The Climate Champions Team is proud to introduce its fourth cohort of ambitious and stubbornly optimistic Youth Fellows. These seven dynamic young professionals — aged 20 to 29 and hailing from seven countries across four continents — will work within the team supporting the UN Climate Change High-Level Champions for COP28 and COP29, H.E Razan Al Mubarak and Ms. Nigar Arpadarai.
As part of the Youth Fellowship programme, the fellows will help mobilise climate action among non-State actors to achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement, in close collaboration with the UNFCCC, the Marrakech Partnership and the COP Presidencies.
Young people and future generations are environmental stewards of the future. Many are also leaders and subject matter experts today. The Climate Champions Team are committed to strengthening youth agency in climate action. Elevating and empowering youth voices will help drive systemic change so theChampionscontinues to position this vital stakeholder group at the heart of its work.
Amal Ridene, Finance Youth Fellow
Amal is a Chevening Scholar pursuing an MSc in Sustainable Development at the Science Policy Research Unit of Sussex Business School, focusing her dissertation on Blended Finance.
Previously, she served as an Investor Engagement Officer at the AfricInvest Group, a leading pan-African private equity firm. There, she supported fundraising, due diligence, communication, investor relations, and climate-related initiatives.
As a Young Climate Change Negotiator from Tunisia, Amal has been a Party Delegate to COP26, COP27, and COP28, leading the Climate Finance team. She has also participated as a speaker at events like MENA Climate Week 2022 and UN Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction 2022. In addition, she is a GFANZ advisory panel member, Curator of the World Economic Forum Global Shapers’ Tunis Hub, and Chairperson for the 2024 World Scout Conference.
Aya Kamil, Stakeholder Engagement Youth Fellow
Aya is an intersectional policy practitioner and climate researcher. She is pursuing an MSc in Modern Middle Eastern Studies at Linacre College, University of Oxford. Kamil’s research focuses on climate mitigation, South-to-South integration, global environmental governance and human security.
Before joining Oxford, Kamil was a 2022 James C. Gaither Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a 2023 Rising Expert Fellow at Young Professionals in Foreign Policy.
Passionate about elevating African voices in the international policy and diplomatic fora, Aya’s footprint spans across continents. Her multifaceted roles across South America, the Middle East, Europe, and North America have solidified her reputation as a global youth changemaker. Her writing has appeared in Survival, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Sada and Charged Affairs, among others.
With a visionary perspective, Kamil is committed to engage in track 1.5 diplomacy work to fully unlock the full potential of green, inclusive and resilient climate adaptation in the continent through the larger framework of the SDG goals and the Women, Peace and Security Agenda.
Daniel D’Elia da Costa, Finance Youth Fellow
Daniel is a sustainable finance specialist currently performing sustainable debt data analysis and research at the Climate Bonds Initiative –an international organisation working to mobilise global capital for climate action, where he focuses on Latin America and the Caribbean. His current interests lie in the interplay between economics and socio-ecological relations, and he has extensive experience in project management and international cooperation.
Daniel holds a Master’s in Global Markets and Sustainability as an Erasmus Mundus scholarship holder from a joint degree between the University of Glasgow, Uppsala University, and Universidad de los Andes. He also holds a professional degree in Economics and Sustainability Management and a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations, both from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). Daniel is fluent in English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish, and proficient in collaborating with global teams from diverse cultural backgrounds.
Ferdison Valmond, Race to Resilience Youth Fellow
Ferdison, hails from the Kalinago territory in the east of Commonwealth of Dominica, formerly known as the ‘Carib’ territory – a culturally-rich area reserved for Indigenous Peoples and home to the last surviving pre-colonial tribe in the Caribbean Region.
His educational journey includes a certificate in public relations from the University of the West Indies Dominica and a Diploma in news journalism from the London School of Journalism. Hee will soon begin further studies in Environmental Science, with a focus on environmental law and policy.
Ferdison established his first youth group dedicated to increasing community involvement among young people in his indigenous community at the age of 15. Throughout his secondary school years, his interest in climate change grew, culminating in his selection to represent Dominica at a youth climate change summit hosted by the Bangladesh Youth Leadership Center.
He now serves as Vice-President of the Eastern District Youth Council of Dominica and National Coordinator for the Commonwealth Youth Climate Change Network. He is also a Public Relations Officer for the Caribbean Youth Environment Network Dominica Chapter, Student Ambassador to the Leader’s Readers Network, and member of organizations like UBUNTU United Nations Leaders Network, FXB Climate Advocate, YOUNGO, and the Climate Change Network.
Ferdison serves as Dominica’s country coordinator for the Global Youth Parliament, Indigenous Youth Representative to the UN Global Indigenous Youth Forum, and Youth Liaison for French-speaking territories. He has been recognized for his contributions, being selected as one of the 100 youths for the International Youth Climate Delegates Program to COP28 and as a delegate to the 15th IRENA Youth Assembly.
Currently, Ferdison’s focus lies on the impact of climate change on indigenous communities and the preservation of their culture and traditions. He strongly advocates for the inclusion of young people in decision-making processes, believing that by listening to their perspectives and involving them in policy and action-making, a more just and equitable world for all can be achieved.
Gereltuya Bayanmunkh, Race To Zero Youth Fellow
Gereltuya Bayanmunkh is a climate activist of nomadic heritage with a diverse background in AI engineering and climate-focused entrepreneurship.
As the co-founder of several impactful social enterprises in Mongolia since 2020, including Green Dot Climate NGO, Green Dot Climate LLC, and Climate Change AI LLC, she has been at the forefront of combating climate change. Gereltuya’s initiatives range from creating science-backed climate change content to developing technological solutions for sustainable action. She also focuses on building and strengthening youth-led communities, advocating for equitable climate policies, and fostering partnerships to push Mongolia towards a net-zero future.
Before her climate-focused endeavours, Gereltuya showcased her expertise as an AI engineer at TomYo EdTech LLC and Dentsu Data Artist Mongol LLC, where she led projects and contributed to the development of cutting-edge AI technologies, including the development of language models using BERT-like structures.
Her academic pursuits, including an ongoing M.Sc. degree in AI and Big Data Science, further underscore her commitment to leveraging AI effectively in climate action. With a B.Sc. in Mathematics from the National University of Mongolia and extensive research experience, including as a student researcher at the Open Laboratory of Computer Graphics and Multimedia Technology, Gereltuya brings a unique blend of technical expertise and environmental advocacy to her work.
Jimena Padilla Pineda, Communications Youth Fellow
Jimena is currently pursuing a dual master’s degree in environmental policy and political economy of development at SciencesPo Paris (PSIA) and the London School of Economics (LSE). As a graduate student in Environmental Policy, she studies income inequality, water governance and human mobility through the lens of our triple planetary crisis of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss.
Previously, she worked as a photographer and graphic designer based in her hometown on the Mexico-United States border. She aims to leverage her visual communication skills and studies to empower individuals and communities, raise awareness of climate change and its consequences and support sustainable solutions for poverty and inequality.
Jimena holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Tulane University where she double majored in Economics and Studio Art and minored in Latin American Studies.
Richard CiLai Shen, Systems Transformation Youth Fellow
Richard, from Shanghai, China, holds a BSc in Environment and Sustainable Development from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), and an MSc in Environmental Change and Management from the University of Oxford. Identifying as a political ecologist, he is passionate about the application of complexity science to international and subnational climate diplomacy. Richard has actively participated as a delegate at COP26, COP27, and COP28.
He is a founding member of the Intelligent Climate & Eco-civilization Initiative under the UNFCCC GCAP. Launched at COP28, it aims to foster greater climate action, enhance transparency of climate action, and promote collaboration and cross-cutting among non-party entities in China.
Richard’s experience also includes roles at Oxford Net Zero, the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, the Department of Geography and Environment at the LSE, and the UNFCCC.
On International Youth Day 2024 meet the Climate Champions Youth Fellows driving change across the globe. These inspiring young professionals are leading the charge in climate diplomacy, working alongside UN Climate Change High-Level Champions for COP28 and COP29.
ELATIA (Indigenous Peoples’ Global Partnership on Climate Change, Forests and Sustainable Development) has been selected to conduct a comprehensive Global Data Study on Indigenous Peoples’ Climate Contributions by Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund (MBZF), under the leadership of H.E. Razan Al Mubarak, UN Climate Change High-Level Champion for COP28. This study aims to bolster long-term access to climate finance […]
As the winners of the 2023 Resilient, Inclusive, and Sustainable Environments (RISE) grants challenge are announced, we take a look back at the transformative work of the 2022 cohort.
Due to unequal gender norms globally, women are impacted first and worst by climate change, and yet, one of the untold stories is how women in all of their diversity are simultaneously essential actors in local and global solutions. Study after study shows that we must involve women at every level, if we are to […]
