Day 1
18 October 2021
Session 1: High-Level Session – Promoting a conducive investment environment to unlock private finance for low carbon, climate-resilient development
A particular focus of this session will be on how to boost much-needed investments in climate resilience, an area which to date has attracted far too little private sector financing. This will only occur if adequate financial mechanisms are deployed to reduce perceptions of investment risks. Join this session to hear more about how to promote investments in climate adaptation, as well as in emergent technologies and clean energy, by crowding in private sector capital.
H.E. Carlos Alvarado Quesada
President, Republic of Costa Rica
H.E. Ali Bongo Ondimba
President, Gabonese Republic
Ali Bongo Ondimba, son of the late President Omar Bongo Ondimba and Patience Dabany, was born in Brazzaville on 9 February 1959. He studied law at the University of Paris Panthéon-Sorbonne where he obtained his doctorate in public law. He was elected to Parliament in 1990 and continued until he became President in 2009. He served as Foreign Minister from 1989-90 and Minister of Defence from 1999-2009. In July 2009, he was chosen as the official candidate for the Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG) for the presidential election and was elected President of the Gabonese Republic on 30 August 2009, taking the presidential oath on 16 October 2009. He won a second mandate in 2016.
President Bongo Ondimba takes a very keen interest in environmental issues. Shortly after being elected President he attended the Copenhagen Climate Change negotiations, representing the voice of forested Africa in the gathering of 20 Heads of State who crafted the Copenhagen Accord. He also personally attended COP 21 in Paris. Having chaired the African Heads of State Climate Change Initiative (CAHOSC) in 2016-17 he became the Champion on the African Adaptation Initiative. He is also a board member of Ban Ki-moons Global Centre for Adaptation.
He was the spokesman for Africa at Nagoya and worked to ensure that Gabon was the first country to ratify the Nagoya Protocol. Under his leadership investment in National Parks has increased by a factor of 20 and in June 2012 he set light to Gabon’s entire ivory stock pile, sending a message to ivory poachers that Gabon has a policy of zero tolerance for wildlife crime. President Bongo launched the Blue Gabon marine spatial programming initiative in 2014 and in 2018 oversaw the creation of 20 Marine Protected Areas, covering 27% of Gabon’s EEZ.
Jacqueline Novogratz
Founder and CEO, Acumen
In 2001, Jacqueline Novogratz founded Acumen to change the way the world tackles poverty. The global organization pioneered the concept of patient capital, using the tools of business and investment to solve some of the world’s most pressing problems. This idea led to the emergence of a new sector of 'impact investing' and helped create new markets for low-income people, including providing first-time solar energy access to more than 100 million low-income people.
Acumen has invested more than $137 million of patient capital into nearly 140 companies impacting the lives of 300 million people across Africa, Latin America, South Asia and the United States. Acumen also has launched four impact funds focused at the nexus of poverty and the climate crisis, with total assets exceeding $200M. Acumen also founded and eventually spun off 60 Decibels, a for-profit company focused on measuring social impact with the rigor associated with more traditional returns-based analyses. Additionally, Acumen is cultivating new leaders for a new economy through Acumen Academy, the world’s school for social change.
Jacqueline is the author of Manifesto for a Moral Revolution: Practices to Build a Better World, a book of twelve practices to renew the world. Her best-selling memoir The Blue Sweater chronicles her quest to understand poverty and bring dignity to the poor.
Jacqueline sits on the board of the Aspen Institute and 60 Decibels; and is on a variety of advisory boards. In 2017, Forbes listed Jacqueline as one of the World’s 100 Greatest Living Business Minds; and has awarded her the 400 Lifetime Achievement Award for Social Entrepreneurship. She has an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business and a BA in Economics and International Relations from the University of Virginia. Ultimately, she is a builder of systems that put human dignity at their center.
Joan M. Larrea
CEO, Convergence
Joan Larrea is the CEO of Convergence and an expert in catalyzing investment in places that need it most, with over 25 years of experience in emerging markets investing. Since 2016, Joan’s leadership has driven Convergence to become a global independent authority for blended finance. As CEO, Joan ensures Convergence continues to grow the field of blended finance through its products and services, and accelerate the flow of private capital into SDG projects across Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Selwin Hart
Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Climate Action, United Nations
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced on 4 February 2020 the appointment of Selwin Hart of Barbados as Special Adviser to the Secretary-General and Assistant Secretary-General of the Climate Action Team.
Climate change remains at the top of the Secretary-General's priorities and one of the core priorities of the Decade of Action to Deliver the Sustainable Development Goals. In ensuring enhanced levels of ambition on climate change within the Decade, the Special Adviser, leading the Climate Action team will focus on Member State support, coalition-building, UN system engagement and public mobilization necessary to implement the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and achieve a successful 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow, United Kingdom in 2020. The Special Adviser will ensure delivery of the Secretary-General’s priorities on climate change, from enhanced Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), fossil fuel and coal phase-out, ensuring public and private finance shifts and the transitions necessary to shift the world’s energy, transportation, land and natural systems in alignment with the goals of the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals.
Mr. Hart is currently the Executive Director for the Caribbean region at the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB). He was previously the Ambassador to the United States and the Organization of American States for Barbados and Director of the Secretary-General’s Climate Change Support Team, leading the team’s delivery of the 2014 Climate Summit and the Secretary-General’s engagement in the process leading to the signing of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
Throughout his career, Mr. Hart has served in several climate change leadership positions, including as a Climate Adviser for the Caribbean Development Bank, Chief Climate Change Negotiator for Barbados as well as the Coordinator and Lead Negotiator on Finance for the Alliance of Small Island Developing States (AOSIS), a coalition of 43 Islands and low-lying coastal states in the Caribbean, Pacific, Africa, Indian Ocean and South China Sea. He was a member of the Kyoto Protocol Adaptation Fund Board from 2009 to 2010 and was elected by the United Nations General Assembly to serve as Vice-Chairman of the 2nd Committee of the United Nations General Assembly (Economic and Financial) during its 60th Session.
Yannick Glemarec
Executive Director, GCF
Yannick Glemarec is the Executive Director of the Green Climate Fund. He was appointed by the GCF Board at its 22nd meeting and took office on 3 April 2019.
Yannick has 30 years of international experience in climate change, development and finance, and their interrelationships. He served as UN Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director for Policy and Programme in UN Women from 2015 to 2018, overseeing services provided by close to 2,000 UN Women staff in over 80 countries worldwide. Before joining UN Women, he was Executive Coordinator of the UN Multi-Partner Trust Fund Office in New York from 2013 to the beginning of 2015. He was responsible for the design and administration of about 100 UN trust funds supporting humanitarian, post-conflict, development and climate action in over 100 countries.
Previously, he served first as UNDP Deputy Executive Coordinator and then as UNDP Executive Coordinator for the Global Environment Facility in New York from 2003 to 2012, where he oversaw the formulation and implementation of a USD 6 billion portfolio for climate change management, biodiversity conservation, and sustainable natural resources management. Earlier, he worked with UNDP in increasingly senior development and environment programme positions in Switzerland, Viet Nam, China and Bangladesh.
Yannick holds a PhD from the University of Paris in Environment Sciences, and two Master’s degrees in Hydrology and in Business Administration. He has authored several publications in the field of risk management, renewable energy, climate finance, and co-benefits between human rights, gender equality and climate action.
He is the third Executive Director of the Fund.
Session 2: Accelerating innovation for climate technologies, financing instruments and business models
The International Energy Agency (IEA) projects that half of all emission reductions required to reach net-zero by 2050 must come from technologies that are not yet commercially available. Accelerating innovation in climate technologies is critical in achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement.
Developing countries have emphasised the need for international support in transferring and developing technology to support the implementation of their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement. New financing and business models - as well as greater access to early-stage, risk capital - are needed to support climate technology ventures and accelerate climate innovation in developing countries. This session will address how GCF can assist developing countries pilot new technologies, business models and financing instruments.
Mitch Carpen
Head of Risk Management and Compliance, GCF
Mitch is the head of Risk Management and Compliance at GCF. He has over 25 years of experience in the finance, risk and portfolio management functions of global financial and governmental organisations. He previously worked with the State of New Jersey and McKinsey & Co. as the Executive Director to startup an energy infrastructure bank. Previous to this, he worked with The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi in Singapore as an Assistant General Manager. He has also held senior leadership positions at Societe Generale, Prudential Financial and Reuters. Mitch has a Master’s degree in Mathematics of Finance from Columbia University in New York City.
Frédéric Wils
Senior Project Development Manager, GIZ
Frédéric is a Senior Project Development Manager at Deutsche Gesellschaft fue Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH where he currently leads the structuring of an accelerator programme for early-stage climate ventures in Latin America and West Africa. Prior to this assignment, he managed a global advisory project to support implementation of nationally determined contributions – NDCs in Latin America, Africa, Asia and the Pacific and Caribbean region. He has worked as a technical specialist in GIZ’s climate competence center and was member of the GIZ-KfW team which designed the German-British NAMA Facility. Between 2008 and 2012, he was seconded to the climate policy and climate finance unit in the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), followed by an assignment as assistant to the chairman of the GIZ management board. He holds a M.A. in International Relations from the School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University (Washington, DC) where he was a Fulbright Scholar and graduated in Public Administration from Potsdam University.
Rafael Lorenzo Piñón
Director Innovative Entrepreneurship Ecosystem, Tecnológico de Monterrey
Rafael Lorenzo holds a Ph.D. in Industry and Business Studies from Warwick Business School in the UK. He also holds degrees in Industrial Engineering and a Master of Science in Environmental Engineering from Tecnológico de Monterrey. He currently runs the entrepreneurship network of incubation, acceleration, and mentor programs for entrepreneurs and startups at Tecnológico de Monterrey.
Nari Been
Head of EBRD Star Venture Programme, EBRD
Nari Been is leading the EBRD’s Star Venture programme, the Bank’s first advisory and mentoring programme for tech-startups, accelerators, and incubators in the EBRD’s countries of operation. Prior to joining the EBRD in 2013, she worked as an investment and financial professional in Macquarie Group, Lehman Brothers, Asia Pacific Land, and Developing World Markets, an impact fund that invests in emerging markets. She holds an MBA in Finance from the University of Cambridge as a Chevening scholar, an MA in International Relations from Waseda University as a Monbusho scholar, and a BA in Asian Studies and Economics from Cornell University.
Emi Komai
Executive Director, Komaihaltec Inc.
Emi Komai is a Board Director in charge of infrastructure development department of KOMAIHALTEC Inc. JAPAN.
KOMAIHALTEC is a leading steel structure company whose aim is to contribute through the fabrication and construction of bridges, steel structures, wind turbines and more. The group company operates five manufacturing plants, 7 branches and 1 technical center in Japan and headquarter in Tokyo.
After I graduated from RIKKYO UNIVERSITY in 1987 and working at Trust Bank, I have worked at Personal Dept, Financial Dept, Sales Dept, Business Development Dept in KOMAIHALTEC for over 30 years.
She cooperated the engineers which have experienced the designing of steel bridges and proposed to the new business, manufacturing the middle size wind turbines suitable for the Japanese climate. I have been a sales manager of wind turbines and overseas business.
Meanwhile I participated establishing a design consulting company and managing the Osaka plant of group companies.
Among my duties as the head of the renewable energy business Dept is responsibility for the formation of joint ventures for getting the government’s subsidiary and private company’s projects from finding the suitable sites for wind generation to promoting and finalizing the wind projects. I also participate in the team that started up the manufacturing and constructing the solar battery module mounting pedestal approximate 5-6 meters high.
Andrey Chicherin
Head of Innovation, Technology Transfer and Co-Funding Platforms, GCF
Andrey Chicherin is leading Innovation, Technology Transfer and Co-Funding Platforms team of the Private Sector Facility of the Green Climate Find. He joined GCF in 2017. Prior to GCF he had worked for over 18 years as an investment and finance professional with regional authorities, private companies and international organizations in countries from Eastern Europe Asia and Africa.
He has extensive investment banking and financial advisory experience gained at Gazprombank, Deloitte and other financial institutions in Russia, and several years of legal practice with the Moscow office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP.
Andrey holds an MBA in Finance from Columbia Business School and degree in law (with Honors) from the Moscow State University.
Session 3: Deep-dive – Supporting innovative adaptation technologies and ecosystem-based approaches and services
Although climate adaptation finance flows have increased in recent years, they still fall far short of the funding needed to avoid severe economic and human impacts from climate change, especially in developing countries.
GCF Climate Science Lead Kevin Horsburgh will begin this session with practical examples of how the science behind adaptation blends with working business models. This session will then explore the challenges private sector investors face in the climate adaptation space, and how major impediments such as information asymmetry and high-risk perceptions, can be overcome to unlock the adaptation investment conundrum. It will explore the pivotal role that GCF can play in overcoming these barriers.
Kevin Horsburgh
Climate Science Lead, GCF
Kevin Horsburgh is the Climate Science Lead at the Green Climate Fund (GCF) where he leads a network of experts to strengthen the climate impact of GCF investment programming, strategic planning, and policies. His role mainstreams the latest climate science, modelling, and impact assessment methods into the development of projects and programmes, to better accelerate low-emission and climate resilient development pathways for developing countries. Kevin has over 25 years of experience in modelling the impacts of climate change, ocean numerical prediction, and developing multi-hazard warning systems. Before joining the GCF, he was Chief Scientist for International Development at the UK National Oceanography Centre where he led large scale, multi-agency projects harnessing marine science in support of sustainable economic development. Kevin has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers and articles on all aspects of coastal flood hazards and extreme sea level. He has collaborated extensively with the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) where for ten years he headed an Expert Team on disaster risk reduction, delivering multi-hazard warning systems and capability to some of the world’s most vulnerable regions. Kevin holds a PhD from the University of Bangor and is a visiting Professor at the University of Liverpool.
Carlos Sanchez
Executive Director, CCRI
Carlos Sanchez is Executive Director for the Coalition for Climate Resilient Investment (CCRI). A flagship COP26 initiative, CCRI is led by the private sector and has a membership of 120 institutions representing USD20tn committed to the development and testing of solutions for resilient investment decision-making. Carlos is also the Climate Resilience Investment Director at Willis Towers Watson, where his work focuses on the integration of physical climate risks in asset valuation and investment decision-making processes.
Additionally, Carlos has been appointed member of the State of California’s State of California has launched the Climate-Related Risk Disclosure Advisory Group, and vice-Chair of CFA UK’s Climate and Investing Certification Panel.
Prior to joining Willis Towers Watson, Carlos managed a climate resilience finance facility at the Multilateral Investment Fund - part of the Inter-American Development Bank Group – also dedicated to identifying specific investment opportunities in connection to physical climate risks.
In the past Carlos worked at the Economic Office of the Spanish Embassy in Angola as Foreign Direct Investment Advisor and later as Business Development Manager for a project finance advisory firm.
Carlos holds a Master in Finance from the London Business School where he contributed to the drafting of the ESG chapter within LBS’ Private Equity textbook - and a Masters in Global Affairs from Georgetown University.
Anthony Nyong
Regional Director for Africa, GCA
Anthony Nyong is the Director of Climate Change and Green Growth at the African Development Bank. He is currently on secondment to the Global Center on Adaptation a s the Regional Director for Africa. He has about 30 years of experience in environmental and natural resources management, environmental and social safeguards, renewable energy and green growth that span academia, private sector and development finance.
Prof. Nyong has served on several Global Advisory and Scientific Boards including the Sustainable Stock Exchange Green Finance Advisory Group, the World Economic Advisory Panel on Circular Economy, Scientific and Technical Advisory Panel of the Global Environment Facility, Advisory Board of the World Economic Forum on Circular Economy, as well as on the Platform for Accelerating Circular Economy Leadership Group.
He was a member of the Technical Support Unit for the establishment of the Green Climate Fund. Professor Nyong holds a Ph.D. in Geography from McMaster University, Canada, a D.Sc. (hc) from the University of Calabar in Nigeria. He holds a Post-graduate Diploma from the University of Oxford and is a Senior Executive Fellow of the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Prof Nyong is a Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences. He is named among the top 20 of the 100 most Influential People in Climate Policy 2019 by Apolitical.
Lisa Genasci
Founder and CEO, ADM Capital Foundation
Lisa Genasci is the founder and CEO of ADM Capital Foundation (ADMCF), an innovative philanthropic vehicle established to support critical research and impact-driven approaches to promoting environmental conservation in Asia. ADMCF has been recognised for its research-led solutions to some of our most intransigent challenges: Our depleting oceans, the nexus between forestry and development, air quality and public health, the intersections among food, energy and water. Lisa has also helped lead private credit manager ADM Capital’s ESG integration, heads the ADMC ESG Committee and sits as an observer to the ADMC Investment Advisory Committee. She is also an ESG advisor to ADMC’s Cibus Funds.
The ADM group is a founding partner of the Tropical Landscapes Finance Facility (TLFF) with BNP Paribas, UN Environment and ICRAF. TLFF was designed to finance green growth projects that aim to improve rural livelihoods and promote sustainable land use in Indonesia. A director of the Hong Kong-based Civic Exchange, Lisa is an advisor to the Washington DC-based Ocean Foundation, on the Tropical Forest Alliance SE Asia Advisory Board, the R Collective and Hong Kong’s Clean Air Network. She is a member of the UNDP SDG Impact Steering Group and has been appointed to the WRI Global Leadership Council. Lisa holds a BA degree with High Honors from Smith College and an LLM in Human Rights Law from HKU.
Manav Bansal
CEO, Neev Fund
Manav Bansal has been a private equity investor and investment banker for 24 years in sustainability, infrastructure, healthcare and technology. He is the Chief Investment Officer for Neev Fund I &II that have nearly US$300 mln AUM and is a thought leader in sustainable investing and promoting ESG practices in small and medium enterprises in India.
Earlier, from 2006 Manav was the founding member of Macquarie’s infrastructure team in India which raised c. US1.2bn fund in partnership with IFC Washington and State Bank of India. Subsequently, as a Director at SNC Lavalin India Infra fund (a subsidiary of Canada based SNC Lavalin), Manav originated and concluded private equity investment in road assetco and was helping to raise an India focused fund.
Manav has also worked in cross border M&A as India head of a Japan based investment bank and at PwC and KPMG leading initiatives for corporate finance, privatization, cross-border M&A, and policy advisory.
He is an MBA with graduate degree in engineering.
Ayaka Fujiwara
Climate Investment Specialist, GCF
Ayaka Fujiwara is Climate Investment Specialist at the Green Climate Fund (GCF)’s Private Sector Facility, where she is responsible for the origination and appraisal of private sector climate projects and programmes since 2018. Ayaka has 11 years of experience in corporate, fixed income and equity investments.
Prior to joining the GCF, she has spent most of her career serving as Associate Director in Daiwa Capital Markets’ Tokyo headquarter and London office, where she provided fixed income investment strategy and managed transactions with institutional investors. She also worked as a corporate governance researcher in M&A consulting firm in Myanmar.
Recently, she has worked on the COVID19 Energy Access Relief Facility (FP148), which was submitted by Acumen Fund to provide liquidity to off-grid SMEs in Africa to survive through the pandemic.
Ayaka holds a bachelor’s degree in Law from Keio University in Japan and M.Sc. in Finance from London Business School, U.K. She is a Ph.D candidate in Green Finance at Inha University, Republic of Korea.
Session 4: Partnering successfully with GCF: an interview with Jacqueline Novogratz, Acumen CEO
Accredited with GCF in 2015, Acumen Fund. Inc has successfully developed three timely and transformative funding proposals. In this session, the CEO of Acumen will share this impact investor’s experiences of working with GCF. This session will discuss practical ways in which potential GCF Accredited Entities and Project Developers can engage effectively with GCF.
Jacqueline Novogratz
Founder and CEO, Acumen
In 2001, Jacqueline Novogratz founded Acumen to change the way the world tackles poverty. The global organization pioneered the concept of patient capital, using the tools of business and investment to solve some of the world’s most pressing problems. This idea led to the emergence of a new sector of 'impact investing' and helped create new markets for low-income people, including providing first-time solar energy access to more than 100 million low-income people.
Acumen has invested more than $137 million of patient capital into nearly 140 companies impacting the lives of 300 million people across Africa, Latin America, South Asia and the United States. Acumen also has launched four impact funds focused at the nexus of poverty and the climate crisis, with total assets exceeding $200M. Acumen also founded and eventually spun off 60 Decibels, a for-profit company focused on measuring social impact with the rigor associated with more traditional returns-based analyses. Additionally, Acumen is cultivating new leaders for a new economy through Acumen Academy, the world’s school for social change.
Jacqueline is the author of Manifesto for a Moral Revolution: Practices to Build a Better World, a book of twelve practices to renew the world. Her best-selling memoir The Blue Sweater chronicles her quest to understand poverty and bring dignity to the poor.
Jacqueline sits on the board of the Aspen Institute and 60 Decibels; and is on a variety of advisory boards. In 2017, Forbes listed Jacqueline as one of the World’s 100 Greatest Living Business Minds; and has awarded her the 400 Lifetime Achievement Award for Social Entrepreneurship. She has an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business and a BA in Economics and International Relations from the University of Virginia. Ultimately, she is a builder of systems that put human dignity at their center.
Joanne Brinkman
Deputy General Counsel, GCF
Joanne Brinkman joined the GCF as its first Deputy General Counsel in April 2021. Prior to joining GCF, Joanne was responsible for institutional and corporate law matters at the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), based in Luxembourg. Before the ESM, she took on successively more senior positions in the institutional, co-financing and corporate legal fields, among other institutions, at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in London and the Asian Development Bank in Manila.
Joanne grew up between Asia and Europe and studied law in the Netherlands and in Egypt. She was admitted to the bar in 1992 where she was an attorney at law at Stibbe, Amsterdam, in the company & commercial and administrative law departments. She then progressed as in-house counsel to the position of (acting) general counsel in the telecoms and high tech industries in Europe and the Middle East.
She took a career break to sail with her then young family around Africa for a period of five years. During these years, she published articles about her sailing life, did legal freelance work, co-created curriculum for a school in Lamu, Kenya, and actively supported child-rights officers in the field. Returning to the world of corporate law, she simultaneously set up and ran a foundation to promote and support professional international exchange for university students.
Lilian Macharia
Head of Portfolio Management, GCF
Lilian Macharia is the Head of Portfolio Management at GCF. She is a Kenyan national with over 21 years of designing, structuring and managing complex public and private financial sector investments in multiple sectors, including energy, gender, agriculture, manufacturing and SME sectors across Africa. Prior to her appointment, Lilian was a Senior Program Management Specialist where she assisted in setting up portfolio monitoring and management systems, and led the team that monitored and managed the implementation of GCF's portfolio. She had served for over 11 years with the African Development Bank (AfDB) in various capacities, and represented the AfDB in various investee company boards. She also previously served in various roles in Practical Action (Eastern Africa), K-Rep (microfinance) and NEPAD Secretariat in Johannesburg. Lilian holds a Bachelor of Education and Master of Business Administration from Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya.
Day 2
19 October 2021
Session 5: Unlocking markets to crowd-in private finance for climate projects
This session will focus on GCF’s role in using scarce public resources to unlock high-impact climate projects and crowd-in private finance through a suite of risk-bearing financial instruments. The session will begin with a case study of best practices in mobilising private sector finance from an asset manager’s perspective, and explore innovative ways of blending public resources with private finance.
Anita George
Executive Vice-President, Strategic Partnerships – Growth Markets, CDPQ
Anita M. George is Executive Vice-President, Strategic Partnership – Growth Markets. Her mandate is to implement a key pillar of CDPQ’s strategy, which aims to increase its international exposure in targeted growth markets by sourcing the best investment opportunities and developing the organization’s network of sustainable and high-quality local partnerships. She is responsible for growth markets partnerships, and sits on CDPQ’s Executive and Investment-Risk Committees.
Ms. George joined CDPQ in April 2016 as Managing Director, South Asia. In August 2017, she took on the role of Executive Vice-President, Growth Markets. She brings to the organization her in-depth knowledge of several growth markets and has extensive experience in managing global infrastructure investment portfolios. Prior to joining CDPQ, she was Senior Director of the World Bank’s Energy and Extractive Industries Global Practice. She also held the positions of Director, Infrastructure and Natural Resources of the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, and Head of Siemens Financial Services in India. Her various roles have led her to work in several regions of the world, including Europe, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa.
Ms. George holds a BA in Economics and Spanish from Smith College, in Massachusetts, and a Masters in Economics and an MBA in Finance from Boston University. Ms. George is fluent in speaking Spanish.
Dante Mossi
Executive President, CABEI
Since December 1, 2018, Dr. Dante Ariel Mossi Reyes of Honduran nationality holds the position of Executive President of the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI). He is the highest authority of the Superior Administration and the legal representative of the institution. Dr. Mossi holds a Ph.D. in Economics with a specialization in Public Finance from Vanderbilt University, a master’s degree in Economics with specialization in Econometrics from Duke University and a degree in Electrical Engineering from the National Autonomous University of Honduras. With an extensive career of about 25 years, Dr. Mossi served for 15 years in the World Bank as a resident representative in Paraguay. He also held the positions of Senior Operations Officer in the Global Energy Practice in Africa, as well as Chief of Operations in Ghana, Operations Officer and Country Economist in Honduras. Before entering development banking, Dr. Dante Mossi worked for 10 years as an economist in various positions in the government sector and as a consultant for the private sector. Additionally, he has been an Economics Professor at the Catholic University of Honduras.
Hong Paterson
CFO and Director of Support Services, GCF
Hong Paterson is the GCF’s Chief Financial Officer and Director of Support Services. Before joining GCF, she was responsible for leading RBC’s Investor & Treasury Services (RBC I&TS) business in Singapore, as their Managing Director and Country Head. Her role at RBC included providing strategic oversight to RBC I&TS activities and contributing to the Asia Pacific strategy. She was also the Southeast Asia Coverage Executive responsible for the overall business development strategy and client engagement. Hong joined RBC with nearly twenty years’ experience at J.P.Morgan where she worked in several sectors including Commercial Banking, Investor Services, and Asset Management based in New York, Chicago, Hong Kong, London, and Singapore. Hong currently sits on the University of Virginia’s McIntire Global Advisory Board. Originally from Virginia, she holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville.
Rochus Mommartz
Chief Executive Officer, responsAbility
CEO of responsAbility since 2016.
Over 30 years of experience in financial sector development, banking and emerging market private debt and equity investments.
Member of supervisory boards of financial institutions and funds for 15 years.
Established two private equity permanent capital structures for responsAbility.
Designed legal framework for the microfinance sector in 8 countries and worked as consultant to governments and regulators in over 40 emerging markets.
Studied Economics and Mathematics.
Victoria Miles
Managing Partner, Delphos
Ms. Miles is a Managing Partner in Delphos’s London office and CEO of Delphos Capital, a newly established Women-led Emerging Markets Impact Investment vehicle. Delphos Capital focuses on providing enabling capital solutions for Climate led and sustainable infrastructure projects in Emerging Markets, focusing on funding the gaps in the capital structure to ensure that the most vital projects get financed. Victoria joined Delphos in February 2021 from JP Morgan’s London Emerging Markets Finance team where she oversaw structured and bespoke investment opportunities for the firm across global Emerging Markets and infrastructure finance for Latin America, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Africa. Victoria previously ran Global Emerging Markets Corporate research at JPMorgan before moving into structured finance. During her time in research she was consistently ranked as the leading analyst for EM corporate bonds, receiving number one rankings in both II and Euromoney polls. Previous posts include UBS, as an Emerging Markets risk analyst and at the Bank of England, as a macro-economist and a regulator of EM banks in the UK. She has a degree in Economics and Spanish from the University of Durham.
Henry Gonzalez
Director of Private Sector Facility, GCF
Henry Gonzalez is the Director of GCF’s Private Sector Facility and has over 25 years of professional experience across sustainable and impact investing, emerging markets, and political and economic development. Prior to joining GCF, he was an Associate Fellow at Oxford University’s Saïd Business School and a Lead Financial Sector Specialist for CGAP, the World Bank-housed financial inclusion think tank. He also served as member of Senior Management and Global Head of Research & Advisory at responsAbility Investments AG, where he led thought leadership, technical assistance, and ESG/impact integration strategies across the sectors of finance, climate, and agriculture. He spent time at Morgan Stanley, serving as a Vice President for Emerging Markets Debt investing and held other positions at the World Bank, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and the Government of Costa Rica. Henry holds an MBA from Oxford University (Skoll Scholar), an MPA from Harvard University (Fulbright Scholar) and a BA in Political Science from the University of Costa Rica.
Session 6: Strengthening domestic financial systems and institutions to scale up private finance
One of the key initiatives that could transform climate finance is the unlocking of domestic financial systems and capital markets. While addressing how GCF can help support this transition, this session will also explore how new asset valuation methodologies can transform climate investments into a new and attractive asset class.
Leo Park
Financial Institutions Manager, GCF
Luanne Sieh
Senior Managing Director, Head of Group Sustainability, CIMB
Luanne is the head of Group Sustainability at CIMB, one of ASEAN’s leading banking groups, where she is responsible for transforming CIMB into a shaper of sustainable finance and responsible banking practices in Asia.
Luanne has extensive experience in sustainability, strategy and transformation, as well as change management. She has been involved in a number of fields, including financial services and consulting. She was also a founding member of a startup company.
Luanne holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Master’s Degree in Manufacturing Engineering, as well as a Master of Arts from the University of Cambridge, and she has recently completed a Master of Liberal Arts in Sustainability at the University of Harvard Extension School.
Pa Ousman Jarju
Director of Country Programming, GCF
Pa Ousman Jarju is Director of GCF's Country Programming Division. Formerly, he was the Gambian Minister of Environment, Climate Change and Natural Resources and Chair of the Least Developed Countries (LDC) Group to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Pa Ousman was Special Climate Change Envoy of the Gambia and has extensive diplomatic experience across the 47 LDCs, China, the United States and the European Union. He has gained wide-ranging managerial experience in the Gambia's Department of Water Resources as its Director and then overseeing Minister. Pa Ousman holds advanced diplomas from the Institute of Commercial Management (UK) and the IHE Institute for Water Education (the Netherlands), as well as a Bachelor of Engineering in Chemical Engineering.
Eric Usher
Head, UNEP FI
Eric Usher Heads the UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative, UNEP FI, a global partnership bringing together the UN with a global group of banks, insurers and asset managers working to develop the sustainable finance and responsible investment agendas.
Eric oversees governance, strategy and day-to-day management of UNEP FI’s work programme and global network development. Over the years UNEP FI has established some of the most important sustainability oriented frameworks within the finance industry, including the Principles for Responsible Investment (2006), the Principles for Sustainable Insurance (2012) and the Principles for Responsible Banking (2019). Since joining in 2015, Mr. Usher has focused on accelerating the deep integration of sustainability risks into financial practice, including addressing climate change, natural capital loss and human rights abuses, as well as building out the frameworks for positive impact finance needed to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Eric sits on several industry bodies including as UN representative on the Board of the Principles for Responsible Investment, and as a member of the governing boards of the Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative, the Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance, the Investor Agenda and the impact fund REPP Africa.
Prior to leading UNEP FI, Mr. Usher has over twenty years of experience in the low carbon sectors, spanning technology commercialisation in Canada, solar rural electrification in Morocco and financial sector development across emerging markets. During 2011, Mr. Usher worked on the establishment of the Green Climate Fund and led efforts to create its Private Sector Facility. Eric has been an editor of the Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment report published annually with Bloomberg and was lead author for finance of the IPCC Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources. Earlier in his career, Eric was General Manager of a solar rural electrification company based in Morocco.
Jean Boissinot
Head of Secretariat, NGFS
Jean is the Deputy Director, Financial Stability at Banque de France and head of the NGFS Secretariat since 2021. He was previously a senior advisor to the Governors in charge of financial stability matters.
Before joining the Banque de France in 2018, he held various positions at the Direction générale du Trésor (French Ministry of Finance), most recently as Director, Financial stability (2017-2018) after leading the banking and financial sector analysis division (2011-2017) in charge of advising on domestic finance issues while also serving as secretary general to the Haut Conseil de stabilité financière (French macroprudential authority). He previously lead the division in charge of European financial institutions within the European Affairs department (2010-2011) and served as an alternate director at the European Investment Bank. From 2008 to 2010, he worked within the International and Finance directorate at HM Treasury, as a senior policy advisor in the Financial Stability team. Over the course of his career, he has been involved in a number of international groups (G20, FSB, OECD, etc.).
An alumni of Ecole polytechnique, Ensae and PSE (Paris School of Economics), he is a Louis Bachelier Fellow and an adjunct professor at Paris 1 (Panthéon-Sorbonne).
Paul Bodnar
Managing Director, Global Head of Sustainable Investing , BlackRock
Paul is the Global Head of Sustainable Investing at BlackRock. Paul’s team drives BlackRock’s leadership in sustainable investing through the development of cutting-edge climate and sustainability research and integration of these insights throughout BlackRock's suite of investment solutions and Aladdin.
Paul previously served as Chief Strategy Officer at RMI, a global non-profit working to accelerate the clean energy transition. While at RMI, he founded the Center for Climate-Aligned Finance to support some of the world’s largest financial institutions transition to net-zero emissions portfolios. He also helped establish the Mission Possible Partnership to orchestrate net-zero sector transformation platforms for seven global industries. Prior to this, Paul served in the Obama White House as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Energy and Climate Change at the National Security Council. He was a key architect of the Obama Administration's international climate policies culminating in the Paris Agreement, including the U.S.-China climate deal of 2014. Additionally, Paul has served at the State Department as U.S. lead negotiator for climate finance and led the design of numerous initiatives including the Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance and the U.S.-Africa Clean Energy Finance Initiative. Earlier in his career, Paul was Director for Carbon Finance at the $1.2 billion carbon fund managed by London-based Climate Change Capital, where he structured the fund's largest deals. He was also co-founder and partner at Vertis Environmental Finance, now one of Europe’s leading environmental commodity brokerage firms.
Paul holds a BA from Stanford and an MA from Harvard, both in international relations.
Lamia Merzouki
Deputy General Manager, Casablanca Finance City
Lamia Merzouki is Deputy General Manager at Casablanca Finance City Authority (CFCA), which she joined at its inception in 2010. Before that, Lamia was part of AKWA Group, the largest private group in Morocco, within which she held the position of Director of Strategy and Organization for 7 years. She was also member of the executive committee and board member of 2 listed companies (Afriquia Gaz).
Lamia led the merger between the AKWA Group and the Oismine Group (Amhal family) on various aspects: strategy, finance, tax, legal and organization. Lamia worked on the Green Morocco Plan within the Ministry of Agriculture and on the development of the Souss-Massa-Draa region.
Lamia is a graduate of ESSEC Business School and Harvard Business School. She started her career at Arthur Andersen in Paris as a banking, insurance and industry consultant. With a keen interest in green finance and sustainability, Lamia was appointed in 2020 as coChair of the Financial Centers for Sustainability Network (FC4S). Lamia is also board member of the 4C (Center for Competences in Climate Change).
Lamia is an executive coach, a member of the Choiseul 100 Africa and the co-lead of the Africa CEO Network in Morocco and the North African cluster of the Women Working for Change network, president of the We4She Morocco association and member of the CFA (Club des Femmes Administrateurs or the Female Directors Club). She also recently obtained a certificate on corporate governance.
In her journey to becoming a personal development coach, Lamia has herself been through more than 15 years of personal and spiritual development, meditation and overall sustainable lifestyle with an organic diet and eco-friendly habits. Lamia truly believes that sustainability starts at an individual level.
Session 7: Deep-dive – Increasing private sector investment in LDCs and SIDS
It is crucial that aid funding is spent as effectively as possible to build action frameworks that trigger and attract increased private sector climate investments. This session will focus on how investments in climate technologies, business models and financing instruments can be specifically tailored to the needs of Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. It will include a case study on how GCF has played a pivotal role in renewable energy in the Pacific.
Kavita Sinha
Deputy Director, Division of Mitigation and Adaptation, GCF
Kavita Sinha comes to us from European Climate Foundation where she led an international team to fund the creation of an enabling policy and investment environment for energy systems transformation in South and East Asia. She also led the design and set up of a multi-agency (bilateral donor governments and philanthropies) technical assistance facility for climate mitigation and an early stage project funding facility for renewable energy, energy storage, and energy efficiency in Southeast Asia.
In the past she has worked in leadership roles with multinational firms, international development agencies and governments in climate mitigation, sustainable infrastructure and digital utility space. Prior to that she served as a senior climate policy advisor to the US Mission in India and managed a South Asia regional programme for energy cooperation for the US Agency for International Development.
She has an honours degree in Chemical Engineering and graduate training in energy systems from leading engineering schools in India as well as an MBA from Rutgers Business School, USA. She has also studied international relations and political economy from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She will be moving from Singapore where she currently lives with her family.
Geoff Sinclair
Managing Director, Camco
Geoff Sinclair is Managing Director at Camco, a leading climate and impact fund manager and GCF Accredited Entity. He has 25 years’ experience in climate, policy and investments, having built and run Standard Bank’s multi-award-winning climate finance business and team over a period of 10 years and previously worked for the New Zealand Treasury.
Geoff has completed transactions on over 1GW of renewable energy and energy efficiency projects across Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. In his current role Geoff has built and now manages REPP, a $200m fund focusing on distributed renewables, livelihoods and adaptation in sub Saharan Africa. Through these roles he has had extensive experience in funding and realising climate projects in LDCs and SIDS
Asad Mahmood
CEO and Managing Partner, SIMA
Asad Mahmood, CEO and Managing Partner of Social Investment Managers & Advisors, LLC (SIMA), is one of the longest serving fund managers in the social investment space. SIMA is a unique asset management company focused on attracting scaled private sector institutional investments to social sectors, starting with a $90mm fund for off-grid solar and financial inclusion in Africa and South Asia. Asad has created 10 funds for Deutsche Bank’s Global Social Investments group in microfinance, health, housing, and social enterprise, and has managed over US $1.5 billion in social investments domestically and internationally in 50+ countries covering 200+ relationships with less than 0.5% of losses. Asad is also (i) a Founding Board member of the Microfinance Information Exchange (MIX), (ii) a member of the Advisory Council for Social Investments for the World Economic Forum, (ii) a member of the Global Off-Grid Lighting Association (GOGLA) working committee to establish financial definitions for the solar industry, and (iv) an Advisory Board member for Enterprise Community Partners.
UnaMay Gordon
Principal Director, Climate Change Division in Jamaica’s Ministry of Housing Urban Renewal Environment & Climate Change
UnaMay Gordon is the Principal Director of the Climate Change Division in Jamaica’s Ministry of Housing Urban Renewal Environment & Climate Change. She is a trained environmental Professional with over 40 years’ experience intersecting policy making & management in agribusiness, natural resources & climate change. She currently serves as Jamaica’s focal point to the UNFCCC, in addition to being the GCF NDA, the Adaptation Fund DA & the CTCN NDE.
Una May has supported several governments across the Americas in crafting local adaptation strategies, conducting disaster risk assessment, project design, management and implementation through multi-stakeholder, inter-sectoral technical assistance, and capacity development.
An advocate for gender equality she is a board member of the Caribbean Institute of Women in Leadership, an organization that advance women’s transformational leadership and political participation throughout the Caribbean Region.
She is a global ambassador for the Golden Rule, has a BSc in Agronomy from the University of the West Indies a MSc in Environmental Sciences from Wageningen University and Research Centre in the Netherlands and a certificate in Leadership for Organizational Streamlining from INCAE Business School in Costa Rica.
Lovakanto Ravelomanana
Director of the National Office on Climate Change, Carbon and REDD+, Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (MEDD) of Madagascar
Lovakanto is Doctor of Geography. She is also a specialist in climate change.
Lovakanto is the Coordinator of the National Office for Climate Change and Reduction of Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (BNCCREDD + / MEDD) at the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (MEDD) of Madagascar.
She also teaches Environment and Climate Change at the University of Antananarivo
Diann Black-Layne
Chair and Lead Negotiator, AOSIS
H.E Mrs. Diann Black-Layne has been the head of the Department of Environment in Antigua and Barbuda for over twenty years and Ambassador For Antigua and Barbuda's Climate Change Programme since 2008. Throughout her tenure at the DOE, she has overseen the accreditation of the DOE to the Adaptation Fund and the Green Climate Fund and has secured over USD 100 million in adaptation and mitigation projects as well as interventions in biodiversity, data management and pollution control. She currently serves as Co-Chair for the Alliance of Small Island Developing States (AOSIS) plenary for 2021 and 2022 and serves on the UNFCCC Standing Committee for Finance.
Rajeev Mahajan
Manager (Head) – Project Finance, GCF
Rajeev is in charge of GCF’s Private Sector Facility’s project finance operations. He has 21-plus years of experience in the Indian project finance market, focusing primarily on infrastructure with premier Indian institutions – Power Finance Corporation, ICICI Bank and IDFC Limited.
He has hands-on expertise in managing lifecycle credit risk of individual project finance assets and is experienced in track record of restructuring, refinancing and selldowns of stressed project finance assets.
Rajeev has been responsible for setting up GCF’s project finance franchise, building the team and has led the Fund’s pioneering climate infrastructure transactions in Africa, Latin America and Central Asia since 2015. Under his stewardship, the team has recently achieved a milestone of approvals of over USD 1.4 billion.
Closing Session: Reflections on the path to COP26
GCF Deputy Executive Director (DED) Javier Manzanares will join United Nations World Tourism Organization Secretary General Zurab Pololikashvili and Panama Foreign Affairs Minister Erika Mouynes to consider the leading themes during GPIC 2021 and share their thoughts on the way forward.
Javier Manzanares
Deputy Executive Director, GCF
Javier Manzanares is the Deputy Executive Director at GCF. Prior to his current role, he was Director and Representative of UNOPS in the MERCOSUR region, based in Argentina. He was formerly Division Manager of Investment and Development Banking at the Central American Bank for Economic Integration. Javier also worked as the Executive VP for two privately held banks of Grupo Fierro. His career in banking and finance began with Banco Santander/BSCH in the United States, Hong Kong and Japan. Javier was the first Chairman of the Board at IASE, The International Association for Sustainable Economy. He holds a dual MBA from Northwestern University / Kellogg (USA), an EMBA from Hong Kong University of Sciences & Technology (China), and Ph.D. in Sustainability Management from Inha University in South Korea.
H.E. Erika Mouynes
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Panama
Erika Mouynes is the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Panama. She has also served as Vice Minister of Multilateral Affairs and Cooperation and Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, under two administrations. During that time, Mouynes served on the negotiating team responsible for the US-Panama Free Trade Agreement.
Prior to her role in government, Minister Mouynes worked at a leading global law firm in New York. She also managed the business and legal affairs of a multi-billion-dollar investment company in her role as Chief Legal Officer.
Mouynes has served on the board of several publicly traded companies, as well as women-focused not-for-profit organizations.
This past year she led a team of Panamanian experts who successfully designed and negotiated the country’s vaccine portfolio based on scientific criteria, making it one of the first countries in Latin America to secure vaccines for its entire target population.
She has made it her post-pandemic priority to facilitate political dialogue on raising ambition in the region for increased climate action and has placed Climate Diplomacy as a core priority of Panama´s Foreign Policy. Panama has played a leading role in the fight against climate change and has shown high commitment with the implementation of an inclusive green agenda and allocating important resources to the protection of land ecosystems and marine resources. Ms. Mouynes has played a key role to strengthen Panama´s presence in multilateral forums and gain leadership in the region as a referent for environmental conservation and sustainable economic development models.
Zurab Pololikashvili
Secretary-General, UNWTO
Zurab Pololikashvili has been Secretary-General of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) since January 2018. Prior to this, he worked in a number of high-level roles in both the private and public sectors. After graduating with a degree in banking, Mr. Pololikashvili gained extensive experience in the private sector, including with a prominent role in one of Georgia’s biggest banks and as CEO of the country’s leading football team, FC Dinamo Tbilisi.
After a year as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, he was appointed the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Georgia to Spain, Andorra, Algeria and Morocco in 2006, and was then his country’s Minister of Economic Development between 2009 and 2010. In this position, Mr Pololikashvili oversaw the development of tourism within Georgia, establishing the sector as a leading employer and contributor to national economic development.
At the 23rd General Assembly of the UNWTO, Member States unanimously approved his plan of action for global tourism, including the landmark Agenda for Africa and his focus on promoting tourism as a driver of gender equality, job creation and rural development.