Meet The Team

Her Excellency Ms. Razan Al Mubarak

Her Excellency Ms. Razan Al Mubarak is a United Arab Emirates native who, for over twenty years, has played a vital role in guiding her country towards a more sustainable future while spearheading progressive environmental protection and species conservation across West Asia and globally.

HE Ms. Razan Al Mubarak was elected President of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) for a four-year term beginning in September 2021. She is the second woman to lead the organization in its 75-year history and its first president from West Asia.

In 2010 she was appointed managing director of the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD), becoming the youngest person to lead an Abu Dhabi government entity and one of the only women to hold such a position. Under her guidance and leadership, the government agreed to double its protected wildlife areas and adopt the region’s first carbon targets.

HE Ms. Razan Al Mubarak is the founding director of the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund, helping to build the organization into one of the world’s most significant philanthropic foundations supporting direct species conservation. Since its inception the MBZ Fund has supported more than 2,500 species conservation projects in over 160 countries, bringing many species back from the brink of extinction.

HE Ms. Razan Al Mubarak holds an MSc in Public Understanding of Environmental Change from the University College London, UK and a BA (Hons) in Environmental Studies and International Relations from Tufts University, Massachusetts, USA.

Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin

Dr. Mohieldin, is an economist with more than 30 years of experience in international finance and development. He is an Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund. He has been the United Nations Special Envoy on Financing the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda since February 2020.

He was Minister of Investment of Egypt from 2004-2010, and most recently, served as the World Bank Group Senior Vice President for the 2030 Development Agenda, United Nations Relations and Partnerships. His roles at the World Bank also included Managing Director, responsible for Human Development, Sustainable Development, Poverty Reduction and Economic Management, Finance and Private Sector Development, and the World Bank Institute; World Bank President’s Special Envoy on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the Post-2015 Development Agenda (later, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)), and Financing for Development; and Corporate Secretary and Executive Secretary to the Development Committee of the World Bank Group’s Board of Governors.

Mr. Mohieldin also served on several Boards of Directors in the Central Bank of Egypt and the corporate sector. He was a member of the Commission on Growth and Development and selected a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum in 2005. His professional experience extends into the academic arena as a Professor of Economics and Finance at the Faculty of Economics and Political Science, Cairo University and as a Visiting Professor at several renowned Universities in Egypt, Korea, the UAE, the UK and the USA. He is a member of the International Advisory Board of Durham University Business School. He also holds leading positions in national, regional and international research centers and economic associations.

Mr. Mohieldin holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Warwick, United Kingdom; a Master’s in Economics and Social Policy Analysis from the University of York, United Kingdom; a Diploma of Development Economics from the University of Warwick; and a B.Sc. in Economics from Cairo University. He also participated in high-level certification programmes at Wharton Business School of the University of Pennsylvania and Georgetown University. In 2018, the American University in Cairo conferred upon him the honorary degree of doctor of Humane Letters “in recognition of renowned attainments and achievements”.

He has authored numerous publications and articles in leading journals in the fields of economics, finance and development.

Maria Aguilar

Maria Alejandra Aguilar is a Colombian lawyer with over six years of experience in project management, advocacy, policy analysis, and research related to socio-environmental issues and climate change. She earned an MSc. in Sustainability from the United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS) and a joint diploma from the University of Tokyo, Japan.

Maria has worked in civil society organizations in the LAC region and globally, including positions such as Associate and Climate Justice Coordinator at the Colombian NGO Ambiente y Sociedad; Gender and Indigenous Peoples Specialist at the United Nations Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN). In 2022, she coordinated the Stop Financing Factory Farming Campaign (S3F), a global coalition of 7 NGOs, with Friends of the Earth U.S. as the Secretariat. During the same year, Maria was part of the Youth Fellowship of the High-Level Climate Champions as a Resilience Fellow.

In April 2023, Maria joined the Climate Champions team as the Race to Resilience Campaign Manager. The goal: to mobilize non-state actors towards building the resilience of 4 billion people to climate risks, especially those at the frontlines of the climate crisis.

Karishma Ansaram

Karishma a Finance Youth Fellow with the Climate Champions Team.  She holds an MSc in Carbon Finance from University of Edinburgh and is currently completing her PhD on Climate Finance and Carbon Pricing  at IESEG School of Management, France with a particular focus on carbon markets around the world.

Karishma has been a research fellow on the NDC Financing in African Countries with Frankfurt School of Finance and Management and African Research Impact Network (ARIN). She coordinated the Finance & Market Working Group at YOUNGO (official youth constituency of UNFCCC) in 2021-2022. She has been involved in climate and youth-led actions in diverse aspects notably, grassroot projects in Mauritius, attending SB58 in Germany,  Africa Climate Week 2022 in Gabon, Pre COP-26 in Milan, COP26 in Glasgow, UK and COP27 in Sharm El Sheik, Egypt, drafting policy papers and more.

Kyra Appleby

Kyra is the tracking lead for the Climate Champions.   In this role she ensures the non-state actor community’s progress tracking infrastructure is trusted, transparent, accessible, and comprehensive. And that opportunities are identified where climate action from non-state actors encourages or helps to create the conditions for national governments to enhance ambition and accelerate  implementation.

Prior to joining the Climate Champions team, Kyra was the Global Director, Cities, States and Regions at CDP where she oversaw the annual climate reporting of over 1,200 cities, states and regions.

Kyra hold a Masters in Public Administration from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Earth Science from the Johns Hopkins University.

Nicolle Aspee

Nicolle Aspee holds a Master’s in Environment and Sustainable Development from University College London (UCL) and a BSc in Geography, from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (PUC) and she is currently a doctoral student at the Department of Geography in UCL.

Nicolle has experience as a consultant in national and international agencies dealing with sustainability issues. She has worked in different projects, assessing and managing natural and social systems at different spatial scales. Her research focuses on climate risk, citizen science and resilience building from a transdisciplinary perspective.

Jen Austin

Prior to the joining the Climate Champions Team, Jen was the Policy Director for the We Mean Business coalition where she led the coalition’s global policy strategy, working with coalition partners and the world’s leading businesses to articulate a compelling business case for ambitious climate policy around the world.  Prior to We Mean Business, Jen served as Chief of Staff and Senior Policy Advisor to the Special Envoy for Climate Change at the U.S. State Department. Jen has experience in international climate policy, economics, diplomacy, and strategic communications, having also worked at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. Jen’s first jobs out of college were as a reporter for a daily newspaper in Uganda and with the International Rescue Committee in Liberia. Jen has a Masters in Public Administration in International Development from the Harvard Kennedy School where she wrote her thesis about global carbon markets, and got her undergraduate degree from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton. She is based in Washington, DC.

Paulina Aldunce

Paulina Aldunce is a Professor at the University of Chile. Her primary expertise is in the social and institutional dimensions of climate change adaptation and transformation, and in disaster risk management. She has a Master degree in Environmental Management and Planning, University of Chile, and a PhD in social science and environmental management, University of Melbourne, Australia. She is Lead author of the IPCC.

She is an Associate Researcher at the Center of Risk and Disaster Reduction (CITRID), University of Chile, and an Associate Researcher at the Center for Climate and Resilience Research (CR)2, and the Strategic Lead of Race to Resilience (RtR). For the Presidency of Chile of the COP25, she was Lead of the Adaptation Table of the Scientific Committee for Climate Change. She has been nominated as lead author and review editor for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for the Special Report on Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation (SREX), the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) and the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), contributing, in addition, to the Technical Summary (TS), Summary for Policy Maker (SPM) and Synthesis Report (SYR).

Ignace Beguin Billecocq

Ignace Beguin Billecocq is Ocean Lead for the Climate Champions since March 2021. Ignace is also Senior Manager, Ocean Stewardship Coalition, at the UN Global Compact. Ignace launched the Ocean Stewardship Coalition in 2018 with the objective to develop a global framework for Business Leadership in the Ocean to deliver on the Global Goals. The Coalition includes 150+ leading organizations in the ocean space, including global companies, public and private financial institutions, scientific institutions, civil society organizations and governments. Ignace worked with the UN Global Compact from 2014 to 2015 to mobilize companies in the lead up to the 2015 COP21 Climate Change Conference in Paris. Previously he served as Senior Consultant for large corporations on responsible communication and integrated reporting. He holds a Master’s Degree on International and European Environmental Law from University Aix-Marseille, France.

He is the father of a young daughter and loves cycling and trekking.

Priscilla Berríos

Priscilla Berríos holds a Master in Business Administration from High Point University in the United States and a BSc in Environmental Engineering from Valparaíso University in Chile. She has 17 years of professional experience in the direction, management and operation of projects in areas such as health in the USA, and in health, education and environment in Chile. Her trajectory can be summarized in the management of projects as well as the development and launching of units and interdisciplinary teams/centers for different organizations in Chile.

She is currently the Project Manager of the Race to Resilience´s Technical Secretariat, hosted by Centre for Climate and Resilience Research (CR)2 in Chile where she coordinates the technical secretariat`s work. She also works in the General Direction of Institutional Development and Quality Assurance of Valparaíso University in Chile, is part of the Hub for Transdisciplinary Systemic Studies (NEST-R3) and is a volunteer in climate action organizations.

Henrique Bezerra

Henrique is an energy market specialist who joins the High-Level Climate Champions as Oil & Gas Methane Reduction Manager. He has more than 18 years of experience in Renewables and Oil and Gas sectors in nine different countries of Asia, Europe and Latin America, including Brazil, India, Russia, Argentina, Peru, the Netherlands and others.

He is the co-founder of Interface Advocacy Ambiental, where he led several advocacy initiatives related to the regulation of a mandatory carbon market and incentives for the implementation of a socially just renewable energy transition.

Previously, he was the government relations director and then country manager of a British government relations and strategic communications consultancy specialized in Emerging Markets, where he worked closely with Brazil’s Environmental Agency, Federal Ministries, National Congress, state governors and mayors to promote renewable power generation and transmission projects, the digital economy, data protection, human rights and climate resilience.

Henrique’s first professional experience was as energy regulatory analyst for the private sector in Brasilia, followed by two projects at the World Bank and Organization of American States related to Civil Society engagement and promotion of biofuels. He has also led four market research and country reports on the Oil and Gas industries of Russia, India, the Netherlands and Peru for the Oil and Gas Financial Journal.

He has a MAs in International Economic Relations at FLACSO (Argentina) and Universitat de Barcelona (Spain), where he researched Argentina’s public policies to attract private investments to the development of its oil and gas sectors. He holds a BA in International Relations at the University of Brasilia.

Marco Billi

Marco Billi is Professor at the Department for Rural Management and Innovation, Faculty of Agronomical Sciences, University of Chile. He is PhD in Political Processes and Institutions (Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Chile). He holds a BSc. and MSc. in Economics (Universitá Commerciale L. Bocconi, Italy) and Master in Systems Analysis applied to Society (Universidad de Chile). He’s an interdisciplinary researcher with significant experience both in academic research and consultancy, in Chile, Latin America and Europe.

He is a researcher at the Centre for Climate and Resilience Research (CR2, Chile) and is currently Technical Lead of the Technical Secretariat to the Race to Resilience campaign, hosted by (CR)2. His research is focused on risk analysis, resilience building, governance, and science-policy interface, with a particular focus on climate change, and on water, energy and food security. He was a contributing author to the 4th National Communication of Chile to the UNFCCC, and an expert reviewer of the IPCC report on Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability.

Roxana Bórquez

Roxana Bórquez is a Doctor in Geography and Policy Studies at King’s College London. She holds a BA in Natural Resources Engineering and a Master in Public Policy, both from University of Chile. She is a researcher with 15 years of experience in interdisciplinary and international research teams in Latin America, North America and Europe.

She is a researcher at the Centre for Climate and Resilience Research (CR2, Chile), which is the Technical Secretariat of the Race to Resilience campaign. Roxana is currently Resilience Research Lead of the Race to Resilience Campaign. Her research is focused on co-production of knowledge, the science-policy-society interface, and governance in areas such as adaptation and resilience to climate change, and glacier, water and energy fields. She was a contributing author to Chapter 2: High Mountain Areas of the IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate (SROCC)

Doireann Breathnach

Doireann is a sustainability strategy manager based in the Dublin office of Accenture. Doireann’s background is in international relations and foreign policy and she now works with clients, advising on sustainability topics, growth strategy and operating model in both the commercial and non-profit sectors. Today her work is primarily in the consumer goods and retail sectors helping clients set sustainability strategies and create the organisations they need to deliver them. Doireann’s background is in international economics and foreign policy and she is currently Chair of the Irish Refugee Council. 

Tariro Bure

Tariro Bure is a program lead with extensive experience in launching projects and mobilising resources. She serves in the Climate Champions Finance team as the Strategic Coordinator, where she drives processes and supports initiatives in achieving systems transformation towards a net zero, resilient future.

Previously she was the coordinator of African Youth Networks Movement (AYNM) at Mandela Institute for Development Studies – an initiative by Mrs. Graça Machel where she was instrumental in the launch of AYNM and in setting up chapters which reach more than a million youth in 45 African countries.

Tariro was part of the founding team for African Leadership University (ALU) as Special Projects Associate to the Chairman. In this role, she spearheaded the campus accreditation and inauguration processes in coordination with the Government of Mauritius. She earned a BA in Global Economics and Management at Jacobs University Bremen in Germany.

Luciano Caratori

Luciano joins the High-Level Climate Champions team as Oil & Gas Transitions Lead on secondment from the Centre of Studies on Global Climate Change with Instituto and Fundación Torcuato Di Tella (ITDT/FTDT), Argentina.

His work with ITDT is focused on energy policy for the energy transitions, just transitions, and climate action planning, with two overarching themes: energy data and scenario planning.

Previously, Luciano served as Undersecretary of Energy Planning and National Director of Energy Information for Argentina’s Federal Government, as well as advisor to the vice chair of the Mining, Energy and Fuels Committee of his country’s National Senate.

Luciano represented Argentina in the G20 Energy Transitions Working Group (ETWG) and the Secretariat of Energy in the National Cabinet for Climate Change (GNCC).

His independent consulting practice included the valuation of energy assets and the assessment of transition risks faced by energy companies, as well as strategic advisory to local and national governments in energy planning.

Juan Carlos Varela

Juan Carlos Varela González holds a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Systems Analysis Applied to Society at the University of Chile, focusing on investigating ways to increase climate resilience.

Juan Carlos has experience and knowledge in social studies related to climate change, socio-ecological studies, and resilience theory. He is also skilled in data management and the development of methodological tools. He has collaborated in research designs related to climate resilience and risk management, as well as providing support as a teacher in courses on public policies, environmental sociology, and social sciences applied to climate change.

In his professional career, Juan Carlos has experience in executing survey projects and data analysis in social studies. In 2022, he joined the Race to Resilience campaign of the Climate and Resilience Research Center (CR2, Chile) as technical support in data treatment and visualization, as well as in the construction of the framework used by the campaign.

Currently, he is a member of the Transdisciplinary Systemic Studies Hub (NEST-R3). Juan Carlos’ expertise in sociology and research on climate resilience make him a capable professional to contribute to the development of sustainable solutions for current and future climate challenges.

Nathan Cooper

Sagarika Chatterjee

Sagarika is a sustainability professional with 15+ years’ experience in climate change and responsible investment. Led the PRI’s global climate change programme and UN-convened Net Zero Asset Owner Alliance secretariat co-head. Launched Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero with COP26 Private Finance Hub while seconded to UNFCCC High-level Champions. From May 2022, UNFCCC Champions Finance Lead and GFANZ secretariat leadership team.

Her board positions have included: Director of the UK Sustainable Investment & Finance Association, Charity investment sub-committee and trustee experience, and UK-China Green Finance Task Force member.

Sarah Darcie

Lina Dabbagh

Lina Dabbagh, leads the Climate Champions CSO engagement. Previously she worked as Head of Policy Advocacy for Climate Action Network (CAN) the biggest Civil Society Network working on Climate Change with over 1600 members in 130 countries and focal point for the ENGO Constituency in the UNFCCC.

In her role Lina facilitated the development of civil society strategies in the UNFCCC and other international fora (in line with member priorities and opportunities for the year); and coordinated the development of CAN policy positions and submission documents. 

Lina is passionate about ensuring transparency, participation and access to  information to achieve just and equitable climate action. Lina holds a master’s in Regional Science of Latin America from University Cologne and a Postgraduate degree from Universidad Autonoma in Mexico. 

Lina was born and raised in Germany and moved to Mexico after graduating. She has two kids, a husband and a dog who keep her busy. She loves traveling, cooking, reading and animals.

Shivi Dwivedi

Jane Eisenhardt

Zaheer Fakir

Zaheer has more than 30 years of experience in the world of international politics, negotiations, finance and development issues and is at the forefront of negotiations on a number of major multilateral outcomes most notably the Governing Instrument of the GCF and its operationalization, the Paris Agreement, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Agenda 2030 and the Katowice, Madrid and Glasgow Climate Change Conferences. He is a founding member and former Co-Chair and Board member of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) as well as also assuming the role of G77 & China coordinator for finance in the UNFCCC process. He has been involved in the design of the Climate Investment Funds (CIFs) and serves as a member of its board as well as serving on the board of the Adaptation Fund and Council of the Global Environment Facility (GEF). Mr. Fakir has also recently been appointed as a member of the South African Presidential Climate Change Finance Task Team for the Just Energy Transition Partnership which was announced during the COP 26 in Glasgow.

Camila Fernandez

Camila studied Administration and Business in Chile. Her career involves different processes and sectors; to work on social innovation and resilience in some of the most rural regions of Chile; to work as a government adviser on climate change and forestry in the ministry of agriculture; leading the strategy to increase the best sustainability and mitigation practices in the sector. She was part of the team as part of the COP25 Presidency team and as Chief of Staff of Gonzalo Muñoz. His last experience was in the private sector leading the ESG strategy and green finance in a bank in Chile.

Ramiro Fernández

Ramiro Fernández has more than 20 years working in sustainable development.

In he’s previous role he worked as Climate Change Director the Avina Foundation.

Since 2008 he has specialized in climate change and energy. With vast experience on participatory planning process on the energy sector and worked with national governments in the implementation of their commitments under the Paris Agreement.

In 2014 and 2015 he acted as senior advisor to the Minister of the Environment of Peru, as President of COP 20, and member of the Steering Committee of the “Lima Paris Action Agenda” at COP 21.

Ramiro is Vice-chair of the Advisory Council of the “Momentum for Change” initiative of the UNFCCC

Harald Friedl

Harald is a serial impact entrepreneur. Since 2017 he has been for 3 years the CEO of Circle Economy, an impact organization of 50 people based out of Amsterdam with a global reach. Circle Economy is a leading ecosystem builder that translates circular pathways into concrete action on the ground – with businesses, cities and nation states. Harald has extensive international experience running both for-profit and non-profit businesses with a focus on scaling impact. Prior to joining Circle Economy in 2017, Harald spent 5 years in South East Asia (Myanmar) where he co-founded the Impact Hub Myanmar and was Managing Director of a renewable energy company. Before that he spent time working  with the United Nations in New York and worked as spokesperson for the Austrian Government and advisor to the Austrian Deputy Prime Minister. Harald started his career as journalist and TV anchor and presented a daily show for economic news in Austria. Harald enjoys connecting with people, spending time in nature and nurturing ecosystems and people that are dedicated to making the world a better place for future generations.

Carla Germani

Carla is a sustainability strategy consultant based in Chile. She holds a BSc degree in industrial engineering, a diploma in environmental engineering and a Master’s in land and water restoration. Her background includes environmental policy and science communication, as she worked for the Ministry of Environment of Chile and ClimateScience Foundation.

Jan Kairel Guillermo

Jan is a passionate youth leader and driven climate change advocate, whose 2013 experience of surviving Super Typhoon Yolanda has greatly affected him. In his time as a government official, he focused on youth, legislation, culture and the arts and also led the Philippine delegation at several international events.

His professional history includes positions at Carnegie Climate Governance and the World Meteorological Organization, demonstrating his commitment to climate governance. Jan was instrumental in the development of the Water and Climate Youth Development Plan and Agenda and played a pivotal role in the 2023 UN Water Conference.

Jan graduated Arts Management at Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts Singapore, and he uses the arts to educate youth about the climate crisis. He has spoken at numerous global youth events and served as the 2020-2021 COY Liaison of YOUNGO and the lead of the 16th UN Climate Change Conference of Youth (COY16) Global Affairs Unit.

Peter Hall

Peter is Vice President and global director for sustainable and resilient infrastructure for the Wood organization working across all industry sectors.  He integrates sustainability and resilience into Wood projects to deliver outputs that support climate risks, community impact and align with finance.  He is the Ambassador for Climate Resilience at the Stimpson Center, manages the firms partnerships with the Resilience Cities Network (R-Cities) and supports partnerships with Microsoft, BP, Google and the Resilience Shift.   He developed & directs the Wood ‘ADAPT for Resiliency’ delivery platform to support business growth and integrated delivery from projects that can transform with outcomes a carbon neutral world, provide resilient infrastructure and align services to  communities with scalable solutions for measurable impact.  

He manages the Wood ResilienceLens Screen for Investments tool that was developed in partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation and R-Cities that can prioritize and measure infrastructure projects and their impacts to community benefits.  He has been with Wood for over 34 years and is based in Portland, Maine.  He has a B.Sc. Degree from St. Lawrence University, a Business Management Credential from USM School of Business and an Alliance for Water Stewardship Accredited Professional.

Catherine Harte

Catherine began her career as a journalist for the BBC in London and the Middle East. She covered news and current affairs from across the globe including producing the award winning Doha Debates programme based in Qatar. She went on to produce NPR’s foremost current affairs show On Point in the US, and Al Jazeera’s flagship environment show Earthrise. She’s also held a number of public and private sector Strategic Communications positions but recently returned to covering the most important story of our time – climate change. Latterly Catherine has been writing and producing investigative series for the Outrage + Optimism podcast hosted by Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac and currently produces editorial content for the Climate Champions.

Naira Hatem

Currently based in Cairo, Naira holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Cairo University, excellent degree with honors. Naira is currently pursuing her master’s degree in Political Science from Cairo University. She was awarded a scholarship for an exchange year at the University of Chicago. Naira speaks English, Arabic and have some basic knowledge of French.

Her previous experience was with the United Nations Environment Programme, Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) as the MENA team intern, where she was a key player in several MENA activities. Naira assisted in the launch of the UN Reflective Cycle Report in English and French, and participated in the Arab Sustainable Development Week (ASDW).

During her undergraduate years, Naira interned with several ministries in Egypt as the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, and the Institute of Diplomatic Studies, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She has also joined the UN Resident Coordinator office in Egypt (UNRCO) as an advocate for a UN initiative titled: SDGs Advocacy Programme where she sought to promote the SDGs amongst different communities in Egypt.

Mohamed Hegazy

Mohamed HEGAZY is an Associate – Road Transport Africa for the Climate Champions since April 2022. He is also the founder and Director of Transport for Cairo (TfC) L.L.P. TfC provides strategic advisory consultancy services, data, tech and research to improve urban mobility in emerging cities. With TfC, I successfully led the completion of more than 40 projects in 5 countries in Africa.

With 8 years of experience in project leadership, I focus on data collection, data aggregation, data science & urban computing to transform ideas into practice. Academically trained in Economics, Sociology and Public Policy design, I specialize in solving real world problems around deep decarbonisation of transport, informal system change management and digitalisation of transport using data-driven methodologies.

Born in Cairo, Egypt and have cum laude degrees in Economics from the American University in Cairo (2012) and Governing the Large Metropolis from Sciences Po, Paris (2018). Received training at the Center for Sustainable Urban Development, Columbia University, New York (2018). Currently based in Cairo.

David Howlett

David is Head of Policy at the Global Resilience Partnership (GRP), and is also the focal point on resilience and adaptation for the Marrakech Partnership on Global Climate Action. David is seconded from the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID). He has over thirty five years’ experience in development in Africa, Asia and the Pacific with an academic background in chemistry, soil science, and agriculture.

Chaeyoung Hyun

Chaeyoung Hyun, is the Climate Champions Energy Youth Fellow. She is passionate about creating an equal and sustainable environment, ensuring that no one is left behind, and has been actively engaged in youth representation and advocacy.

Prior to the fellowship, Chaeyoung was a Diplomacy Associate at Solution for Our Climate, a growing climate NGO in South Korea. As a representative of the Korea Youth Platform on SDGs, Chaeyoung had the opportunity to advocate for youth perspectives at the UNESCAP and the 2020 NEA Multi-Stakeholder Forum on SDGs. She was a Youth Challenge Developer and Task Force Leader at the 2021 P4G Summit, demonstrating the ability to develop innovative solutions and lead collaborative initiatives.

Chaeyoung Hyun is currently pursuing her studies at Waseda University. In her free time, she enjoys practicing yoga, listens to music, and filming and photography.

Chaeyoung is from South Korea, has grown up in Bangkok, Thailand, and currently resides in Tokyo, Japan.

Jabri Ibrahim

Based in Kenya, Jabri works to regionalize the High Level Champions global initiatives for Africa. He specifically works on the continued operationalization and success of the Africa Green Hydrogen Alliance (AGHA), providing regional steer and key insights on the clean power workstream of the Climate Champions and mainstreaming clean cooking within the climate agenda.

Prior to joining the Climate Champions Team, he worked at the Stakeholder Engagement Team of the UNFCCC Secretariat & has multilateral experience working at UNEP, Red Cross Kenya & Crevit Mulier (a legal bureau based in Nairobi); as well as volunteering at Greenpeace Africa & the Kenya Environmental Action Network.

Jabri has a climate and energy law background as well as training in environmental science.

Melanie Jamieson

Melanie is the co-CEO of Leaders’ Quest and a Senior Advisor for Dialogues & Events with the Climate Champions team, based in London. Melanie focuses her expertise on building bridges to drive radical collaboration across non-state actors towards climate goals. Melanie also ​helps companies navigate purpose and profit​, and build thriving cultures to be a force for good.

A professional singer-songwriter, Melanie spent her earlier years empowering at-risk youths in marginalised communities through music, where she first learned about harnessing the power of voice (for the individual) and harmony (for the community) to drive sustainable change.

Sokina Joseph

Sokina Joseph currently works as a Utilities Consultant at Accenture UK. Prior to joining she worked almost 4 years as an Asset Management Advisor as part of the Water Consultancy Division of an engineering firm. Her previous role saw her take on various projects ranging from designing high level desalination designs, writing business cases and doing technical assurance for water companies in the Middle East. In her current role, she drives efficiencies across the utilities sector and works closely on sustainability related initiatives. 

Sokina completed her BSc in chemistry from McGill University (Montreal, Canada) and holds a masters in environmental technology (Water management) from Imperial College London where she completed her thesis in Muscat, Oman. She strives to combine her science, sustainability and management skills to drive sustainable solutions and drive change. 

Bogolo Joy Kenewendo

Bogolo is an African Economist with expertise and years proven experience in trade & investment policy, industrial development policy, macroeconomic policy, public finance management, regulatory frameworks and reforms and private sector capacity building & development. She is a Former Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry for the Republic of Botswana. Bogolo is a Gender and Youth Activist that has been active for 15 years advocating for the inclusion of young people in decision making in Botswana and the rest of Africa, served as Botswana’s first youth representative to the United Nations and a Global representative for the other countries’ representative to the secretariat.

Rebecca Kershaw

Rebecca is seconded from PwC where, prior to joining the Climate Champions Team, she focussed on shaping and delivering PwC’s environmental commitments. As Global Net Zero Programme Lead, her work over the last few years included setting and securing validation of science-based targets and joining the Race to Zero, as well as developing the firm’s transition plan, reporting and beyond value chain mitigation approach. She has led workstreams and supported teams in over 150 countries to operationalise global climate targets into concrete decarbonisation programmes across areas including renewable energy, low-carbon mobility, supplier engagement and employee behaviour change.

Rebecca originally joined PwC in a sustainability advisory role in Singapore and has worked in several countries across Europe, advising businesses in multiple sectors on their sustainability and environmental practices. An engineer by background, with a degree in Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology from Cambridge, her early career focussed on innovation in health. She is a strong supporter of nature based solutions, and is a member of the Natural Climate Solutions Alliance and previously participated on the Core Advisory Group to the LEAF Coalition.

Shreya KC

Shreya is a passionate climate justice activist and educator with six years of experience in climate education, policies, and campaigning. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science. She joins the Climate Champions Team as a Tracking Youth Fellow. She brings her experience of working with global youths in championing meaningful youth participation through Nepalese Youth for Climate Action and YOUNGO, the children and youth constituency of the UNFCCC. She is keen to follow the Global Stocktake and NDC enhancement process. Shreya led the Youth4NDC campaign in Nepal which was successful as the ministry recognized young people’s demands and for the 1st time committed to engaging youths in climate change discussion forums including COP.

She is also a climate change champion of UNICEF South Asia and the Campaign Coordinator of Mock COP.

She was recognized as EE 30 under 30 for making a remarkable difference through environmental education and received the “Youth of the Year” award in 2022.

Lisa Larsen

Lisa has a long track record of building, developing and leading high performing teams and social purpose organizations. Over the past 20 years she has worked in senior roles related to public service research and consultancy, including the Behavioural Insights Team, Accenture and the Nordic sustainability house, Ramboll.

She combines operational expertise with a deep understanding of what it takes to shape high performing teams and deliver social impact – from strategy to implementation; performance improvement; budget management; proposals and fundraising; thought leadership and market positioning; research and evaluation.

In addition to her role with the Climate Champions Team, Lisa leads a module in Health Policy Delivery, part of an MSc programme at Imperial College London.  She holds a Cand.Scient.Pol in Political Science from Copenhagen University.

Kelly Levin

Kelly is a senior associate with WRI’s global climate program and WRI’s Director of Tracking and Strengthening Climate Action. She focuses her work on supporting countries in the design and tracking of climate commitments, as well as planning for long-term transitions associated with decarbonization. Kelly is also currently a lecturer with Yale’s School of Environment. With the Champions Team, Kelly will be supporting the tracking of progress towards systems change and the race to zero’s goals.

Kelly holds a PhD and Master of Environmental Management from Yale’s School of Environment and a B.A. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Yale College. She has been awarded the Google Climate Science Communication Fellowship and the Academic Council on the United Nations System Dissertation Award, and is a Switzer Fellow, Teresa Heinz Scholar, and Udall Scholar.

Rhiannon Ledger

Rhiannon works within the Climate Champions Events team, curating diverse and impactful events. Previously she supported the High Level Climate Champion, Nigel Topping, as his Executive Assistant. Prior to working with the Climate Champions, Rhiannon worked as a Programme Coordinator at Leaders’ Quest, where she worked on programming, logistics and delivery of leadership development programmes and workshops around the world. Rhiannon has also produced events and carried out research on the future of work and the workplace and has a BSc in Business & Management from Aston University. She enjoys collaborating with diverse teams from around the globe, to bridge gaps, build connections and enhance the impact of business on people and the planet.

Daniela Lerario

Daniela is a Brazilian biologist and mother of two young boys. With an MBA in waste management, Daniela has worked as an environmental consultant and manager for the sustainability area of the biggest national food retailer in LatAm.  She started her journey in the surprising universe of street waste pickers and the vulnerable population working in Cooperativas. Member of The New Plastics’ Economy of The Ellen MacArthur Foundation from 2016-2019, and panel expert for the recently launched study ‘Breaking the Plastic Wave’ (Pew Charitable and SystemiQ). Resident of the House of Beautiful Business since 2019.

Francis Mason

Francis Mason is a researcher at the Center for Climate and Resilience Research. He holds a master’s degree in sociology from Alberto Hurtado University, where he also earned his degree in sociology. In addition, he has completed postgraduate studies in Chinese studies from Universidad de Chile and received training as a Permaculture designer from El Manzano in Chile.

Francis is an expert in data science and programming, which he incorporates into his research and advocacy work. Currently, he holds the position of Metrics Lead at the Centre for Climate and Resilience Research (CR)2 in Chile, which serves as the Technical Secretariat for the Race to Resilience Campaign. He is an active member of the Hub for Transdisciplinary Systemic Studies (NEST-R3).

Catharine McFarlane

Mohamed Nady

Mahmoud Nady is an Egyptian nature lover currently based in Bonn, Germany. Nady is a natural resources management scientist with a diverse background in academia, research, and consulting. He is currently serving as the land-use system transformation lead, where he is responsible for the delivery of land use breakthroughs, and supports global initiatives for the restoration, conservation, and management of land use. Nady holds a master’s degree in applied ecology and environmental management and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Climate and Nature Based Solutions at Bonn University.

During his time with the European Commission, Nady has been a part of several global ecosystem valuation projects. Additionally, he has been a part of the Climate Protection Fellowship program for young climate leaders in Germany, further expanding his knowledge and experience in the field. His expertise and dedication to the field of natural resources management and climate change make him a valuable asset in the pursuit of sustainable land use practices. These experiences have given him a deep understanding of the complex interactions between human society and the natural world. He is passionate about using this knowledge to promote sustainable and nature-positive practices. He has dedicated his professional career to this purpose and continues to work towards it. He strives to build a more resilient and sustainable relationship between humans and nature. 

Fiona Napier

Fiona is an independent consultant, based in Nairobi. She channels her interest in young people’s futures, promoting accountable governance and protecting the natural world, through her consultancy work and in a personal capacity. She is a trustee of  the Environmental Funders Network,  and sits on the strategic advisory board of Leaders Quest.

Previous experience includes International Advocacy Director with the Open Society Foundations, Associate Campaigns Director on Environmental Governance at Global Witness in London, and Save the Children.  Fiona was a founder board member of the Ethical Trade Initiative, and co-founded the Publish What You Pay campaign which led to the establishment of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative.

Kapil Narula

Kapil Narula is Breakthrough Agenda Senior Analyst at the Climate Champions Team. He provides targeted input and ensures that the Breakthrough Agenda Report is high-quality, well-evidenced, and clearly communicated. He also facilitates international collaboration by engaging with relevant stakeholders.

Kapil has over two decades of versatile work experience in international organisations, universities, government, think tank and industry. His last three roles were as Economic Affairs Officer at the United Nations Secretariat at Beirut; Advisor (Energy), NITI Aayog (policy think tank of the Government of India) at Delhi; and Senior Researcher at the University of Geneva, Switzerland. Earlier, Kapil served in the Government of India (Ministry of Defence) as an Officer in the Indian Navy where he worked onboard ships, was the Head of Faculty in the naval officers training academy and a researcher at a maritime think tank. He played a key role in formulating the energy and environment conservation roadmap for the Indian Navy.

Kapil holds an interdisciplinary PhD in Development Economics, Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering and certifications in sustainability and climate risk. He was a Commonwealth Professional Fellow (UCL, London), Visiting Scholar (TU Graz, Austria) and a Young Scientist (IIASA, Vienna). His past work on global clean energy transition and sustainability includes heat decarbonisation, decentralised energy access, energy security, energy modelling, critical minerals, blue economy, energy efficient shipping, blue financing and maritime governance amongst others. He is the author/editor of seven books on energy and maritime issues, has published more than 100 articles/papers (h-index 16, 1700+ citations – google scholar) and is on the Editorial Board of eight academic journals.

Charlotte Owen-Burge

Charlotte has worked as a journalist and editor in Brussels and London since 2008.

She began her career as an environment correspondent, specialising in EU energy and climate policy before working in London as a magazine editor. From 2014-2020 she was the BBC’s Senior Commercial Editor, delivering multimedia content campaigns on platforms that included BBC World News and BBC Earth. She holds a degree in Politics from Bristol University.

Any spare time Charlotte has is spent outdoors, sharing her passion for nature with her two young children and working on her website The Skylark.

Katharine Palmer

Katharine Palmer is the global head of sustainability for Lloyd’s Register.. With nearly 20 years’ experience in the shipping industry she is an established thought leader and expert on environment and sustainability  within the maritime value chain.

Katharine represents Lloyd’s Register on many industry forums and collaborative initiatives including the UN Global Compact, Getting to Zero Coalition and the Sustainable Shipping Initiative and is currently the co-chair of the IMarEST Technical Leadership Board and an elected trustee on the Board of the Sustainable Shipping initiative.

Dania Petrik

Dania is a climate and development specialist with experience as a consultant, applied policy researcher and technical adviser. In her professional career, Dania has worked extensively on numerous projects related to building resilience in the water, biodiversity and livelihoods sectors across some of the most at-risk countries in Africa. In a policy and governance context, Dania’s expertise lies in identifying transversal climate risks in particular contexts across different regions and countries, as well as establishing what the relevant entry points are for mainstreaming climate priorities into local development plans and national climate-related policies, such as Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

In her project management experience, Dania has also gained extensive stakeholder engagement practice – working with a multitude of different actors, from academia, NGOs, youth groups, the private sector, multilateral organisations, donors, journalists and local and national government authorities. Prior to graduating with a Masters in Energy and Development Studies in 2014, Dania worked in communications and marketing for several years.

Dania loves the great outdoors and her passion for working in the climate field stems from a deep love of nature and protecting the planet’s natural resources. She is a qualified mountain guide, and you can find her hiking the rugged landscapes of South Africa in her spare time.

Emmanuelle Pinault

Emmanuelle leads the Policy Engagement Team at Climate Champions. In this role, she is providing political and diplomatic advice to the HLCs and delivering strategic engagement to enhance radical collaboration between National governments and Non-State Actors (NSA) and activate ambition and action loops at the global and national levels. This includes engaging the Champions in key multilateral spaces, supporting multi stakeholder processes in priority countries, and ensuring meaningful participation of NSA in the Global Stocktake, with the ultimate goal to keep global warming to 1.5 degree.

Prior to joining Climate Champions, Emmanuelle was the Director of City Diplomacy of C40 Cities, a network of nearly 100 megacities working together to tackle climate change, where she led C40 engagement in UNFCCC and other UN processes, the G20 and IPCC, through key initiatives such as the Compact of Mayors, GCoM, GCAS, Cities Race to Zero, CitiesIPCC and Urban20. Before that, she was an advisor to several governments on diplomacy, cooperation, climate change, sustainable development, culture and education. 

Emmanuelle holds a Bachelor Degree in International Relations from Science-Po Lyon and a Master’s Degree in Sociology from the EHESS – Paris. Born and raised in France, she lived in seven different countries across Europe, Africa, Latin America and South-East Asia, and likes to define herself as a global citizen. She is the mother of three boys whom she proudly raises as feminists. 

Saurabh Punamiya Jain

Saurabh’s professional journey in environmental governance has been marked by his service as Secretary to the Minister of Environment & Climate Change for the Government of Maharashtra. There, he made valuable contributions to co-authoring Mumbai’s inaugural climate action plan, in collaboration with the World Resources Institute (WRI) and C40. Furthermore, he was involved in the policy initiative for green bond issuance in the state and played a part in encouraging 43 cities in Maharashtra to commit to the Race to Zero campaign. Saurabh also helped initiate the India engagements program with the climate champions team, which was supported by the Children’s Investment Fund and Foundation (CIFF) and WRI.

In terms of academics, Saurabh studied Chartered Accountancy, accredited by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants in the United Kingdom. He earned a Master’s degree in Commerce from the University of Mumbai and a Master’s in Public Policy Studies from the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin. His experiences navigating the regulatory, political, policy, bureaucratic, and legal landscapes in both Europe and India equip him well for potential contributions to the field of the New Climate Economy.

In his personal time, Saurabh enjoys activities such as tennis and road biking.

Kristina Rodriguez

Kristina Rodriguez is the lead research fellow at Ocean Conservancy, working on developing a report that analyzes the intersection between equity and justice concerns pertaining to the life cycle of plastics. Rodriguez started the Sustainable Ocean Alliance and served as the president of the Surfrider Foundation at UF.

She graduated from the Yale School of the Environment in May of 2022 with a Masters in Climate Policy and Solutions specializing in nature-based solutions and coastal ecosystem conservation.

Rodriguez is the founder of the Strong Roots Movement, a non-profit organization based in Florida that brings organic edible garden beds to underserved youth centres throughout food deserts and economically distressed areas.

Karim Ehab Salah

Karim is an Aerospace Engineer and a Race to Zero Fellow at the Climate Champions Team. As a member of the COP27 Youth Taskforce, working closely with the COP27 President’s Youth Envoy, Dr. Omnia El Omrani, he played a pivotal role in shaping global climate policies and youth engagements during COP27.

In 2023, Karim was selected as one of the distinguished participants in Y4S Masdar’s Future Sustainability Leaders program, recognizing his commitment to driving sustainable solutions. Additionally, he was accepted into the Leadership program by YLF in 2022, from a pool of 18,000 applicants.

Renowned for his expertise as a speaker and sustainability advocate, Karim delivered a keynote speech at COP27, sharing a panel with the President of the UN General Assembly and influential ministers. He actively engages in mobilizing communities in Egypt for climate action, while also holding certifications as a Sustainable Development trainer and a graduate of the McKinsey Forward program.

Karim is also a valuable member of YOUNGO’s Energy Working Group (EWG) COP28 Team, contributing to the global discussions and initiatives related to energy transition and climate action. Karim’s advocacy focuses on Sustainable Development, Climate Change, Entrepreneurship, and Youth Leadership. His unwavering dedication has led him to represent Egyptian youth in both national and international events, demonstrating his diverse volunteering experience and commitment to driving positive change.”

Fabio Scaffidi-Argentina

Fabio is the Communications Associate working with Communications Director, Claire Duthuit. He previously coordinated the comms and marketing at Outrage + Optimism, a Global Optimism podcast, and helped the Climate Investment Challenge, an academic non-profit, become the globally largest student-led climate finance competition in 2021.

Fabio obtained his MSc in Strategic Marketing at Imperial College London, and BA in International Business and German at the University of Reading. He grew up around Europe and is multilingual. He enjoys the outdoors as well as sports, such as scuba diving and skiing.

Matteo Scalabrino

Matteo is an expert in the sector of sustainable finance and impact investing with four years of professional experience, dividing his time as practitioner and lecturer  between London and Paris. He is currently a Senior Analyst working for Bankers without Boundaries (BwB), an investment banking and advisory firm based on London. Matteo recently finished a postgraduate program in Impact Finance Innovations at the Said Business School of the Oxford University and previously completed his Master’s degree at the University of Sciences Po Paris. He is also a Global Shaper of the World Economic Forum and served as Co-chair in the Finance Toolbox Committee of the Cities Climate Finance Leadership Alliance.

Mazen Soueidan

Mazen is Emerging Markets and Developing Economies Lead, responsible for supporting efforts to accelerate the mobilisation and scale-up of capital in support of the climate change agenda in these countries.

In this capacity and in the run-up to COP27, in collaboration with the UN Regional Economic Commissions and COP27 Presidency, he helped convene the series of 5 UN regional finance forums designed to bring project proponents and financiers together in support of the climate change agenda, and successfully oversaw efforts to produce an expansive list of potential financing opportunities, and the Climate Champions’ Assets to Flows report.

A senior banking executive with over 20 years of coverage and product experience across the UK and MENAT, Mazen is seconded full-time from HSBC. Most recently as Regional Head of Wholesale Portfolio Management, MENAT, he was responsible for overseeing all regional corporate and institutional lending activity and associated governance, a key objective of the role being to ensure balance sheet growth in a manner that optimises return and risk, whilst also addressing other critical imperatives including those relating to climate strategy and targets, and helping clients with their ESG transition agenda.  Prior to this, Mazen was HSBC’s Regional Head of Leveraged and Acquisition Finance, MENAT, responsible for leading the origination and execution of event and flow financing across loan and bond capital markets.

Mazen holds a BSc. Economics from Royal Holloway, University of London. He has recently successfully completed Cambridge University’s Institute for Sustainability Leadership, Sustainable Finance course. 

 During his spare time, Mazen’s activities and areas of interest include cycling, football, history and international relations. 

Mazen speaks Arabic and English and is based in the UAE.

Sara Stefanini

Sara Stefanini is a strategic communications adviser, helping advocates across the climate action and clean air space and writing newsletters, speeches, talking points and other content. As well as working in the High Level Climate Champions, Sara works with clean air advocates in the Campaign Collective. Prior to this, Sara was a journalist for over 10 years, covering climate change, energy and the environment around the world. She was a senior reporter at Politico Europe, and wrote for Climate Home News, the Financial Times, Devex, Interfax Energy and other publications. Sara is based in London and is half Italian and half Australian. 

Irene Suárez Pérez

Irene is the nature-based solutions lead for the Climate Champions, focusing on 2030 breakthrough targets, with objectives that include:

• Strengthen nature’s place in the Races and create a nature positive narrative with partners;
• Increase financial flows for nature-based solutions;
• Ensure financial institutions commit to tackling commodity driven deforestation by 2025;
• Promote corporations tackling commodity driven deforestation and contribute to a nature positive economy by 2030.

Irene was nature-based solutions lead for the United Nations Secretary General in the lead up to the Climate Action Summit. She was also lead the Independent Association of Latin America and the Caribbean (AILAC) at the UNFCCC where she had previously advised on adaptation and loss and damage.

Irene was a lead UNFCCC negotiator for Costa Rica, whilst she was Senior climate advisor for The Nature Conservancy. She is an economist by training and specialized in development studies in The Netherlands.

She is the mother of Javier and loves being in nature and trekking.

Tanmay Takle

Tanmay serves as a Special Advisor to the Minister for Environment & Climate Change, Government of Maharashtra. He is seconded from WRI India.

Tanmay has led the efforts to get 43 cities in Maharashtra in the Race to Zero and has co-led efforts for Maharashtra’s entry to the Race to Resilience. He has worked closely with the city of Mumbai to draft South Asia’s first net-zero aligned climate action plan and will be a Sous-Sherpa for the city at the U20 cities summit. He has also initiated several climate action plans for multiple million-plus cities in the state.

More recently, he is working with the Government of Maharashtra to set up its Chief Minister headed council on climate change. Going forward, Tanmay is keen on helping states and cities quantify the economic opportunities that net-zero targets present. He also intends to get more financial institutions in the country to participate in the the GFANZ coalition.

Tanmay is pursuing an M.S. in Sustainability Management from Columbia University. In his free time, you can find him playing drums, bass or listening to R&B.

Marcia Toledo Sotillo

Marcia is a senior professional with 20+ years of work experience designing climate programs and managing portfolios and providing strategic direction to accelerate climate implementation. Her key focus is on adaptation and resilience pathways, spanning 70 countries worldwide.

Marcia has extensive experience in strategic positioning, thought-leadership and partnership creation by influencing key decision makers, coalitions and platforms with global climate actors.

Puninda Thind

Puninda Thind serves as the Finance Nature Lead, focusing on catalyzing finance sector action to address nature-related risks and leverage value creation opportunities to increase financial flows towards nature-based solutions.

For the last decade, she has worked at the intersection of sustainable investing and climate resilience. At BentallGreenOak, one of the largest global real estate investment advisors, she spearheaded the implementation of the organization’s ESG strategy and reporting. She also led the project team that conducted one of the largest ESG-focused surveys of global real estate investors, in collaboration with United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI).

Most recently, as a Senior Sustainability Consultant, she helped private sector clients, including large Canadian banks, investment managers, mining, and consumer goods companies, prepare climate strategies and develop disclosures aligned with leading and emerging global reporting frameworks and standards, including, TCFD, SASB, GRI Standard and IIRC.

Puninda has contributed to the Race to Zero criteria consultation process as a working group member of the ‘net zero finance and disclosure of climate-related risks’ working group. She holds a Bachelors of Environment and Business (Honours) from the University of Waterloo and a MSc Sustainability, Enterprise, and Environment from the University of Oxford. She is also active in climate advocacy as a member of the Global Shapers Community, an initiative of the World Economic Forum. Puninda has been previously named as one of Canada’s top 30 under 30 sustainability leaders and one of Canada’s top 25 environmentalists under 25.

Puninda is based in the UK.

Nigel Tonks

Nigel is a Director of Arup with 30 years experience in the building industry. He is a member of the UKIMEA Board, where he holds the Regional portfolio for Sustainable Development.  He leads the Building group in London, comprising Engineers, Architects and specialists. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers, with a background in the mechanical engineering and environmental design of buildings.  He fosters a multidisciplinary environment, leading multi-professional collaborations with signature architects, delivering passive and low energy developments. Nigel has delivered high quality sustainable development in the UK and around the world. His recent projects include the renovation of the Royal Academy of Arts in London, the headquarters for the Nobel Institute in Stockholm, the Edinburgh Music Venue and the headquarters building for Amorepacific in Seoul and for Rolex in New York.

Frances Way

Frances joined the Climate Champions on secondment from CDP where she is Chief Strategy Officer. CDP is an international non-profit that drives companies and governments to measure and reduce their environmental impacts. Prior to CDP, she worked in the private finance sector, primarily at Dresdner Kleinwort’s Global Equities Division. Frances sits on the board of EIRIS Foundation and holds an MSc in Environmental Technology from Imperial College.

Hellen Wanjohi-Opil

Hellen works as the Resilience African Cities Lead at the World Resources Institute (WRI) and is on full-time secondment to the Climate Champions. She holds an Msc.(Climate Change & Adaptation) as well as a B.A.(Urban and Regional Planning). She has over twelve years of experience within both the rural and urban space in Africa, particularly working at the grassroots with vulnerable communities. Hellen has been involved in participatory planning for land tenure regularization and infrastructure development in over 20 informal settlements, and planning with marginalized communities in Kenya’s Arid and Semi-Arid Areas (ASALs).

Hellen has also worked extensively with city, regional and national authorities in the preparation of over 15 development plans in Kenya and Rwanda. Her experience also includes consulting work on multiple donor-funded projects in the areas of climate resilience, urban governance, urban investment planning, policy, gender, and social inclusion. Hellen also has previously consulted for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) providing technical expertise on county spatial planning, and at the Climate Change Planning Unit at UN-Habitat.

Hellen is based in Nairobi, Kenya, where she lives with her husband and three children.

Hajrah Waqas

Hajrah is a dedicated advocate for climate empowerment and sustainability. She is a silver medalist with a passion for environmental conservation and has been recently awarded a scholarship for her master’s in Governance and Public Policy in Germany. With her extensive experience working with INGOs such as Oxfam GB and UNDP Pakistan, Hajrah has gained a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities in climate change mitigation and adaptation. She is committed to creating meaningful change through community engagement and empowering youth to take action on climate issues and join her in the fight against climate change.

William (Will) Wild

Will is an experienced chartered engineer with over eight years at Arup in the technical delivery of projects. His experience in both the design of structures and facades has given him a strong holistic understanding which underpins both low embodied carbon and low operational carbon design.

Recently, Will was seconded to the Centre for Window and Cladding Technology where he led the sector providing guidance to accelerate action on minimising carbon emissions. He is also an advisor for the upcoming UK Net Zero Carbon Building Standard.

He has a part-time secondment to the Climate Champions Team where he leads our Built Environment sector work in accelerating industry and government ambition and action to decarbonise the built environment.

Tessa Vincent

Tessa is Race to Zero’s Policy & Engagement Lead, leading on engagement with many Race to Zero Accelerators and Partners, and on how the campaign can support a move from voluntary action, into net zero policy and regulation.

Tessa has a Law and Politics background and has worked for Judges, Members of Parliament and a Minister in Aotearoa, New Zealand. She has experience in the NGO sector enhancing climate philanthropy and setting up coalitions to improve food security and tackle food waste.

Tessa moved to the United Kingdom in 2022 to study a Masters of Public Policy at the University of Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government. She thrives being involved in initiatives which aim to collectively solve climate issues.

Outside of work, she’s a keen runner, hiker and loves coffee outings!

Priya Yadav

Priya, who is a proud Haryanvi from India, works with Ashleigh in Carbon Dioxide Removal Team.

Priya graduated from IIT madras with a Master’s in Science. The urge to provide solutions took her to the path of social entrepreneurship. She founded Organic for Climate. OfC provides web-based integrity solutions via research, consultancy, and education in the field of sustainable food systems and agriculture. She also has past experiences working as a Physics faculty for 4+ years and has volunteered for international organizations focused on sustainability.  She believes in work that empowers individuals with tools to bring positive impact on society and human-nature relationships.