international energy.
Simon is Deputy Director at the UK Government’s Cabinet Office COP26 Unit, where he leads work on international campaigns to accelerate low carbon transitions. He previously led a team responsible for international climate change strategy at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy; led the work on energy and clean growth in the government’s Industrial Strategy; and served as head of private office to the Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change, and later to the Minister of State for Climate Change and Industry.
Simon worked at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office for ten years, serving in China and India, and leading on climate change strategy in the run-up to the Paris negotiations in 2015. In this role he created and led a major international project to re-shape the way governments assess the risks of climate change, working with leading experts in the US, China and India.
Simon is a Research Fellow at the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose at UCL, a Policy Fellow of the Centre for Science and Policy at Cambridge University, a member of the UCL Policy Commission on the Communication of Climate Science, and a member of the advisory board of the Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity. He has a background in physics and finance, and an interest in new economic thinking.
Katy Harris is a Senior Policy Fellow at Stockholm Environment Institute Headquarters, with a focus on the global governance of climate change adaptation. She is also the director of Adaptation Without Borders.
Her current work focuses on the concept of transboundary climate risk: how the impacts of climate change in one place can affect others elsewhere, including the ‘ripple effects’ of our own adaptation responses. She is interested in how governance frameworks and policies can better account for our global interdependence (our systems, networks and pathways) and how a better recognition and understanding of transboundary climate risks might enhance multilateral cooperation on adaptation, and ultimately engender a greater global ambition commensurate with the scale of the challenge. Her ultimate concern is to reveal the hidden vulnerabilities associated with unforeseen or emerging climate risks to encourage more just and sustainable responses.
Prior to SEI, Katy worked at the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) and international NGO CAFOD. She has an MA (Hons) in Social Anthropology with Development from the University of Edinburgh.
Magnus Benzie is a Research Fellow at SEI with a focus on climate change adaptation.
He has over 15 years of professional experience in climate change research focusing on climate impacts, vulnerability, risk and adaptation. He has consulted directly with organisations in a variety of sectors to scope and assess climate risks and plan adaptation, working at multiple scales from local and city governments, non-profit sectors, multinational corporations, national government and regional and international bodies. His research work is focused mostly at the global scale or within Europe but has included field work in West and East Africa and Central Asia.
Prior to joining SEI Magnus worked for a climate change and environmental consultancy in the UK (AEA/ Ricardo) and at the Ecologic Institute in Berlin. He has a MA (Politics) from the University of Edinburgh and a MSc (Environmental Policy) from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Arun Shrestha is the Regional Programme Manager of the River Basins and Cryosphere Programme at ICIMOD. He facilitates generations of robust evidence from scientific research, gender responsive practices and capacity building in the areas of river basins and cryosphere. As a Senior Climate Change Specialist, he leads and support projects on climate projection and scenario development across a variety of sectors and apply them for impact assessment.
Sarah focuses on identifying social vulnerability and multi-hazard risk factors to provide science to support socially responsible decision making. She also conducts climate modelling and analysis to understand potential climate risks to human health, sustainable development and urban water supply. Sarah was the Chief Scientific Advisor to the Adapting to Climate Change in China Project (ACCC Phase I and II).
Sarah previously worked with ISET-International on multiple projects, including the Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network and leading Water, Urbanization and Climate Change in Jaipur, India.
Hanne Knaepen is a Policy Officer on climate change issues. She works in the Sustainable Food Systems team of ECDPM’s Economic and Agricultural Transformation programme.
Hanne holds a Master Degree in Japanese Studies from the University of Leuven and a Master-after-Master Degree in European Studies from the Free University of Brussels (ULB), both in Belgium. In addition, she received her doctoral degree in Global Environmental Studies at Kyoto University, Japan, where she resided for a period of four years.
Throughout her PhD she has mainly worked on the issue of mainstreaming climate change adaptation into existing development in Vietnam and she conducted an assessment of the work of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) within this domain. At ECDPM, she aims at further widening the Centre’s scope towards more climate change research and expertise.
Prabhakar SVRK is engaged in policy research in climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction (including drought risk management) and natural resource management. Have proven experience and expertise in participatory research and development, multi-criteria decision making for climate change adaptation, vulnerability and risk assessment, disaster risk management planning, participatory rural appraisals, survey methodologies, project planning and management, monitoring and evaluation, impact assessment, capacity needs assessment, and bioenergy. He was a coordinating Lead Author to the UNEP Geo 6 report, Contributing Author to the IPCC 5th Assessment Report and Lead Author for the ICIMOD HIMAP Report.
As a senior attorney, trained mediator, and private consultant, specializing in climate change and environmental conflict resolution, Joseph Siegel has no shortage of expertise. For over 30 years, he has dedicated his career towards analyzing and addressing this ever-pertinent global dilemma. He is also an Environmental Collaboration and Conflict Resolution Specialist with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Regional Counsel in New York and teaches a variety of related courses, such as Environmental Dispute Resolution and Adaptation to Climate Change, at Haub School of Law at Pace University as well as Hofstra Law School.
Irene Monasterolo is a Professor of Climate Finance at EDHEC. She is a visiting research fellow at Boston University and at the International Institute for Advanced Systems Analysis (IIASA). She was visiting researcher at the Sustainable Finance Initiative at Stanford University (USA), and at the Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa (IT).
Irene’s research is contributing to understand under which conditions finance could be a driver or a barrier to the achievement of the climate targets. She has co-developed the CLIMAFIN tool to price forward-looking climate risks, in particular those stemming from a disorderly low-carbon transition, in the value of financial contracts and investors’ portfolios, to inform decision making under deep uncertainty. In addition, she has developed the EIRIN macroeconomic model to analyse the implications of climate policies on green investments, financial stability and inequality. In particular, her research has focused on how to exploit synergies across policies (fiscal, monetary, prudential), financial instruments and development finance institutions to scale up the climate ambitions and build resilience to climate risks. Currently, her research is supporting the World Bank in the analysis of compound COVID-19 Pandemic, climate change and public finance in developing countries
Sanja Madzarevic-Sujster holds the position of the Senior Economist for the Western Balkan countries and Country Economist for Montenegro and FYR Macedonia. She joined the World Bank in 1999 as an economist where she came from the Ministry of Finance in Croatia. She worked on the European Union countries before the current post, where she led several development policy operations, authored several Public Finance Reviews, Country Economic Memorandums, Regular Economic Reports. Areas of her research focus on macroeconomics and fiscal policy, governance, EU integration, social sectors, underground economy and tax policy. Madzarevic-Sujster holds an M.Sc. in Economics from the University of Zagreb, Faculty of Economics with her PhD at the University of Split in progress. She took a number of professional courses in the London School of Economics, Joint Vienna Institute, WIFO - Vienna, World Bank Institute - Washington. Madzarevic-Sujster also held an associate lecturer position at the Public Finance cathedra at the Zagreb School of Economics and Management from 2003-2007 and was a visiting scholar at the Faculty of Economics, University of Zagreb from 1999-2001.
Romain Svartzman works as an economist on sustainable finance and climate-related risks at the Banque de France. He previously worked for the International Finance Corporation (World Bank Group) as an environmental and social consultant, and as an investor in clean technologies for a French venture capital firm. Svartzman completed his PhD in ecological macroeconomics at McGill University (Canada). He holds a master’s degree in Finance and International Business from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po), as well as a degree in Economics and Law of Climate Change from FLACSO Argentina.
Stefano Battiston is a leading expert in the areas of economic and financial networks, systemic risk, and sustainable finance, as reflected in several top-journal publications and EU project coordination awards. His scientific background in complex systems, combined with 15 years of research in economics and finance, put him in a unique position to understand policy issues both from a quantitative and holistic perspective. The societal and policy relevance of his research is reflected in durable dialogues with a vast network of contacts with EU policymaking institutions and stakeholders. In the recent years, he has been leading a group of 10+ people among researchers and administrative staff, and he has established the FINEXUS Center for Financial Networks and Sustainability at the University of Zurich. He has also been coordinating several EU and Swiss projects on finance and sustainability for a total funding of 9+ million Euros and has been involved in 10+ research grants, overall. His goal is to expand further his innovative research program on complex financial networks and sustainability and to mainstream it in the scientific community and among policy institutions.
Marie Brière is Head of Investor Research Center at AMUNDI (Asset Management of Crédit Agricole and Société Générale) in Paris. She is also Affiliate Professor with Paris Dauphine University and Senior Affiliate Researcher with the Centre Emile Bernheim at Solvay Business School, Université Libre de Bruxelles.
She started her working career in 1998 as a quantitative researcher at the proprietary trading desk at BNP Paribas. She joined Credit Lyonnais Asset Management in 2002 as a fixed income strategist, then a Head of Fixed Income, Forex and Volatility Strategy at Credit Agricole Asset Management.
Since 2010, she leads and conducts research on long term asset allocation and risk management, with the goal to advise strategic decisions of investors. She has written numerous articles published in academic journals. She holds a PhD in Economics from the University Paris X and graduated from ENSAE.
President Carlos Alvarado is the 48th President of the Republic of Costa Rica. He was inaugurated into office on May 9, 2018. He was born in San José, Costa Rica on January 14, 1980, and is a professor, politician and author. He studied journalism at the University of Costa Rica, and holds a master’s degree in Political Science from the same university and has a master’s degree in Development Studies from the University of Sussex in England.
Robin Niblett has been the Director and Chief Executive of Chatham House (the Royal Institute of International Affairs) since January 2007.
Before joining Chatham House, from 2001 to 2006, Robin was the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). During his last two years at CSIS, he also served as Director of the CSIS Europe Programme and its Initiative for a Renewed Transatlantic Partnership.
He is currently co-Chair of the World Economic Forum’s Global Futures Council on Geopolitics. He served as Chair of the Experts Group for the 2014 NATO Summit and Chair of the British Academy’s Steering Committee of Languages for Security Project (2013).
Professor HE Jiankun is the professor and the director of Low Carbon Economy Lab of Tsinghua Universtiy, and the deputy director of National Expert Committee on Climate Change. He is also the former Executive Vice President of the University of Tsinghua and former Dean of the School of Economics and Management. He is a leading professor in the field of energy economics and climate policy. He has been engaged in research on energy system analysis and modeling, counter global climate change strategy, resource management and sustainable development for many years. He has been principal investigators of many national key science and technology projects and international collaborative research projects. He has been awarded the National Award for Science and Technology progress, the Awards for Science and Technology Progress of the Ministry of Education of China for three times, and the Awards for Science and Technology Progress at the provincial or ministry level for five times.
Cameron Hepburn is the Director of the Economics of Sustainability Programme, based at the Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School. He is also Director and Professor of Environmental Economics at the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment.
He has published widely on energy, resources and environmental challenges across a range of disciplines, including engineering, biology, philosophy, economics, public policy and law, drawing on his degrees in law, engineering and doctorate in economics. He has served in an editorial capacity for Environmental Research Letters, the European Economic Review, and has served as the managing editor of the Oxford Review of Economic Policy. Cameron’s research is often referred to in the printed press, and he has been interviewed on television and radio in many countries.
Cameron provides advice on energy and climate policy to government ministers (e.g. China, India, UK and Australia) and international institutions (e.g. OECD, UN organisations) around the world. Cameron began his professional life with McKinsey, and has since had an entrepreneurial career, co-founding three successful businesses – Aurora Energy Research, Climate Bridge and Vivid Economics – and investing in several other social enterprises, such as Purpose and Apolitical. He also serves as a trustee for Schola Cantorum of Oxford.
Chris Stark has been Chief Executive of the Committee on Climate Change since April 2018. His previous role was Director of Energy and Climate Change in the Scottish Government, leading the development of Scotland’s approach to emissions reduction and the accompanying energy system transition.
Chris has wide experience of economic policy-making, in the Scottish Government, HM Treasury and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
Tan Xianchun is a professor and the deputy director of Center of Overall Planning, Safety and Security Management, Institute of Policy and Management, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Her area of research interests is mainly about Low-carbon Economy Transition and Planning, Public Policy Quantitative Analysis in Environment, Resources, Energy and Transportation, Policy of Climate Change Adaption and Environmentally Conscious Manufacturing. She is also a visiting scholar of John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University from 2015 to 2016.
Prof. Tan did her research at the postdoctoral station of Industrial Engineering, Department of Management Science and Engineering in Tsinghua University from July 2004 to June 2006. After that she continued her research as an associate researcher in IPM, CAS, where she was engaged in green manufacturing and industry energy-saving which is closely related to low-carbon development. She has taken charge of many research projects in the National Natural Science Foundation, the National High Technology Research and Development Program, and many important projects of Chongqing Natural Science Foundation. All these above have laid solid foundation for her research of low-carbon development.
Dr. CHAO Qingchen has been the Deputy Director-General of National Climate Center, China Meteorological Administration since 2011. Her responsibility covers climate change research and services, as well as international cooperation. She has also been involved in the work of the UNFCCC and IPCC for 15 years.
TENG Fei received his bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mathematics from Tsinghua University in 1998, and his MSc and Ph.D in Management Science in the School of Public Policy and Management at Tsinghua University in 2003. Teng finished his postdoctoral research in France in 2004. He is now an associate professor in the Institute of Energy, Environment, and Economy at Tsinghua University. He is also a lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fifth Assessment Report, Working Group III. He is lead author on the Second and Third China National Assessment Report on Climate Change, and a member of the drafting team for several key national documents, including the National Plan on Climate Change and the White Paper on Climate Change. He served as an advisory expert for China’s negotiation team under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change for many years. He is also member of BASIC (Brazil, South Africa, India, China) expert group in BASIC ministerial meetings since 2011. His research interests include climate policy, international climate regimes, consumer behavior in energy consumption, and energy modeling.
Ben leads the Common Futures Conversations project, which develops new online formats for political dialogue between young people in Africa and Europe.
Alongside this he manages the digital strategy of the Chatham House journal, International Affairs, and co-hosts the Chatham House podcast, Undercurrents.
He holds an MA in Publishing from Oxford Brookes University and a BA (Hons.) in History and English from the University of Oxford.
Inger Andersen is the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya. Prior to this, she was the Director-General of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). She has more than 30 years of experience in international development economics, environmental sustainability, strategy and operations. She has led work on a range of issues including agriculture, environmental management, biodiversity conservation, climate change, infrastructure, energy, transport, and water resources management and hydro-diplomacy. She holds a BA from London Metropolitan University North and a MA from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London with specialisation in development economics.
Neil Burgess is the Chief Scientist of the UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC). He oversees the scientific and technical work of UNEP-WCMC, works to develop collaborations with external partners interested in the conservation of nature, and promotes the role of data and analysis in effective conservation delivery. He has a track record of influencing policy in sub-Saharan Africa. He has over 20 years’ experience in conservation science and practice, in the UK, Denmark and tropical Africa, especially eastern Africa. Much of his earlier work focused on habitat conservation and protected area development and management in Europe and Africa through partnerships with non-governmental organisations, private foundations, state and community-based organisations.
His long term involvement in practical, field-based conservation in Africa has also led to the discovery of many species new to science, the creation of state and community managed reserves, and the development of conservation plans and capacity building programmes with African states NGOs and Universities. The interface between field conservation, developing country capacity building, and the delivery of science at the global level and together with policy makers, means that Neil is well placed to develop conservation science that is aimed at international conservation policy targets, such as those agreed under the Convention on Biological Diversity, CITES and the UNFCCC, and the Sustainable Development Goals.
Pamela Coke-Hamilton joined the International Trade Centre as Executive Director in October 2020. Prior to this, she worked at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), where she was Director of the Division on International Trade and Commodities. She has a breadth of experience and expertise in trade-related capacity-building and sustainable development. She served with the Jamaican Government, the Caribbean Forum in trade negotiations, and multilateral institutions, including the Organization of American States and InterAmerican Development Bank. She previously served as Executive Director of the Caribbean Export Development Agency, strengthening the private sector and micro, small and medium enterprises through investment promotion. She holds a Juris Doctor in Law from Georgetown University and an undergraduate degree in International Relations from the University of the West Indies.
John W.H. Denton AO was appointed Secretary General of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in 2018. He is a global business leader and international advisor on policy and a legal expert on international trade and investment. He serves on the Boards of the United Nations Global Compact, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) impact investing group and the United Nations Children’s Fund’s (UNICEF) GenU project and is a founding member of the Business 20 (B20), the Australia–China CEO Roundtable and is Patron of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Australia. Additionally, he serves on the Board of leading global infrastructure group IFM Investors and is Chair of the Asia Pacific Advisory Council of Veracity WorldWide. He co-led the Australian Government’s 2012 White Paper on “Australia in the Asian Century”, the review of Australia’s Development Assistance program and previously chaired the APEC Finance and Economics Working Group. In 2015, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for his services to the business community, the arts and the rights of refugees, including as a founder of Human Rights Watch (Australia) and Teach for Australia. He holds degrees from Harvard Business School and the University of Melbourne.
Mari Pangestu was appointed the Managing Director of Development Policy and Partnerships in the World Bank in March 2020. She provides leadership and oversees the research and data group of the World Bank (DEC), the work program of the World Bank’s Global Practice Groups, and the External and Corporate Relations function. She has exceptional policy and management expertise, as she previously served as Indonesia’s Minister of Trade from 2004 to 2011 and as Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy from 2011 to 2014. She has had vast experience of over 30 years in academia, second track processes, international organizations and government working in areas related to international trade, investment and development in multilateral, regional and national settings. She holds degrees in economics from the Australian National University, and her doctorate in economics from the University of California at Davis.
Roopa Mehta leads Sasha Association for Craft Producers (India), an exemplary WFTO member selling fashion and home products around the world. Her association with Fair Trade began in 1978 and she moved over full time to Sasha in 1985. She has served on the board of Fair Trade Forum India and the Asia WFTO board. She was voted on to the WFTO Global board as an independent board member in May 2011. Roopa completed an Economic honours course, followed with an MBA degree from Delhi University. She began her career with a leading Indian chain of hotels and moved on to be an Executive Director of a company producing and retailing high-end women's clothing using traditional dyeing printing and embroidery techniques.
Rebeca Grynspan, was appointed the eighth Secretary-General of United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in September 2021. She is the first woman to hold this position in the history of the organization. Over the course of her career, she has held numerous high-level positions. Prior to her UNCTAD appointment, she served as the Secretary-General of the Ibero-American Conference from 2014 to 2021. She is a former Under Secretary-General of the UN and Associate Administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), and a former Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean. Prior to joining the UN, she served as Vice President of Costa Rica from 1994 to 1998. She also held the positions of Minister of Housing, Minister Coordinator of Economic and Social Affairs and Deputy Finance Minister. In addition, she was a member of the High-Level Panel on Financing for Development. A renowned advocate of human development, Ms. Grynspan has helped to focus the world’s attention on relevant issues such as the reduction of inequality and poverty, gender equality, South-South cooperation as a tool for development, and the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, among others. She holds a degree in Economics from the University of Costa Rica and a Master of Science degree in Economics from the University of Sussex. She has been awarded a Doctorate Honoris Causa by the University of Salamanca, the University of Extremadura and the European University of Madrid.
Valdis Dombrovskis is the European Commission Vice-President responsible for the Euro and Social Dialogue, also in charge of Financial Stability, Financial Services and the Capital Markets Union. Previously, he served as Prime Minister of the Republic of Latvia for three consecutive terms from 2009 to 2014, becoming the longest serving elected Head of government in Latvia’s history. Before that, Dombrovskis was elected twice as a Member of the European Parliament as part of the Europeans People’s Party (EPP) Group. He was also Head of the Latvian Delegation in the EPP Group. He served as a Member of the Saeima, the Latvian Parliament in 2004 and in 2014. He also served as Minister of Finance from 2002 to 2004. Previously, he worked as a senior economist and chief economist at the Bank of Latvia from 1998 to 2002. Dombrovskis holds a BA in physics from the University of Latvia and in economics from Riga University of Technology. He also holds an MA degree in physics in from the University of Latvia.
Jean-Marie Paugam is the Deputy Director-General of the World Trade Organisation. Prior to this, he has held senior management positions in the French Government on trade, most recently as Permanent Representative of France to the WTO. He also served in the French Ministry of Economy and Finance, including as a member of the Executive Committee of the French Treasury. He is the former Deputy Executive Director of the International Trade Centre in Geneva. He has accumulated a deep and practical knowledge of government practices on trade as well as being familiar with high-level dialogues on trade and international economic operations. He has published a number of articles on trade-related issues, in particular when serving as Senior Research Fellow on International Trade at the French Institute for International Relations (IFPRI). He holds degrees in Political Science from the Institute of Political Science in Aix-en-Provence and in Law from the Faculty of Law Aix-Marseille III.
Andres Valenciano Yamuni was sworn in as Minister of Foreign Trade of Costa Rica on November 24th, 2020. He is responsible for Costa Rican foreign trade policies and attraction of foreign investment, as well as the representation before several multilateral organizations, such as SIECA, the WTO, and the OECD. Minister Valenciano Yamuni has over 15 years of professional experience. He is an Industrial Engineer graduated from the University of Costa Rica, with a Master degree in International Business from The Fletcher School - Tufts University in the United States of America, and he’s a Lee Kuan Yew School Senior Fellow from the National University of Singapore. He has led research studies and projects related to social and economic development in over 12 countries in three continents. Before becoming Minister, he was the Executive President of the Instituto Nacional de Aprendizaje, where he was in charge of technical and vocational education in the country. Mr. Valenciano Yamuni was awarded as one of the “40 under 40” for contributions to Costa Rican society in 2013 and is part of the Advisory Council of the “State of the Nation” program.
Aled is the inaugural Director of our Global Sustainability Institute (GSI). Over the past five years he has built the GSI from a good idea into an internationally recognised brand, with a group of 40 individuals, and over £4 million in external income won. He is one of the acknowledged global leaders in public-private finance related to the green economy. His work in climate finance has been recognised by the State of California and he has received a key to the city of North Little Rock, USA. Aled holds a PhD in Cosmology from the University of Cambridge, and a BA/ MA in Natural Sciences (Theoretical Physics) from the University of Cambridge.
Dr Kanta Kumari Rigaud is a Lead Environmental Specialist at the World Bank with more than 25 years of professional experience in natural resources management, environmental management, and climate change adaptation. She joined the World Bank in 2004 and has worked in the Middle East North Africa Region, the Climate Change Group, and is currently working in the Africa Region as the Regional Climate Change Coordinator. In her current role, she led the development of the Next Generation Africa Climate Business Plan and continues to support the rollout and implementation of the plan and associate knowledge work working with team across the institution. She also works directly in Uganda and Kenya, including on their National Determined Contributions.
She holds a PhD from the University of East Anglia and was the recipient of the British Chevening Scholarship and the World Bank Graduate Scholarship award for her doctoral dissertation. She holds a MSc in Behavioural Ecology from the University of Stirling, a BSc (Hons) in Ecology, and a Diploma in Education from the University of Malaya. She has authored several publications and reports on natural resources, environmental and climate issues.
Oli Brown became an associate fellow with the Energy, Environment and Resources Programme (now the Environment and Society Programme) in August 2018 following an earlier stint as a fellow from 2012-14.
Between 2014 and 2018 Oli was based in Kenya where he coordinated UN Environment’s work to minimize the risks and impacts of disasters, industrial accidents and armed conflicts. This c. $25 million annual programme is one of UN Environment’s seven priority areas and operates in several dozen countries each year.
Between 2010 and 2012 Oli managed a UN Environment programme in Sierra Leone, and before that he was a senior researcher and programme manager with the International Institute for Sustainable Development.
Oli has specialist knowledge in environmental management, peacebuilding and conflict analysis, trade policy, migration policy, climate change, and extractives.
He has degrees in Anthropology and History from the University of Glasgow, a Masters of International Studies from the University of Otago in New Zealand, and a Masters of Environmental Science from the School of African and Oriental Studies, London.
Abinash is a Programme Lead in the Risks and Adaptation team at The Council. He is involved in designing decision-making toolkits for effective policymaking around the intricacies of climate change risks, sustainability and environment resources management. His work is focused around climate change risk assessment and adaptation solutions for concerned stakeholders. He has more than 10 years of experience in evidence-based policy research on climate change impacts and risks, water management, climate change financing, and in managing projects. He is also a reviewer of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s sixth assessment report (AR6): Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability.
Prior to joining The Council, he was the Director at the Centre for Environment, Energy and Climate Change where he pursued and led intense research on climate finance, climate change risks, agricultural risk assessment, water resources management, disaster economics, climate change governance and allied issues. He was a research fellow on Project at the Technical University of Liberec involved in designing nano-based solutions for water contamination remediation. He is also a member of the American Geophysical Union (AGU). He has presented in many national and international forums. Apart from being a researcher he was also a radio jockey and a creative producer.
Abinash was a Global Dalai Lama Fellow from India in 2016 and an emerging International Youth Leader.
He pursued his undergraduate engineering from the College of Engineering and Technology, Bhubaneswar, followed by a Masters in Ecology and Environment from Nalanda International University. He has also undertaken resource training courses on climatology/hydrological modelling and project management from various institutes of international repute.
Dr Daniel Quiggin is a senior research fellow with the Environment and Society Programme at Chatham House. He has expertise in the modelling, analysis and forecasting of national and global energy systems, having modelled various UK government energy scenarios and published a UK 2030 energy scenario, commissioned by Greenpeace UK.
As a senior policy adviser at the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, Daniel led work on the post-Brexit policy implications for the energy sector’s trade of goods and services, and helped shape effective strategies for the energy and climate package of the UK-EU FTA negotiations.
As an analyst at Investec Asset Management, within a commodities and resources investment team, he authored a global renewable energy infrastructure investment white paper.
He holds master’s degrees in particle physics and climate science, and a PhD in energy system modelling.
Ruth Townend is a research fellow with the Environment and Society Programme at Chatham House. Prior to joining Chatham House, she spent 12 years researching sustainability and climate change including as part of the Energy and Environment team at Ipsos MORI.
Ruth has led on a wide variety of high-profile quantitative and qualitative sustainability research projects for government clients, charities, trusts and foundations. This work has included: establishing the first robust, UK-wide tracker of net zero relevant public behaviours on behalf of the UK Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy; exploring global public attitudes to planetary boundaries for the Global Commons Alliance; and groundbreaking research into global public understanding of the links between meat consumption and climate change, on behalf of Chatham House. Ruth holds a degree in social anthropology from the University of Cambridge.
Lord Deben, set up and now runs Sancroft, a Corporate Responsibility consultancy working with blue-chip companies around the world on environmental, social, and ethical issues. He is Chairman of the UK Government Committee on Climate Change and was the longest-serving Secretary of State for the Environment of the UK (1993-97). Lord Deben’s 16 years of top-level ministerial experience also include Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries & Food, Minister for London, Employment Minister and Paymaster General in HM Treasury, experience which helps him to champion an identity between environmental concerns and business sense.
Jessica leads a team responsible for building strong government-to-government collaboration between the UK and China on climate change and environmental policy, at the British Embassy Beijing. Jessica has been in Beijing since 2017 and enjoys traveling around China and learning about local history and culture. She previously worked in the Prime Minister’s European and Global Issues Secretariat and the UK’s Department for Energy and Climate Change. Before joining the Civil Service, Jessica worked for a Member of Parliament and in the political statistics company YouGov. Jessica completed her University undergraduate degree in International Relations and became a Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA) in 2020. Jessica also holds a qualification in advanced Mandarin Chinese.
QI Shaozhou is professor and director of the Climate Change and Energy Economics Study Centre at Wuhan University. His research focuses on low carbon economy and its policies. Prior to this, he served as chief economist for the project “China's Carbon Emissions Trading System under the Low Carbon Economic Transformation,” supported by the Education Ministry of China.
Nigel Arnell is Professor of Climate Change Science in the Department of Meteorology, and will have served as Director of the Walker Institute for Climate System Research for eight years when he steps down from that post in August 2015. His research interests include the impact of climate change on hydrological regimes and water resources, impacts of climate change across the global domain, the use of climate information in adaptation to climate change, climate change and water management, climate policy and the impacts of climate change, and climate change and risk assessments.
Dr. Ye Qi is Distinguished Professor of Environmental Policy and Management at Tsinghua University School of Public Policy and Management since 2004. Before he joined Tsinghua, he was Cheung Kong Chair Professor of Environmental Science at Beijing Normal University. Taking the special endowed professorship, Dr. Qi returned to China in 2003 from University of California, Berkeley where he taught ecosystem management, forest management, and climate change science at Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management from 1996 through 2003. Dr. Qi received his Ph.D. in Environmental Science in 1994 from State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry and Syracuse University in US. Recipient of NOAA Postdoctoral Fellowship Award (1994, Climate and Global Change) and NSF Fellowship (1995, Computer and Information Science), Dr. Qi worked with Dr. Charles D. Keeling on Climate Change at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, before joining the faculty at the Theory Center of Cornell University. Ye Qi studied agriculture, ecology and economics from Hebei Agricultural University (BS), the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (MS) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (PHD).
Dr. Qi’s research areas include climate change impacts on ecosystems and biodiversity, global and regional carbon cycling, environmental and resource policy for sustainable development, and ecosystem management.
Matthew is an economist and complex systems modeller currently working on the Oxford Martin School Programme for Post-Carbon Transition. This cutting-edge programme is focussed on positive solutions to climate change through the identification of sensitive intervention points designed to help bring about the rapid reductions in global emissions necessary to meet our Paris Agreement obligations.
Dr Ives has previously worked both in the private and public sectors on a diverse range of programmes related to sustainability on land, air and sea. His past research ventures have included developing national decarbonisation pathways for the UK; modelling long-term infrastructure planning around water, energy, waste and transport with the UK government, and the United Nations; working on sustainability indicators for the US Forest service; and on modelling commercially important fisheries in Australia. He has also spent a number of years as a professional software developer in both small and large private enterprises.
Matthew holds a Masters of Environmental Management from Portland State University, USA, as well as an Honours degree in Economics and a PhD in systems modelling from the University of NSW, Australia. Matthew is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and a research member of Wolfson College, Oxford.
Hannah Abdullah is a Senior Research Fellow with the Global Cities Programme at CIDOB (Barcelona Centre for International Affairs). Her current research focuses on city diplomacy in the areas of climate change and culture, with a focus on the Euro-Mediterranean region. Recent publications include work on the role of cities in global and European governance and the transition towards sustainable development. Hannah holds a PhD in Sociology from the London School of Economics (LSE), an MSc in Cultural Sociology from the LSE and a BA in Art History and Spanish from University College London (UCL). She was a post-doctoral fellow at the Chair for Cultural Sociology at the Technische Universität Dresden, and has taught and lectured at the LSE, the University of Leipzig and Pompeu Fabra University. Before joining CIDOB she held the position of Programme Curator at the Goethe-Institut New York (Germany’s cultural institute), where she developed and managed programmes on architecture and urban issues, among others. She is an affiliated researcher at the Centre for the Study of Culture, Politics and Society (CECUPS) at the University of Barcelona.
Karim is an urban practitioner and sustainability consultant based in London with 20 years of experience. His work focuses on developing sustainable and resilient cities, urban developments, and buildings.
His current work focuses on the cities of the Middle East and North Africa, but his experience spans Europe, North America, and Subsaharan Africa. Karim is the founder and coordinator of Carboun, an advocacy initiative promoting sustainability in Cities of the Middle East and North Africa through research and communication.
His research interests include mechanisms for altering urban metabolism to reduce the environmental footprint of cities, sustainable urbanism, climate change resilience, climate policy, energy transition, and urban mobility.
Karim is the recipient of the 2013 Global Green Building Entrepreneurship Award by the World Green Building Council, and is a chartered member of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).
His areas of expertise include managing natural resources, energy transitions, climate policy, urban sustainability, resilience, and mobility, Syria and the Levant, Israel and Palestine, Egypt, and the Gulf states.
Omar Fadel Abu Eid is currently working as the Energy, Environment and Climate Change Programme Manager at the EU delegation to JORDAN.
He joint the EU Delegation in JORDAN in August 2004 as Programme Manager for Environment, then took over the energy portfolio by 2006 and climate change by 2010, and currently managing the energy portfolio with more than 160 million Euro support for green Energy.
Sarah has been working for 4 years with United Cities Lebanon/Technical Office of Lebanese Municipalities as a project manager. I am especially in charge of the Operational Support Project for Lebanese Municipalities in the field of environment (SOCLE), in partnership with the Region des Pays de la Loire (France) and the French Agency for Development. Sarah holds a double master at Sciences Po Grenoble and Sciences Po Rabat in International Management of Local Authorities and in International Strategy of Local Actors (2018).
Hajar Khamlichi is an Environmental and Sustainable Development Expert. She holds two masters degrees in Environmental Sciences, Water Engineering, and sustainable development. She has +11 years of experience as industrial wastewater and environmental manager at the utilities company in Tanger city in Morocco where she achieved the first record for a city in Morocco of 27 industrial wastewater treatment plants installed within polluting units.
On the other hand, Hajar has a vital role in civil society development. She is the President and co-founder of the Mediterranean Youth Climate Network ‘MYCN’ which aims to push the government towards concrete and ambitious decisions, as well as to help to raise awareness and build synergies between communities to make climate change a social, economic, and political priority. Hajar is Also a board member of the Moroccan Alliance for Climate and Sustainable Development, and the Observatory of the Protection of the Environment and the Historical Monuments.
Since joining Chatham House in 2004, Glada Lahn has worked on a range of international resource-related projects which intersect with geopolitical, economic and development concerns.
Her research areas have included petroleum sector governance, Asian foreign resource investment, access to energy in developing countries, sustainable transitions in oil and gas-exporting economies, Arctic extractives policies, the pricing and valuation of natural resources, and transboundary water relations in the Middle East and Asia.
Glada has led influential research on energy policy in the Arab Gulf, energy access amongst displaced people globally in 2015, and how climate change and decarbonization affect the prospects and choices for developing country oil and gas producers. She is currently working on CASCADES, a multi-partner EU initiative to assess the transboundary risks of climate impacts and make recommendations for actions on resilience building.
From 2002 to 2004, she was senior research fellow at the Gulf Centre for Strategic Studies and has since worked for a number of organizations as a freelance consultant.
She has a BA in Arabic and international relations, including a year spent at the University of Damascus between 1999 and 2000.
She also has an MA in Near and Middle Eastern studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies, London.
Lucy is an expert facilitator specialised in helping people & organisations to unpick the knotty problems associated with planning and delivering action on climate change.
Following a PhD in Climate Change engagement from the University of Exeter and a Masters in Climate Change from the University of East Anglia, Lucy became fascinated by the challenges of making change happen. This led Lucy to co-run a creative design practice which specialised in connecting expert and non-expert audiences. From here, she went to work bringing innovation in the rail sector, and now works full time delivering programmes for the Climate Action Unit.
Kris De Meyer is a neuroscientist, science communicator, and director of the University College London Climate Action Unit. He brings insights from neuroscience and psychology to the communication of climate risk, and to the challenge of how to translate understanding of risk information into action for decision makers in government, business and finance.
Manuel Rosini joined the United Nations Office of the Special Coordinator for Development in the Sahel as the Chief of Staff and Director Business Development in June 2021. Prior to this, he served as a Senior Advisor in the Consilium Group where he managed and widened CGA’s partnerships in Western Europe with a particular attention to the EU, EIB and UN agencies based in Europe. Additionally, he previously worked in The Global Crop Biodiversity Trust, UNICEF and the International Finance Corporation. He holds a BA in Political Science from Luiss Guido Carli University, and a Master of Science in Foreign Service, International Relations and Affairs from Georgetown University.
Since joining Chatham House in May 2014, Owen has worked on a range of international energy and climate related projects, and currently leads Chatham House’s influential research on energy provision for displaced populations. He also manages the programme’s work on climate security and cascading climate risks.
Prior to joining Chatham House, Owen spent two years at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD). He has also worked in Hong Kong and Khartoum, as well as London.
Owen has a BA in Politics and Literature from the University of York and an MSc in African Politics from the School of Oriental and African Studies, London.
Zhou Dadi is a member of the China National Expert Committee on Climate Change. He was the director general (emeritus) of the Energy Research Institute (ERI) of the National Development and Reform Commission, where he served as director general for eight years. Prior to this, Zhou served in ERI for 22 years as research professor and vice director, focusing on energy economics and energy system analysis.
Zhou was chief scientist for the Expert Team of China and a lead author for Working Group III of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Zhou has been a prominent intellectual leader in China’s energy import and export reform policies, energy price reform, energy efficiency policy, and climate change. He serves as the vice chairman of the State Expert Advisory Committee to the National Energy Leading Group of China, a member of the National Expert Team of China for Climate Change, and as vice president of the China Institute of Geo-politics and Energy Strategy.
Zhou has served as a consultant to the World Bank, Global Environmental Facility, and many other organizations around the world, and has been a visiting fellow at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and visiting scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) in the United States. He co-founded the Energy Efficiency Center in Beijing in 1992 in cooperation with PNNL and LBNL.
Daisy leads IIGCC’s Investor Practices programme which supports members to better integrate climate risks and opportunities into their investment processes and decision-making, including taking forward the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures.
Daisy joined IIGCC in 2019 from the Inter-American Development Bank where she was an advisor on sustainable infrastructure investment. She previously worked for the UK government in various programme management and policy roles, including leading on finance strategy and investor relations at Infrastructure UK, and heading international climate finance negotiations at the Department of Energy and Climate Change. Daisy holds an MA in Politics from the University of Edinburgh and an MSc with distinction in Environment and Development from the LSE.
Kristiina Yang is a Project Coordinator at Climate Policy Initiative, based in London. At CPI, she works on the Cities Climate Finance Leadership Alliance (the Alliance), a multi-stakeholder platform for cooperation, partnerships, and advocacy in the field of urban and subnational climate finance. The Alliance works to ensure that finance will be deployed at scale for city-level climate action by 2030, and has a membership including city networks, national governments, DFIs, and private investors, amongst others.
Before CPI, Kristiina worked at Mott MacDonald as a Consultant in the International Development sector and as a Coordinator for the company’s internal technical practice networks. She also has experience working in various sectors, including the Habitat III Secretariat at UN-Habitat, the Regional Planning Section of the King County Executive Office of Performance, Strategy and Budget, and the University of Pennsylvania School of Design.
Kristiina completed a Master’s degree in City Planning from the University of Pennsylvania with a focus on Sustainable Transportation and Infrastructure Planning, and holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Tufts University.
Richard was appointed Climate Change and Sustainability Strategy Lead for the Ministry of Defence in 2020. Richard was appointed Chief of Defence People at the Ministry of Defence in April 2016.
Prior to his appointment, Richard held a number of joint and single service army appointments, on operations and in staff appointments, including:
- Assistant Chief of Defence Staff (Personnel and Training) and Defence Services Secretary
- Chief of Staff to the ISAF Joint Command in Kabul, the ISAF 3* Operational HQ
- Army Director General Personnel
- Director of Manning (Army)
- Chief Joint Fires and Influence at HQ Allied Rapid Reaction Corps, in Afghanistan (Kabul)
Appointed MBE in June 1998, CBE in January 2012 and CVO in September 2016, he was awarded the US Legion of Merit for his services in Afghanistan in 2014.
As of 1 January 2020 the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) appointed Andrew Harper as Special Advisor on Climate Action, in order to step up UNHCR’s efforts to address the climate emergency and better protect and assist people forcibly displaced by the effects of climate change and disasters. Andrew Harper has been working with refugees since the 1990s when he worked in Turkey during the first gulf war for UNHCR. Famously he was UNHCR Country Representative in Jordan and responsible for more than half a million Syrian refugees who have fled the war in their country. As Representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan for almost four years, Andrew worked in collaboration with the Government of Jordan to lead and coordinate the international response to the Syrian Crisis in Jordan. Some of the main achievements of this partnership was the establishment of the Zaatari and Azraq refugee camps and ensuring that some 635,000 registered Syrian refugees who fled to the safety of Jordan were provided with assistance and protection. Prior to coming to Jordan, Andrew was Head of Desk for UNHCR Headquarters in Geneva, covering the Iraq Situation for six years as well as being the Emergency Focal Point for the MENA region for the Libyan Crisis in 2011. He served with the UN Office for the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs as Head of Office in Sumatra following the 2004 Tsunami, and as Chief of Staff for the UN Recovery Coordinator for Aceh in Indonesia. Prior deployments with the UN Refugee Agency include West Timor, Ukraine/Crimea, Albania/Kosovo, Central Asia and Iran. He started his career oversees with the Australian Embassy in Turkey following the 1990 Iraq war.
Janani Vivekananda is Head of Programme Climate Diplomacy and Security at adelphi, where she specialises in climate change and peacebuilding. As a peacebuilding practitioner with a background in peace and disaster risk reduction field research and operations, the aim of her work is to connect ground realities with policy processes and vice versa to promote the linked goals of peace and climate action. Her work to-date involves designing and conducting participatory and inclusive research on climate-related security risks and responses, promoting risk informed responses, and increasing the capacity of governments and civil society to integrate climate and conflict risk into policies and field projects. Her particular interests and strengths lie in understanding the complexities of climate-, conflict- and natural-resource-related risks from a local contextual level and feeding these nuances into policy work. Janani holds master’s degrees from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, and from the University of Oxford.
Siân has extensive experience working on climate risk and low-carbon transition in resource-driven economies and carbon-intensive sectors, and on the mainstreaming of climate change in economic governance and the international financial system. She also leads Chatham House research and engagement around the mining and metals sectors, and founded the Chatham House Mining, Minerals and Metals Expert Roundtable in 2015.
She is author of nine Chatham House reports and numerous articles, and has led strategic reviews, research and policy processes and capacity-building courses for donors, multilateral development banks (MDBs) and international initiatives such as the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI).
Her earlier research and engagement at Chatham House covered UK and EU engagement with China on climate, energy and resource governance, the mapping of global resource trade and its environmental impacts, and the relationship between extractive resources, conflict and peace-building.
Prior to joining Chatham House, she worked as an analyst at a political risk consultancy, and studied International Relations at the London School of Economics (LSE).
She is currently on sabbatical and working with the European Bank for Reconstruction (EBRD), where she is leading the joint work of the MDB Paris Alignment Working Group on Just Transition, and working more broadly on just transition and green recovery.
Helen Clark served as Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1999-2008, and as a Member of the New Zealand Parliament from 1981-2009. Prior to that she taught in the Political Studies Department of Auckland University, New Zealand. From April 2009 until April 2017, Ms. Clark was Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme and Chair of the UN Development Group. She continues to be highly engaged in issues across the sustainable development spectrum from gender equality and women’s leadership to climate action, health and drug policy, open government, peace and justice, and more.
Brendan Devlin is an Advisor/Counsellor in the Directorate General for Energy of the European Commission.
He focuses on the development of a mineral methane strategy, the development of North Sea energy resources, and the energy autonomy of island states and territories.
By training, Mr Devlin is a lawyer and economist.
Sandra Sandoval was appointed as Colombia's deputy mining minister in 2020. Previously, Sandoval worked as director of mining formalization and advisor at the ministry. Mining minister Diego Mesa said the expertise of Sandoval would contribute to the government’s efforts to curb illegal mining.
Neil Morisetti joined University College London in January 2014 and is currently the vice dean (public policy) for the Faculty of Engineering Sciences. Before that he worked for the UK government, both as an officer in the Royal Navy, where appointments included Commander UK Maritime Forces and Commandant of the Joint Services Command and Staff College, and latterly in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Between 2009 -2013 he acted as the UK Government Climate and Energy Security Envoy, and then the Foreign Secretary’s Special Representative for Climate Change. A graduate of the University of East Anglia, he is an Honorary Professor at UCL.
Beyond UCL, he acts, in the UK, as a member of the Advisory Board for Carbon Tracker and advises CDP, while in the US he is a member of the Military Advisory Board of the Washington DC based think tank CNA.
His specialist areas of expertise include climate change and its security implications, resource security, maritime security, and strategic planning.
Wadzi manages the Capital Advisory Platform for Sustainable Urban Infrastructure, a new partnership between UN Habitat and Global Development Incubator that is focussed on upstream preparation of infrastructure projects in developing cities across the globe. Previously Wadzi was a Vice President at Greenoaks Global Holdings an insurance focussed private equity fund with investments in Asia and Africa. Her career has spanned roles in project finance, management consulting and leadership development.
She holds an MBA from INSEAD and undergraduate degrees in Commerce (with honours in Finance) and Science from the University of Western Australia.
Ana Yang is the executive director for the Chatham House Sustainability Accelerator. Her interests focus on how to drive change for a fairer and more sustainable future.
Ana has strong interdisciplinary work experience and is now working on understanding how finance and innovation can enable the deep sustainability transition.
Prior to Chatham House, Ana worked at the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, where she led the land use and finance workstream of the Climate Change Programme.
Between 2005 to 2008, she was the executive director of FSC Brazil’s Forest Stewardship Initiative and later joined the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) Sustainable Business Advisory team, advising companies and investors on impact investments in the Amazon.
She is now chair of the board of Instituto Clima e Sociedade (iCS), a grant-making organisation based in Brazil focused on climate change and social development.
Ana has a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Fundacao Getulio Vargas and holds an MSc in Social Policy and Development from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Minister Husbands holds a degree in Sociology and Law and a Masters in International Trade Policy. She has pursued further training in Advanced Leadership in Singapore, Facilitation Training in the U.S.A., Training of Trainers, Business Process Management, Her background is in Human Resources Development with a blend of experience in the business community for twenty years spanning six fields of business endeavour, namely Management Consulting, Broadcasting, Sales, Market Research, Tourism, Minister Husbands has represented Barbados internationally at meetings of the ACP-EU Ministerial Trade Committee and Council of Ministers; chaired Regular Meetings and Special Meetings of CARICOM’s Council on Trade and Economic Development (COTED); leads in Ministerial meetings for Barbados at The Commonwealth’s Trade Ministers Meeting, CARIFORUM, Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States ministerial meetings. In her private capacity, she held the positions of President of the Barbados Small Business Association, (BSBA), as its first female President and the only President to hold office over three consecutive terms. Chairman of the National Council on Substance Abuse; SBA Enterprises Inc, (SBAEI); Caribbean Association of the Small and Medium Enterprises (CASME) as one of the founding members. She was the First Vice President of the National Organisation of Women and first Vice-President of Caribbean Facilitators Network.
Rohitesh was appointed CEO of ICMM in April 2021. He is passionate about the transformative power of mining, particularly in emerging markets where he has spent two-thirds of his life. His career has been at the intersection of sustainability, resources and geopolitics and his prior roles have included Managing Director for Energy, Climate & Resources at Eurasia Group and Global Head of Sustainability for the Mining Sector at KPMG.
Ro is a Fellow and faculty member of the Africa Leadership Initiative, a Raisina fellow at the Asian Forum on Global Governance and a member of the Advisory Board of Concordia. He also serves on the expert panel on climate change for the UK government’s Partnering for Accelerated Climate Transitions (PACT) programme and has been named one of South Africa’s climate change leaders for his work with the country’s mining industry. He is also Chair of the Board of Trustees of the BecomingX Foundation which strives to create a world in which all young people can realise their full potential.
He holds a Masters of Science in Environmental Change & Management from the University of Oxford in the UK, and a Bachelor of Commerce in Economics from Rhodes University in South Africa.
Ragnheiður Elín Árnadóttir has been the Director of OECD Development Centre since 16 August 2021.
Ms. Árnadóttir served as Minister of Industry and Commerce in Iceland from 2013-2017 and was an elected Member of Parliament for the Independence Party from 2007-2016.
Before being elected to Parliament, she was successively a political advisor to the Minister of Finance, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Prime Minister. She also worked for the Trade Council of Iceland both in New York and in Reykjavík.
A nonresident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council's Global Energy Centre, she is also a Board member of RÚV (Icelandic National Broadcasting Company) and of the American-Icelandic Chamber of Commerce. She was the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Duty Free Iceland, and a member of the Board of Directors of Landsvirkjun (national power company).
Ms. Árnadóttir has a Master’s Degree in Foreign Service from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Sciences from the University of Iceland. She attended the Georgetown Leadership Seminar in 2007, by invitation.
Mathias Cormann is the 6th Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). His five-year term commenced on 1 June 2021. Prior to his appointment to the OECD, Mathias served as the Australian Minister for Finance, the Leader of the Government in the Australian Senate and as Federal Senator representing the State of Western Australia. In these roles, he has been a strong advocate for the positive power of open markets, free trade and the importance of a rules-based international trading system. Mathias was born and raised in the German-speaking part of Belgium. He migrated to Australia in 1996, attracted by the great lifestyle and opportunities on offer in Western Australia. Before migrating to Perth, Mathias had graduated in law at the Flemish Catholic University of Louvain (Leuven), following studies at the University of Namur and, as part of the European Erasmus Student Exchange Program, at the University of East Anglia. Between 1997 and 2003, he worked as Chief of Staff as well as Senior Adviser to various State and Federal Ministers in Australia and for the Premier of Western Australia.
Mechthild Wörsdörfer has been director sustainability, technology and outlooks at the International Energy Agency since 2018. She previously was a director at the European Commission’s Directorate General for Energy (DG Energy), in charge of renewables, research and innovation, energy efficiency, a position she has held since 2017. Before that, she was director at DG Energy, responsible for energy policy, international relations, legal aspects and economic analysis, from 2014 to 2017. In this position, she managed the development of the Energy Union Framework Strategy, the Governance and external aspects. Previously, Wörsdörfer was head of policy unit on the 2030 Energy and Climate Framework. Previously, she worked at DG Enterprise & Industry, now called DG Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW). From 1999 to 2004, she served in the Cabinet of Erkki Liikanen, European Commissioner for Enterprise Policy and Information Society. Wörsdörfer studied Economics at the University of Heidelberg and the University of Montpellier and completed her studies with a MA in European Economics at the Free University of Brussels.
H.E. Juan Carlos Bermeo Calderón is a civil engineer by profession and has postgraduate degrees in Mediation and Resolution of Environmental Conflicts, Sustainable Development and Negotiation; in addition to a master's degree in Integrated Management Systems.
He has more than 40 years of experience in the oil and hydraulic fields and has held important positions in the public and private sectors, among which are: National Director of Hydrocarbons, Manager of the Maintenance Project of the Heavy Crude Oil Pipeline (OCP Ecuador), Consultant of the Development Bank of Ecuador, Consultant of the World Bank, Vice Minister of Hydrocarbons, Minister of Energy and Non-Renewable Natural Resources Subrogate, General Manager of Petroamazonas EP, Manager of Hidronormandía SA, among others.
Likewise, he has made technical publications related to his area of expertise. He has also worked as a teacher and lecturer on a national and international scale.
Ali Abdul-Amir Allawi is Iraq’s Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister. He is an Iraqi politician and scholar. Since May 2020, he running as the Iraq's Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister. He was Minister of Trade and Minister of Defense in the cabinet appointed by the Interim Iraq Governing Council from September 2003 until 2004, and subsequently Minister of Finance in the Iraqi Transitional Government between 2005 and 2006. Allawi was born in Baghdad in 1947 but spent most of his life in exile. He first left Iraq in 1958. His family had been deeply involved in the politics of the kingdom but found themselves on the wrong side of the 14th of July revolution. After the Ba'ath Party came to power in 1968, Allawi knew a return to Iraq would be impossible. He opposed Saddam Hussein's rule from afar. He went to school in the UK and graduated from MIT in the United States with a BSc in Civil Engineering. After completing an MBA from Harvard University he worked in international development for the World Bank. He co-founded the Arab International Finance merchant bank in 1978. In 1992 he founded the Fisa Group which manages hedge funds. Between 1999 and 2002 he was a Senior Associate at St Antony's College, Oxford.
Alibek Kuantyrov was appointed to the post of Vice Minister of National Economy of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kazpravda.kz reports with reference to the press service of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Prior to this, he served as Deputy Head of the Department of Information and Analytical Support of the Office of the First President - Elbasy of the Republic of Kazakhstan. He graduated from Tomsk State University and Michigan University. He began his career in 2005 as acting leading specialist in the Ministry of Economy and Budget Planning of the Republic of Kazakhstan. In 2005-2010 he worked in various positions in the Ministry of Economy and Budget Planning of the Republic of Kazakhstan. In 2010-2013 - Deputy Director of the Department of Budget Planning and Forecasting of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan. In 2013 - Deputy Chairman of the Committee for Geology and Subsoil Use of the Ministry of Industry and New Technologies of the Republic of Kazakhstan. In 2013-2019 - worked in various positions in the Administration of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan.
Timipre Marlin Sylva (born July 7, 1964) is a former Governor of Bayelsa State, Nigeria, and the current Nigeria Minister of State for Petroleum Resources. Sylva graduated from the University of Port Harcourt with distinction in English (Linguistics) in 1986. At the time, he was the best graduating student from his department and departmental valedictorian. He was subsequently awarded a Doctor in International Relations (Honoris causa) by the UBIS University in 2011. Sylva was awarded his second Doctorate (Honoris Causa) in Public Administration on the 2nd of December 2020 by AiPA (African Institute of Public Administration, Leading Edge Foundation and LBBS. Sylva's political career started in 1992 when he won a seat in the House of Assembly election representing Brass constituency in old Rivers State. At the time, he was the youngest of all the members in the house of Assembly. His political career continued when he was appointed as the Special Assistant to the Minister of State for Petroleum in 2004 under the auspices of Dr. Edmund Dakouru.
Silja Halle is a Programme Manager with the UN Environment Programme, based in Geneva. She currently leads the UNEP-EU Climate Change and Security Partnership, which is working to develop integrated responses to climate-related security risks at country level and advising policy developments at global level. In parallel, she leads projects ranging from environmental and climate risk assessments to field projects aimed at using climate adaptation interventions to reduce conflict and build peace in crisis-affected contexts. She is currently managing work in Darfur and Blue Nile state in Sudan, Mali, Côte d’Ivoire and Nepal.
Silja joined UNEP in 2009 and has held several roles in the organization, including as manager of the UN Programme on Gender, Natural Resources, Climate and Peace and Country Programme Manager for UNEP in Haiti. She is also the co-editor of the UNEP policy series on the environmental dimensions of disasters and conflicts.
Christophe Hodder is the first United Nations Climate Security and Environmental Advisor to Somalia, where he works to implement its mandate on environment and security. Previously, he worked as the Project Director for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in DRC and Chad and led Save the Children UK's response to the Ebola Crisis in West Africa. In addition, he has expertise on South Asia and has worked across the Policy Cycle with the Government of Nepal.
Molly Kellogg is a Programme Advisor to the Climate Change and Security project at the UN Environment Programme in Geneva, where she focuses on designing programmatic and policy solutions to address peace and security challenges associated with climate change and environmental degradation. Molly has specific focus on the ways gender and other dimensions of identity shape how women and men experience climate-related security risks. Molly has several years of experience working on women’s empowerment and peacebuilding initiatives in conflict and post-conflict contexts, including in South Sudan, Uganda, and Ethiopia. Molly holds a Master of Public Policy degree from the Harvard Kennedy School and a BA in History from the University of Michigan.
Marie Schellens works as an Environmental Security Analyst at UNEP's Crisis Management Branch. She coordinates the development of Strata - the Earth Stress Monitor. Strata will be a web-based mapper that helps end-users to easily identify where environmental and climate stresses are converging. It aims to support area-specific policymaking and programming around environmental and climate security.
Before joining UNEP, she was a Marie Curie PhD fellow at Stockholm University and the University of Iceland, researching the role of natural resources in conflict risk, with qualitative and quantitative tools from the field of complex systems.
Dr. Dharam Uprety is the Thematic Lead: Climate and Resilience of the Practical Action South Asia Office based in Kathmandu. Dharam did a Ph.D. in Natural Resources Management in 2006 and a post-Doctorate Degree in Environmental Sciences in 2008. Dharam has over 18 years of professional working experience in the field of climate change, natural resources management, disaster risk reduction, local lead adaptation and Early Warning System both at the national and international organizations. Dharam is official delegates from the Government of Nepal for COP26.
Lindsey joined QUNO in 2013, following a career in conflict areas, initially as a volunteer in reconciliation youth work in Northern Ireland and as a teacher in the Israeli Occupied West Bank. She has worked with UNRWA on refugee protection in the West Bank, with OHCHR (formerly UNCHR) during the war in the Former Yugoslavia, with UNOSOM in Somalia to help coordinate humanitarian efforts, with UNSCO in Gaza on donor coordination to implement of the Oslo Peace Accords, and in Bonn with UNV on communication of development efforts. Lindsey’s work at QUNO focuses on climate change and environmental degradation as a peace and justice concern, engaging at an international level with the climate change negotiations, climate science, human rights efforts, while seeking to connect international progress with grassroots efforts. Lindsey is a Member of German Yearly Meeting and lives with her family in Bonn, where QUNO has an office space.
Annika is a facilitator, event manager and researcher, currently heading community management at GPP. She works to build connections, community, and collaboration between various peacebuilding actors in and out of Geneva on a variety of topics, including environmental peacebuilding. Annika is an experienced community organizer, political advocate and event manager, working with nearly a dozen NGOs over the past nine years, including the Conference on World Affairs, Represent.Us, Run for Something, StartingBloc, and the Global Campaign for Education. She holds a Master's degree from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva where her research focused on urban violence and gang desistance policies in the U.S.
Dr Kate Ferguson is a foreign policy analyst driving a new approach to preventing violent crises. She is Co-Executive Director and Head of Policy and Research at Protection Approaches, a UK-based human rights charity that works to change how we see identity-based violence –and so transform how we prevent it. Her work focusses on establishing evidenced, equitable and creative pathways to structural change. Kate is a regular commentator on domestic and foreign policy and have a varied publication portfolio. She is Chair of Policy at the European Centre for the Responsibility to Protect and Honorary Research Fellow at the University of East Anglia. Her book, Architectures of Violence: The Command Structures of Modern Mass Atrocities was published in 2020 by Hurst and Oxford University Press.
Viola J. Csordas is currently working as an SSR Advisor at the Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF), as part of its International Security Sector Advisory Team (ISSAT). Her focus areas include linkages between climate, environmental and human security as well as integrated approaches bridging the security-development-peace nexus. Viola holds a master’s degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.
Mehdi is a Tunesian rights and governance expert with more than ten years of experience. He has a strong understanding on a variety of issues affecting fragility. He is currently a Programme Manager with International Alert Tunisia where he is responsible for several peacebuilding projects including on improving inclusive water resource management. He holds a degree of Political Science from the Maxwell School of Citizenship of the SyracuseUniversity.
Dmytro Los is the Chair of the Board at UBTA. After five years of medical and scientific career, Dmytro switched to commerce: he was a sales and project manager in various fields from medical equipment to agricultural products.
He worked as an advising assistant to the People’s Deputy of the Parliament of Ukraine, participated in the creation and development of inter-parliamentary friendship groups between Ukraine and other countries (including Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey) and participated in the promotion of Silk Link Ukrainian-Chinese cooperation. He cooperated with several commercial organizations on structuring and supporting business projects and their optimization as an anti-crisis manager. Dmytro also conducted transactions to attract corporate and investment capital, promoted closer cooperation with foreign and international companies and organizations for numerous Ukrainian enterprises and supported the activities of foreign companies in Ukraine.
He holds a degree in medicine and Master of Business Administration from Kyiv University of Market Relations.
Iryna Stavchuk is Deputy Minister of Energy and Environmental Protection of Ukraine. She graduated with honors from the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute with a degree in Computer Ecological and Economic Monitoring. She received her second higher education in Sweden in The International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics with a degree in Ecology Management and Policy.
For more than 10 years, Iryna worked at the National Environmental Center of Ukraine and coordinated work related to the development and implementation of climate protection policy in Ukraine, participated in the UN international negotiations on climate change. She founded and chaired the NGO Kyiv Cyclists' Association. Prior to her appointment to the Ministry in 2019, Iryna worked as Executive Director of the Center for Environmental Initiatives Ecoaction. She also worked as a legal observer on the Board of Directors of the World Bank's Clean Technology Fund, Coordinator of the Climate Action Network in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia.
Tasneem Essop is an expert on climate, energy, poverty and social justice issues and is the Founding Director of the Energy Democracy Initiative in South Africa.
South African born and based, Ms Essop has significant experience in the climate movement. She has held various senior government positions in South Africa. She was a global climate policy and strategy leader for environmental NGO WWF International and served as the Head of Delegation for the organisation at the UNFCCC including at the Paris COP. During this period she also served on the Board of the Global Call for Climate Action (GCCA) and was an active participant in the work of CAN International.
Tasneem is also serving her second term as Commissioner in the National Planning Commission of South Africa. She was also recently appointed to the Board of Sanparks, the leading conservation authority in South Africa.
Andrea Meza Murillo is an expert in sustainable development with more than 20 years of experience in formulating public policies and executing projects. She has worked in more than 15 Latin American countries in multidisciplinary projects financed by various multilateral organizations (IDB, World Bank, CAF, European Union, UNDP), bilateral (AECID, GIZ) and National governments.
François Legault is a Canadian politician serving as 32nd premier of Quebec since 2018. A member of the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ), he has led the party since its founding in 2011. Legault sits as a member of the National Assembly (MNA) for the Lanaudière region riding of L'Assomption. Prior to entering politics, he was the co-founder of the Canadian airline Air Transat.
Regina R. Rodrigues is a professor of Physical Oceanography at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Brazil. Before joining UFSC in 2010, she received her PhD from the Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island and work for NOAA in the USA. She was Reviewer Editor of the IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Land (SRCCL). Currently she is member of the CLIVAR Atlantic Region Panel and external editor of Nature new journal Communication Earth & Environment. Her research focus on understanding how tropical ocean basins interact and affect the extra-tropics leading to extreme events, using observations and modelling. Her research has also focused on the impacts of ENSO variability on the climate of South America and the Tropical Atlantic. More recently she has her attention on the physical mechanisms generating compound extreme events of droughts, land and marine heatwaves.
Dr. Benjamin Strauss was elected President and CEO of Climate Central in April 2018 and also serves as Chief Scientist. He is author of numerous scientific papers and reports on sea-level rise and is architect of the Surging Seas suite of maps, tools and visualizations. Strauss has testified before the U.S. Senate and presented to state and local elected officials, and his past work has been cited by the White House and the Secretary-General of the United Nations. Surging Seas has earned more than 100 million page views, and with Strauss’s research has generated more than 10,000 appearances in U.S. and international publications, including the New York Times, Washington Post, AP, Reuters, Bloomberg, China Daily and The Hindu. He has appeared as an expert on national network news, nationally syndicated radio and documentary television.
In earlier roles at Climate Central, Dr. Strauss served as Chief Scientist, Vice President for Sea Level and Climate Impacts, interim Executive Director and COO. He was a founding board member of Grist.org and the Environmental Leadership Program. Strauss co-organized the 1994 Campus Earth Summit, and consulted to the Nathan Cummings Foundation on higher education and the environment. He holds a Ph.D. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Princeton University, an M.S. in Zoology from the University of Washington, and a B.A. in Biology from Yale University.
Jana Sillmann is a Geo-ecologist (MSc) and specialized in analyses of climate extremes in climate models (PhD, IMPRS ESM, Hamburg). She has done work related to various factors that can drive changes in climate extremes, such as climate variability and anthropogenic activities (e.g., greenhouse gases and air pollution), and evaluation of climate model simulations. In her current research, she uses interdisciplinary approaches for better integration of natural and social sciences. Particularly, she is interested in relating physical and statistical aspects of climate extremes to socio-economic impacts and questions related to risk assessment and decision making.
Suzannah Sherman is a research associate for the Chatham House Sustainability Accelerator. Prior to Chatham House, Suzannah worked as an environmental consultant leading projects to provide insights and advice to private sector organisations on environmental management.
She has led on a wide range of projects covering multiple aspects of sustainable business including life-cycle product assessments, circular economy implementation, and science-based carbon target setting.
Suzannah holds an MSc in Environmental Change and Management from the University of Oxford and a BA in Geography from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Christopher Hurst is Director General of the Projects Directorate of the European Investment Bank. Composed of sector specialists, this directorate is responsible for project appraisal (including technical, economic, environmental and social issues) and the monitoring of project implementation, as well as for sector studies and policy – including the EIB’s climate, environmental and social policies.
Prior to the EIB, Mr Hurst held research and teaching positions at Oxford and London Universities, and worked in management consultancy in the US. He has a doctorate from Harvard University and a degree in engineering from Imperial College, London.
Dr. Mauricio Rodas is a JD from Universidad Católica de Quito. He also holds two master’s degrees in Government Administration and Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania, thanks to a Fulbright Scholarship. He started his professional career with the UN’s Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean in Santiago de Chile and Mexico City. Later he worked as a policy consultant for the Mexican government. In 2007, he founded and served as the Executive Director of Ethos Public Policy Lab, a think tank based in Mexico now ranked among the most influential in Latin America by the Global Go To Think Tank Index Report.
In 2011, Rodas returned to Ecuador and founded SUMA, a national political party. In 2013, he ran for President of Ecuador; the following year was elected as Mayor of Quito (2014-2019). During his period, Rodas was the hosting Mayor of the UN’s Conference on Urban Sustainable Development – Habitat III. He also had an active leadership role in the main city networks: two terms as world co-president of UCLG, member of the global boards of C-40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, ICLEI, and the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy. He is a Young Global Leader and member of the Global Future Council on Cities and Urbanization of the World Economic Forum (WEF). In 2019, he was named one of the 100 Worlds’ Most Influential People on Climate Action by Apolitical; he also received UPenn’s World Urban Leadership Award and was named Distinguished Fellow on Global Cities from the Chicago Council on Global Affairs
Smith joined Buro Happold from Webb Yates Engineers in 2020, where they were a Director focused on sustainability and transdisciplinary practice. They bring fifteen years’ experience leading multi-award-winning architecture and engineering practices – from art and architecture practice Studio Weave, Interrobang Architecture and Engineering and Webb Yates Engineers.
They are a nationally elected member of the council of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), a trustee of the Architecture Foundation, and on the steering committee of Architects Declare. In 2017 they were appointed a Design Advocate by the Greater London Authority where they serve on the Ecological Urbanism Sounding Board and advised on the development of the Circular Economy Guidance document. Smith was also chief curator of “Enough: The Architecture of Degrowth”, the 2019 Oslo Architecture Triennale that explored how architecture can establish the conditions for an economy based on social and ecological flourishing.
Damien’s background in farming and adventure tourism drives his view that we need well-paid, sustainable jobs and industry growth to improve our future. He is a passionate advocate for rural communities and for a thriving agricultural sector. Damien was first elected to Parliament in 1993 and has served as a Minister in both the fifth and sixth Labour Governments, and spokesperson in Opposition for a variety of roles, including Agriculture, Biosecurity, Food Safety, Tourism, Immigration and Health.
In the 2020 Labour Government, Damien O’Connor was appointed Minister for Trade and Export Growth, Minister of Agriculture, Minister for Biosecurity, Minister for Land Information, and Minister for Rural Communities.
Damien is an active sportsman and represented Buller at athletics. He has won West Coast Young Farmer of the Year and enjoys sports including skiing, white water rafting, jet boating, motorsports and playing rugby for the New Zealand Parliamentary Team.
Grazia is a senior economist and evaluator with more than 15 years of experiences in research on food and agricultural systems resilience, sustainability, and transformation considering interconnected global and regional challenges, in primis, the climate security crisis. At the CGIAR Focus Climate Security she leads socio-economic research on the impact of climate change and variability on a diverse set of livelihood systems and outcomes. Her main research interest lies in evaluating the role of climate as a “threat multiplier”, exacerbating existing risks and insecurities, such as food and nutrition insecurity, poverty, forced migration, gender and other structural inequalities, which in turn can affect the prospect for peace and stability across the world.
She had led and co-authored multiple research outputs addressing the link between climate and peace and security. She currently leads multiple projects that combine conventional and unconventional mixed method approaches to qualify and quantify the climate security nexus in Africa, Latin America, and South-East Asia. She also leads a research area aiming to change the way we measure peace and security in a climate crisis. Before this appointment, she managed the Impact Assessment and M&E team in the International Center For Tropical Agriculture in Asia and worked with several humanitarian, development, and research actors, such as IFAD, DFID, ODI, Save the Children. She holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Economics and a Master of Science degree in Development Economics from the University of Sussex (UK), a Master’s degree in Economics and Politics of European Integration (summa cum laude) and a Bachelor of Science degree in International and Diplomatic Science (summa cum laude) from the University of Bologna (Italy).
