Speakers

Paschal is the Fine Gael TD for Dublin Central and in June 2017 was appointed as the Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure & Reform.

Prior to his appointment as the Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure & Reform, he served, from May 2016-June 2017, as the Minister for Public Expenditure & Reform, and from July 2014-May 2016, as the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport. Paschal has also held the position of Minister for European Affairs at the Department of An Taoiseach and the Department of Foreign Affairs from July 2013-July 2014.

He was elected as a TD in February 2011, where he topped the poll in Dublin Central. Prior to his election, he was a member of Seanad Éireann from 2007 to 2011. He served as member of Dublin City Council from 2004 to 2007.

Paschal was formerly the Chair of Ireland’s Future in Europe Oireachtas Sub-Committee, as well as a member of the Public Accounts Committee. He has also served as the Vice-Chair of the European Affairs Committee and, as a Senator, he served as a member of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport.

During his time as member of Dublin City Council, Paschal served as Chair of the Environment & Engineering Strategic Policy Committee, as a member of the Corporate Policy Group and also as Chairman of the Central Area Committee.

Paschal is a graduate of University of Dublin, Trinity College, with a degree in Politics and Economics and has attended St. Declan’s CBS, Cabra.

Maroš Šefčovič (born in 1966) is a Slovak career diplomat and since 1 November 2014 Vice President of the European Commission in charge of the Energy Union. In this capacity, he leads the “Energy Union” Project Team within the Commission which comprises of 14 commissioners.

In 2014 he was elected as the Member of the European Parliament. From 2010 – 2014 he was Vice President of the European Commission in charge of Inter-Institutional Relations and Administration. In 2009-2010, he was European Commissioner for Education, Training, Culture and Youth. From 2004 -2009, he was the Permanent Representative of the Slovak Republic to the European Union. As diplomat by profession he served between 1992 and 2004 in Zimbabwe and Canada and as Ambassador to Israel.

He graduated from the University of Economy in Bratislava and the Moscow State Institute for Foreign Relations. He holds a degree as Doctor of Law and a PhD of European Law from the Comenius University, Faculty of Law, Bratislava. He also studied at Stanford University, USA.

Anders is Chairman of the Swedish Association of Recycling Industries and Chairman of the Governing Board of EIT Climate-KIC. Anders has served as a Member of the European Parliament and the Swedish Parliament, as Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations and Policy Director of UNDP. Anders is honorary doctor at Linköping University (2011).

Dennis Pamlin is an entrepreneur, strategic advisor and the founder of 21st Century Frontiers. From 1999 to 2013 Dennis worked for the WWF as global policy advisor and director of the Low Carbon Leaders Project. He is a senior associate at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a visiting fellow at the Research Centre of Journalism and Social Development at Renmin University, and advises the Centre for Sustainable Development at the Confederation of Indian Industries.

Andrew McDowell joined the European Investment Bank as Vice-President on 1st September, 2016.  He is the first Irish member of the bank’s Management Committee for 12 years.

Prior to joining the European Investment Bank, Andrew McDowell was Economic Advisor to the Taoiseach, Ireland’s Prime Minister, since 2011.  He has 20 years of experience in economic policy and public service management.  Prior to working for the Taoiseach, Andrew was Chief Economist at the Irish business development agency, Forfás, and European Deputy Editor at the Economist Intelligence Unit.  He holds an MBA from the Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business and studied at John Hopkins University and University College Dublin.

Cameron Hepburn is Professor of Environmental Economics at the University of Oxford, and Director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment.  He is also a Fellow of New College and St Edmund Hall, and serves as the Director of the Economics of Sustainability Programme, based at the Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School.

He has published widely on energy, resources and environmental challenges across disciplines including engineering, biology, philosophy, economics, public policy and law, drawing on degrees in law and engineering (at Melbourne University) and masters and doctorate in economics (at Oxford as a Rhodes scholar).

He provides advice on energy and environmental policy to government ministers (e.g. China, India, UK and Australia) and international institutions (e.g. OECD, UN).  His business career began with Shell and McKinsey, following which co-founded Climate Bridge, Vivid Economics and Aurora Energy Research and is now an angel investor in several social enterprises. He lives in Oxford with his wife Silvia, a psychologist, and their three sons.

Teresa O’Flynn, Managing Director, is Global Head of BlackRock Real Assets Sustainable Investing and a senior Portfolio Manager with BlackRock’s Global Renewable Power platform. BlackRock Real Assets comprises the Infrastructure and Real Estate platforms, which has 375+ professionals across 25 cities globally, and manages over $40 billion in equity and debt assets and investor commitments. Teresa is responsible for ensuring sustainable investing themes are embedded across BlackRock Real Assets investments, portfolio management, product development, reporting and communications. Teresa joined BlackRock in 2011 to establish the Renewable Power Infrastructure business which currently has $5bn of AUM. She is responsible for originating investment opportunities, establishing industry partnerships and developing new investment strategies in the renewable power sector. She sits on the World Economic Forum’s Future of Energy Council, is a member of the Board of the Terrawatt Initiative and also serves as a Director on BlackRock’s Index and Cash Irish fund companies. Prior to joining BlackRock, Ms. O’Flynn was a Senior Corporate Finance Executive at NTR Plc, a private infrastructure developer, operator and business owner. Ms. O’Flynn trained as a Chartered Accountant (FCA) and tax advisor (AITI) with Arthur Andersen and KPMG. Ms. O’Flynn earned a BComm Degree, with first class honors and distinction, from University College Galway, Ireland.

Andrew Parry is Head of Sustainable Investing and a member of the Hermes Strategy Group. He joined the firm in 2009, initially as Chief Executive and Co-Head of Investment for Hermes Sourcecap, now Hermes European Equities, becoming Head of Equities in 2014 and taking on responsibility for developing Impact investing in August of 2016. In September of 2017 he became Head of Sustainable Investing to reflect the commitment of Hermes to building on their success in responsible investing.

In 2006, Andrew jointly founded Sourcecap with the aim of building a best-in-class investment boutique focused on excellence in European equity management. Prior to this, Andrew established Pembroke Capital Management in 2003 and successfully launched the Magenta Fund, a global equity non-directional fund. Before that, Andrew worked at Northern Trust Global Investments (Europe) Ltd as Chief Investment Officer of International Equities and was responsible for the management of global, international and regional portfolios. He has also held a variety of senior investment roles, including Head of International Equities at Julius Baer Investments, Chief Investment Officer at Lazard Brothers Asset Management, and Head of UK Equities at Baring Asset Management. Andrew holds an MA in Mathematics from the University of St Andrews.

Andrew is Co-Chair of the UNEP Financial Initiative Positive Impact Steering Group and a member of the Investment Committee of the Trafalgar House Pension Trust . He was formerly an independent investment advisor to the Investment Sub-Committee of the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme and a non-equity director of Aerion Fund Managers.

Diletta is a policy manager specialising in sustainable finance and green bond markets, with a focus on the role of regulators, central banks and development banks. At the Climate Bonds Initiative, Diletta is responsible for policy-related research projects, focusing on developing the policy agenda for governments on how to grow green bond markets, particularly in countries where Climate Bonds market development programmes are underway such as India, China, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and Kenya. 

Fredrik is Associate Vice President in Investor Consulting at ISS-climate working on developing impact measurement methodologies and creating bespoke impact reporting for clients. A focus of his work lies on metrics and asset that have not yet become mainstream. He was part of the project group together with Affirmative Investment Management and Lion’s Head that developed the Rockefeller Foundation supported Carbon Yield methodology for assessing the climate mitigation potential of green bonds. He is also working on projects exploring climate risk management and scenario analysis in different regions and asset classes.

Hanna is an international economics professional with over ten years of experience in climate change, sustainability, finance, and public sector administration. At South Pole, she is responsible for overall management of projects on topics such as investment climate risk analysis, green bonds, portfolio climate impact assessment, TCFD compliance, and portfolio SDG contributions. Her previous experience covers areas such as development finance, sustainability strategy, ESG risk analysis, sustainable infrastructure, and financing scheme design.

Hans Sanderson is a senior scientist at Aarhus University, Denmark, with risk analysis as his focal research area, both in relation to climate and environment. He is the Danish national expert to the European Commission Horizon 2020 Programme Committee for Societal Challenge 5 – climate and environment. He is part of the JPI Climate, and the European Topic Center on climate change adaptation to the European Environment Agency. Earlier this year he was the on a book on adaptation to climate change (). In 2015 he was the chair of the 2. European climate change adaptation conference (ECCA2015: http://ecca2015.eu/). From 2012-2016 he was the coordinator of a large-scale EU FP6 research project BASE on full cost and benefit of adaptation in Europe (https://base-adaptation.eu/). He is the chair of a pillar in an interdisciplinary climate service center at Aarhus University (http://iclimate.au.dk/), and he is leading a Climate-KIC research group on corporate climate risk analysis.

Katharina Schneider-Roos is CEO of the Global Infrastructure Basel Foundation. Katharina’s team has assessed over one hundred infrastructure projects across the world applying the on the GIB Grading for Sustainable Infrastructure. She co-chairs the Cities Climate Leadership Alliance’s (CCFLA) Working Group on Project Preparation Facilities and is a member of the ICLEI Resilient Cities Conference Program Committee. Katharina is member of the Steering Board of the Rockefeller Foundation’s Resilience Measurement, Evidence and Learning Community of Practice.

Antoni Ballabriga is Chair of the Sustainable Finance Working Group at the European Banking Federation and European banks representative at the UNEP FI Global Steering Committee (United Nations Environmental Program for Financial Institutions). He is Global Head of Responsible Business at BBVA and reports directly to the Board of Directors. His mission is to ensure that people are systematically placed at the decision-making processes.

Moreover, Mr. Ballabriga is professor at ESADE Business School. Former President of DIRSE, Spanish Association of CSR Professionals and Former President of SpainSIF, Spanish Forum for Socially Responsible Investment. Antoni holds a Degree in Business Sciences and MBA from ESADE Business School. He has studied at Harvard Business School and is First Mover Fellow at The Aspen Institute.

Nick Robins is Professor in Practice for Sustainable Finance at the Grantham Research Institute at the London School of Economics. Starting in February 2018, he is working on the transformations needed in financial practice and policy to deliver climate action and sustainable development, including the financing needs of the just transition. He is also Special Adviser on Sustainable Finance for UN Environment (UNEP). From 2014 to 2018, Nick was co-director of UNEP’s Inquiry into a Sustainable Financial System. At UNEP, he established the Network of Financial Centres for Sustainability (which has 17 members in some of the world’s leading hubs) and the Sustainable Insurance Forum, which gathers 20+ supervisors to focus on climate issues. Nick was head of the Climate Change Centre of Excellence at HSBC from 2007 to 2014, where he produced investment research on issues such as clean tech and climate risk. In the Thomson Extel awards for European investment research, Nick was ranked as #1 analyst for integrated climate change in 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2013. From 2000 to 2007, Nick was first head of Sustainable and Responsible Investment (SRI) research and then head of SRI funds at Henderson Global Investors. At Henderson, he published the first carbon audit of an investment fund (2005) and co-designed the Industries of the Future fund. Nick has also worked at the European Commission, the BCSD and IIED. He is author of The Corporation that Changed the World: How the East India Company Shaped the Modern Multinational.

Prior to this he spent 9 years with Fisch Asset Management as Head IT. In that position he was leading a team that was responsible for all IT operations and development of the in-house portfolio management system. Moreover, he has worked as a researcher in weather forecasting for almost a decade. At various weather services he worked as a researcher and did fun stuff like using supercomputers, integrating new  wind profiler data and developing a thunderstorm warning systems. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the ETH Zurich. Oliver is passionate about programming, triathlon, solar cooking and his kids.

Pierre Ducret is Special Advisor for climate change at Caisse des Dépôts Group and Chair of I4CE – Institute for Climate Economics. Until March 2015 he was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of CDC Climat, a Caisse des Dépôts subsidiary dedicated to supporting the transition to an ecological and low-carbon economy. He is also one of Finance for Tomorrow’s (F4T) Ambassador as a Board Member and authority of the government report “A French strategy for green finance”

Pierre Ducret started his career as executive manager in local development at the Caisse des Dépôts Group. Over 15 years, he held responsibilities in financing subnational development and developed initiatives for local authorities.

He was also Managing Director at the Greater Lyon authority during six years.

Upon his return to Caisse des Dépôts, he was executive director of the Pensions Unit, Group Corporate Secretary, and then Director for Banking Services. From 2000 to 2010, he also directed the Caisse des Dépôts Group’s sustainability strategy, before creating CDC Climat.

He is a graduate of Sciences-Po and the Ecole Nationale d’Administration, and also holds a Master’s degree in philosophy.

He is co-author, with Maria Scolan, of the book ” Climate, the Financial Challenge “, published by Agence Française de Développement in November 2017.

Robin is a Senior Manager at Alpha FMC Luxembourg, an advisory firm to leading global asset and wealth managers. Prior to his current role, he spent over 5 years as a consultant with Oliver Wyman in New York and 2 years as an independent consultant. In 2016, he founded evolutionR with the goal of uniting individuals and corporations in creating a carbon-neutral world. As an independent consultant, he advised firms active at the intersection of finance and renewable energy (e.g., Innogy and T-Rex Group).

Tony is Technical Director at CDP, a global environmental disclosure system helping investors, companies and cities assess their environmental impact and take urgent action to build a truly sustainable economy. He is responsible for the questionnaires, assessment, and processes behind CDP’s environmental disclosure platform for corporates. He has led development and delivery of CDP’ sector strategy, covering more than 22 questionnaires, inclusion of the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures, and evolution of the questionnaires and guidance for climate, water and forests reporting. Tony has >20 years international experience, including leading environmental programmes and sustainability consulting teams at Logica and Infosys. He has helped organizations achieve their sustainability visions whilst improving bottom lines by tens of £millions. Tony has a PhD (Particle Physics) from UCL, and is a fellow of both the Institute of Environmental Management & Assessment (FIEMA) and the Royal Society of Arts, Commerce and Manufacturing (FRSA).

 

Prof. Andreas Hoepner is Chair in Operational Risk, Banking & Finance at the Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School of University College Dublin (UCD), Visiting Professor at the ICMA Centre of Henley Business School and the University of Hamburg. Andreas is also serving on the European Union’s Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance as one of three independent members, where his role specialises in developing low-carbon benchmarks.  Prof. Hoepner is heading the ‘Practical Tools’ research group of the Mistra Financial Systems (MFS) research consortium, which supports asset owners with evidence-based tools for investment decision making. He is currently serving on the Finance Green Ireland Committee on independent assessment committees for the Investment & Pensions Europe (IPE) Awards (Categories: Climate Change Risk, ESG, Smart Beta), the Investment Innovation Benchmark, and the RI Awards. He sits on advisory boards for various organizations. His research and views have been covered in mainstream international media.

Jakob Thomä is Managing Director of the 2° Investing Initiative. He co-founded the 2° Investing network in New York and Berlin and manages the think tank’s research on 2°C scenario analysis for financial institutions and companies. Jakob led the development of the first 2°C scenario analysis tool for financial portfolios, which is now applied by more than 250 financial institutions worldwide. In addition, he leads the organisation’s partnerships with a number of financial supervisors and governments, including as Academic Adviser to the Bank of England 2017-2018. He holds a PhD in Finance from the Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers in Paris. Jakob also teaches a green finance course at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London.

John Atcheson is Co-Founder/CEO of Stuffstr, a social enterprise dedicated to reducing waste by maximising the lifetime value of goods. Stuffstr is a member of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Circular Economy 100, and was named runner-up for Circular Economy Digital Disruptor at the 2016 Circular Economy Awards in Davos. 

 

Prior to Stuffstr, John helped to launch Getaround, a pioneering leader in peer-to-peer car sharing, and served as Founder/CEO of several media-related startups, including MusicNet, the first interactive music service. John also served as VP/GM of Media Publishing at RealNetworks, where he helped to introduce audio and video to the Web, and on the early executive teams of both Digidesign (now part of Avid) and Macromind (acquired by Adobe). In addition, John has served as board chair of Sightline Institute, a leading sustainability think-tank. John holds a BA in Economics from Brown University and an MBA from Stanford Business School.

Johnny Brom is the founder and chief investment officer of Sail Ventures, a boutique investment firm based out of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. He leads a small team of investment and ESG professionals who manage the &Green Fund, a private long-term sub debt fund focused on financing sustainable deforestation-free primary commodity production in tropical forest countries.  The Fund is open-ended and anchored by the Norwegian government, with the Unilever Group the first corporate investor.

Johnny started his career in South Africa with JP Morgan, before joining Element Investment Managers. He subsequently moved to Toronto, and acted as an advisor to institutional investors on their alternative asset portfolio; before taking up a development financing role in the Netherlands. He started Sail Ventures in 2017.

Manuel Coeslier is an equity portfolio manager at Mirova and member of the European Commission’s Technical Expert Group on sustainable finance. Manuel develops and manages investment strategies aimed at outperforming traditional market indices in the context of a transition to a less carbon-centric economy. His research focus is on measuring the impact of investment portfolios on climate and the energy transition, especially corporate equity portfolios. He graduated from IMT Atlantique in environmental engineering and holds a master’s degree in environmental economics from Mines ParisTech.

A qualified accountant, securities professional, computer specialist, and management consultant, educated at Harvard University and Trinity College Dublin, Michael gained his PhD at London School of Economics where he was also a Visiting Professor.  He began his career as a research scientist, later becoming an accountancy-firm partner and a director of Ministry of Defence research.  During a spell in merchant banking in 1994, he co-founded Z/Yen, the City of London’s leading commercial think-tank.  He has led Z/Yen from creating smart ledgers (aka blockchains) through the Financial £aboratory, Taskforce 2000, Long Finance & the London Accord, Global Financial Centres Index, Global Green Finance Index, and Global Intellectual Property Index.

He is an Alderman of the City of London, a non-executive director of two listed firms and a regulator, Emeritus Professor at Gresham College, Fellow of Goodenough College, and Master of the Worshipful Company of World Traders.  His third book, The Price of Fish: A New Approach to Wicked Economics and Better Decisions, won the 2012 Independent Publisher Book Awards Finance, Investment & Economics Gold Prize

Systems Engineer and Policy Analyst with a strong background in Economics. She has 15 years of experience in three continents and three sectors; education, transport and water. Since 2005 her research concerns cross- national lesson drawing on the provision of public infrastructures and the role of the private sector herein. Prior to joining Deltares she worked as Technical Assistant to the Nicaraguan Minister of Education and as scientific researcher for Delft University of Technology (TUDelft). She holds an MSc and a PhD degree in Systems Engineering and Policy Analysis from TUDelft. In 2010 she defended her PhD thesis about innovative contracts in the road sector, cross national lessons from Finland, Spain and the Netherlands; and joined Deltares as specialist in Public-Private Partnerships. The focus of her work is on making green Adaptation a financially viable concept for developing countries. She serves as Financial Expert to the Netherlands DRR Team, holds the academic lead of the Disaster Resilience WG within the Future of Construction Initiative of the World Economic Forum; is member of the UNECE Team of Specialists in PPP and the OECD-WWC-The Netherlands Water Financing Roundtable.

 

Renat is a pioneer and social entrepreneur in the field of sustainability, climate change and renewable energies, where he is engaged since 1999. As a founding partner and CEO of South Pole, he coordinated the set-up of the company’s global sustainability finance business. Before founding South Pole, Renat was co-founder and CEO of the myclimate foundation, one of the world’s first players on the voluntary carbon markets. Renat has been elected “Social Entrepreneur of Switzerland” by the World Economic Forum’s Schwab foundation, and he serves as a member of the Expert Network of the WEF. He is member of the Innovation Council of InnoSuisse, board member of Climate-KIC, Board member of M-Power, and member of the advisory board of Impact HUB Zurich. Renat holds a master degree in environmental sciences from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and has completed executive education programs at INSEAD and the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS). More information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renat_Heuberger

Sachin Vankalas is Director of Operations & Sustainability at Luxembourg Finance Labelling Agency (LuxFLAG), where he primarily works with Investment funds active in Responsible / Sustainable Investing themes, which include ESG investing, Microfinance, Impact Finance, etc. Prior to joining LuxFLAG, Sachin worked as an Investment Officer for a Swiss Asset Management firm in Zurich and before as a Rating Analyst in an International Rating Agency. Sachin attended Harvard University & NYU Stern competing executive programs in Finance and Sustainability and holds a MS in Banking and Finance from the Luxembourg School of Finance. Sachin is a member of the ALFI Technical Committee and Working Groups on Responsible Investing and sits on the Boards of multiple organizations active in Sustainable Finance

As an Associate, Trang is responsible for Convergence’s Design Funding program. She leads the solicitation and due diligence of all new grant proposals, management of grantee relationships and portfolio monitoring. Prior to joining Convergence, Trang worked in the private sector which included commercial banking at CIBC where she supported a $1 billion loan book, lending to privately held companies across North America in various sectors such as manufacturing and transportation. She previously held an Investment Analyst position at VinaCapital, Vietnam’s leading investment management firm, where she focused on new infrastructure ventures throughout Southeast Asia. Trang holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Management from McGill University.

Pierre Rousseau is Senior Strategic Advisor for BNP Paribas’ Sustainable Business and leads global sustainable finance investment initiatives. Prior to this, Pierre was Head of Global Markets Asia Pacific from 2015 – 2018, in addition to supervising the Financial Institutions Coverage unit for APAC. From 2009 – 2015 Pierre was Head of Equities, Asia Pacific, where he led BNP Paribas’ Equity Cash and Equities Derivatives platforms.

Pierre has almost three decades of experience across the financial services industry, two thirds of which have been spent in Asia Pacific. Before joining BNP Paribas, he was Head of Equity APAC for Credit Agricole, as well as creating an integrated electronic trading platform at Indosuez WI Carr Securities (IWICS) in Hong Kong. Pierre started his career in 1985 as a financial controller with Citibank Benelux, after attaining a degree in commercial engineering. He joined Banque Indosuez’ Luxembourg office in 1988 and between 1993 – 2000 moved to Singapore, followed by Tokyo, where he was Chief Operating Officer at Banque Indosuez and Credit Agricole Indosuez. 

In addition to his professional life, Pierre has been actively involved in supporting projects in the circular economy such as Nomad Plastic, and raising funds for sustainable NGOs such as the internationally renowned Room To Read and the Hong Kong-based NGO Sunshine Action.

Sebastien Soleille has more than 17 years of professional experience in sustainable development, environment and energy transition, energy and climate policies, industrial environment, quantification of environmental and social impacts and life cycle assessment (LCA), sustainable marketing, market instruments to reduce pollution (environmental taxes, emission trading) and societal development.

Before joining BNP Paribas, Sébastien began as an environmental economist at INERIS (the French National Institute of Industrial Environment and Hazards). He then went on to join the major international oil & gas company TOTAL where he held numerous positions during 9 years. He worked during more than 4 years as director in charge of energy transition at Deloitte.

Anton is a financial advisor and the founder of Ikigai Advisors, a boutique advisory firm providing private and blended capital solutions to sustainable businesses. Ikigai works with NGOs, entrepreneurs and investors, facilitating investments into landscapes and other land use projects.

Anton has a wealth of experience from the private sector, especially in corporate finance, banking and investments. In his career he has served corporate and institutional clients, acting as both advisor and financier, working for leading global institutions such as Lazard, VTB Capital and PwC.

Florian Meister is Managing Director at Finance in Motion, one of the world’s leading impact investment managers with nearly €2 billion in assets under management. He started his career in M&A at Wasserstein Perella in New York in 1989 before working at several investment banks in Germany. In 2005, he advised on the inception of the European Fund for Southeast Europe, a flagship model for innovative blended finance funds. Florian holds an MBA from INSEAD, Fontainebleau, and a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from Swarthmore College, Philadelphia. He also runs an ecological mountain farm in South Tyrol that makes cheese.

Jodi is founding partner of The Earth Care Agency, a Fiji-based consultancy specialising in innovative solutions for the agriculture industry in the Pacific. Previously she was CEO of Ranadi Plantation Partnership, winner of the 2016 GlobalGAP award, and one of Fiji’s leading regenerative, organic certified farms. Having created Fiji’s only ISO 22000, NOP, EU Organic and Fairtrade certified small holder groups, Jodi is developing a blockchain-based record keeping and payment platform to assist small holder farmers get their products into regulated markets. Born in New Zealand and a UK citizen, Jodi’s great-great-grandfather, Moy Bak-Ling, was the first Chinese man in Fiji. He owned Fiji’s first general store and ran a fleet of boats taking provisions to remote islands.

Pat Cox has been a Member of the European Parliament since 1989, representing the constituency of Munster in the Republic of Ireland. Before entering politics he worked both as an economics lecturer and as a journalist and television presenter on Irish television. Both of these careers have been of benefit to him in his political work.

He was first elected President of the European Liberal Democrat Group in 1998 and then was unanimously re-elected as Group President in June 1999 following the elections to the European Parliament.

Between 1982 and 1986 Cox worked as a television current affairs reporter, presenter and investigative journalist on the television programme “Today Tonight”. Following the formation of the Progressive Democrats, a new Liberal Party, in late 1985 Pat Cox was appointed as their founding General Secretary. Having been elected to the European Parliament as a Progressive Democrat MEP in 1989, he played a key role in negotiating a programme for government which led to that Party’s first ever participation in a national coalition government in the summer of 1989. In November 1992 he was elected as a Member of the Irish Parliament (Dail Eireann), for the constituency of Cork South Central and during this time he was the party’s Finance spokesperson.

In 1994 he was successfully re-elected to the European Parliament, this time as an Independent Member, and was nominated to be the Deputy Leader of the European Liberal Democrats. In 1998 when a vacancy presented for the Presidency of the ELDR Group, he was unanimously elected to that position.

Pat Cox was elected President of the European Parliament on 15 January 2002. He is married with six children and divides his time between family in Cork, his constituency of Munster, Brussels and Strasbourg, the seats of the European Parliament, and the wider European stage.

Founder and Chair, Resilience Brokers

Peter is a champion of sustainable development. He established the Ecological Sequestration Trust in 2011. He advocates that changing the way we invest public and private money in the built environment could be made very much more effective if the public and private sectors adopt sustainable development principles.

Peter is a civil and structural engineer who has become a recognised world leader in major bridges (he received an OBE for successfully delivering the Second Severn Crossing as Government Agent), advanced composite technology and now in sustainable development in cities and regions. He has won many awards for his work including the Award of Merit of IABSE, the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Silver Medal and the Prince Philip Award for Polymers in the Service of Mankind.

He joined Arup in 2004 to create and lead their planning and integrated urbanism team which by 2011 had doubled in size. He directed work on the Dongtan Eco City Planning project which was voted by Chinese developers in 2005 as the most influential development project in China.

In July 2008 he was awarded an honorary doctorate in engineering at Bristol University, where he is a visiting Professor in Sustainable Systems Engineering.

In May 2011 he was appointed as a visiting professor in eco-cities at Westminster University. In 2009 he was awarded the Sir Frank Whittle medal of the Royal Academy of Engineering for a lifetime contribution to the well-being of the nation through environmental innovation.

In 2008 he was .

He was  and has been one of CNN’s Principle Voices.

In 2011 he was awarded the CBE in the New Year’s Honours List for services to Civil Engineering and the Environment.

Awarded the CEMEX global lifetime achievement award in 2016.

Sasja Beslik is Head of Sustainable Finance. He is one of Sweden’s foremost experts on finance and sustainability and lives in Stockholm, Sweden.

Sasja Beslik previously served as Head of Responsible Investment at Nordea Asset Management, CEO of Nordea Funds AB, Global Head of Responsible Investment & Engagement at Banco/ABN AMRO and as a consultant for the World Bank. He has more than 15 years’ experience of advising and working with multinational companies on investment issues in Africa, Asia and former Soviet Union countries. He also has extensive experience of bridging from risk to opportunity within ESG, creating commercial strategies for integration of ESG issues into asset management, fund companies and products. Sasja Beslik is chairman of UNEP Finance Initiative’s Water Work Group and is a member of the steering committee within PRI on shale gas and water issues. He is a board member of EITI (The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative). He was awarded The Order of the Seraphim by H.R.H King Carl Gustaf of Sweden in 2013 for extraordinary efforts in the field of finance and sustainability.

Tiina Kähö is the Executive Director of Helsinki Metropolitan Smart & Clean Foundation. Smart & Clean is turning Helsinki region into the world’s best testbed for smart and clean solutions. The target is to create functioning Public Private Partnership for People model for smart and clean cities. This cocreation model and platform between cities, businesses, research organizations, Finnish government and citizens is unique to the world. New solutions and services are created and implemented in mobility, built environment, energy, waste and water, as well as in consumer solutions, which lead to permanent, sustainable business as well as carbon neutral and circular cities. Helsinki can offer these scalable solutions for challenges facing the world’s cities.

 

Pekka Möttö, CEO of Kyyti Group, is a long term transport operator. His previous company OnniBus.com changed the Finnish intercity market permanently, and enabled a large modal shift from private cars to public transport. Kyyti Group is focused on solving the first mile last mile problem with automated ride pooling service, which is seamlessly integrated into the public transport system. Kyyti provides tools for the transport authorities and operators  to supplement the existing public transport network with flexible on demand services and is involved in a government funded project to create a nationwide platform in Finland to solve the suburban and rural areas public transport problems arising from low population density. Kyyti’s mission is to provide a public transport service that is user friendly enough to encourage using public transport in stead of own car.

As Director Growth and Public Services Vicki has responsibility for the Treasury’s work on economic strategy and the resources and systems available to support productive, inclusive and sustainable growth.  This includes natural resources, skills, education and labour markets, enterprise, regional economic development, and the transition to a future, low emissions economy.  Prior to this Vicki was Chief of Staff to the Secretary to the Treasury for two years.

Vicki is a macroeconomist by training and has extensive experience in international economics and international development.  Most recently Vicki represented New Zealand and fifteen other countries at the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund in Washington DC for three years.  In addition to several stints at the New Zealand Treasury, she has also worked for the NZ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the UK’s Department for International Development

Sandrine Dixson-Decleve has more than 25 years’ experience in the fields of climate change, sustainability, innovation and energy. Until recently Sandrine was chief partnership officer at SE4ALL, the UN’s programme for universal access to sustainable energy. She has directed The Prince of Wales’s Corporate Leaders Council and was executive director of the EU’s Green Growth Ministerial Platform. She was recently named Co-President of the Club of Rome.

Sabine Döbeli is the CEO of Swiss Sustainable Finance, an association that was founded in 2014 with the objective of promoting sustainability in Swiss finance. Previously, she was Head of Corporate Sustainability Management at Vontobel. At Zürcher Kantonalbank she built up the sustainability research unit within the financial analysis department and was involved in the launch of various sustainable investment products. Sabine holds a Masters in Environmental Sciences from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich and a post-graduate degree in business administration from the University of Basel.

Terry McCallion is the Director of the EBRD Energy Efficiency and Climate Change Team in the Banking Department, based in London.  He previously was a banker in the EBRD’s Financial Institutions Team working on transactions with banks, insurance companies and mortgage finance clients.  Prior to joining the EBRD, Terry was Finance Manager at MMT, an environmental technology business in the United States.  He started his career as an engineer in the oil and gas business with Bechtel before attending business school and moving into banking and finance.  He has B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from Queens University and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

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 also worked on the Green Morocco Plan within the Ministry of Agriculture and on the development of the Souss-Massa-Draa region. She started her career at Arthur Andersen in Paris.

Lamia is an ESSEC and a Harvard Business School graduate. She is an executive coach, a member of the Choiseul 100 Africa and the co-lead of the North African cluster of Women in Business (Africa CEO Forum).

Dylan Tanner is founder and Executive Director of London based  think tank InfluenceMap which specialises in data-driven analysis on critical areas of the climate change and sustainability agendas.  Prior to this, he founded and ran Japan’s leading sustainability consulting firm which now is the Japan presence for the ERM Group.  Dylan was born and raised in Tokyo, lives in London and holds a PhD in theoretical physics from Kings College London.

Hanna E. Waltsgott is an investment professional working towards sustainable financial markets and long-term value creation at Kempen Capital Management, a boutique asset manager in Amsterdam. Her areas of expertise are the integration of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors in the investment process, as well as active ownership. In her work she is open to using engagement, voting and also litigation to improve the sustainability profiles of investee companies. Her current focus lies on corporate governance issues, board accountability and cyber security. Hanna received her MSc in Financial Management degree from Nyenrode University in 2016. She has lived in Germany, The Netherlands, England, South Africa, South Korea, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.

Martin Spolc is the Head of the Capital Markets Union unit in the European Commission’s Directorate General for Financial Services, leading the team in charge of sustainable finance. Prior to his current role, he was the Head of the Economic analysis unit, Deputy Head of the Banking unit and Assistant to the Director General, directly involved in developing the Banking Union and other key projects in the area of financial services aiming at restoring financial stability since the crisis. Before joining the Commission, he had worked at risk management consultancy. He is the holder of the CFA and FRM designations and member of the CFA Institute and Global Association of Risk Professionals.

Peter is a champion of sustainable development. He established the Ecological Sequestration Trust in 2011. He advocates that changing the way we invest public and private money in the built environment could be made very much more effective if the public and private sectors adopt sustainable development principles.

Peter is a civil and structural engineer who has become a recognised world leader in major bridges (he received an OBE for successfully delivering the Second Severn Crossing as Government Agent), advanced composite technology and now in sustainable development in cities and regions. He has won many awards for his work including the Award of Merit of IABSE, the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Silver Medal and the Prince Philip Award for Polymers in the Service of Mankind.

He joined Arup in 2004 to create and lead their planning and integrated urbanism team which by 2011 had doubled in size. He directed work on the Dongtan Eco City Planning project which was voted by Chinese developers in 2005 as the most influential development project in China.

In July 2008 he was awarded an honorary doctorate in engineering at Bristol University, where he is a visiting Professor in Sustainable Systems Engineering.
In May 2011 he was appointed as a visiting professor in eco-cities at Westminster University. In 2009 he was awarded the Sir Frank Whittle medal of the Royal Academy of Engineering for a lifetime contribution to the well-being of the nation through environmental innovation.

In 2008 he was named by the Guardian Newspaper as one of 50 people that could ‘save the planet’.
He was cited by Time magazine in 2008 as one of 30 global eco-heroes and has been one of CNN’s Principle Voices.
In 2011 he was awarded the CBE in the New Year’s Honours List for services to Civil Engineering and the Environment.
Awarded the CEMEX global lifetime achievement award in 2016.

Svante Persson is currently Senior Operations Specialist at the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington with over 15 years of development cooperation experience. Before joining the IDB he worked for the Swedish development agency Sida in Nicaragua, Mozambique and Bolivia.

Apart from designing climate change projects at the IDB he has worked as coordinator for the Multilateral Investment Fund in Panama and led project teams in topics such as water and sanitation, circular economy, food security and lately in private sector climate resilience in Latin America and the Caribbean.

He is currently managing the Proadapt program at the IDB. Svante has a development economics graduate degree from University of Lund and UBC Vancouver.

Saliha Dobardzic is Senior Climate Change Specialist with the Adaptation Fund. Prior to this position, she was a Senior Climate Change Specialist with the Global Environment Facility’s climate change adaptation program, namely the Least Developed Countries Fund and Special Climate Change Fund, where she was involved in strategic, technical, and policy aspects of the $1.4 billion program portfolio.

Previously, Saliha worked on environmental, international waters, and integrated coastal zone management issues with the World Bank’s MENA region. She has also supported the World Bank’s MENA climate change beam in devising and implementing the first corporate climate change strategy for the region, and the Global Facility for Disaster Risk Reduction in support of mainstreaming climate change considerations in ex-ante disaster risk management. Her experience also includes stints with the UN-Habitat in Nairobi, The Smithsonian Conservation and Research Center, and a number of prominent NGOs, in the private sector in the United States and abroad, as well as the World Bank’s country office in post-conflict Bosnia, of which she is a national.

Saliha has a Masters of Science in Sustainable Development and Conservation Biology from the University of Maryland, College Park, where she went on to doctoral studies on human-environment dynamics applying spatial science tools. She is a co-author of a number of books, studies, and reports on climate change adaptation and other environmental issues, including “Time to Adapt: Insights from the Global Environment Facility’s Experience on Adaptation to Climate Change.” She is a recipient of several awards and distinctions, and was recognized as one of “100 Women Leaders in Energy and Climate Change”  by the U.S. White House in 2013.

Emil Stigsgaard Fuglsang holds a degree in political economy from Copenhagen Business School and Columbia University, and and has previously worked as a management consultant on corporate strategies for S&P 500 companies, as well as mergers and innovation startegies in the financial services industry in Scandinavia. Emil is the co-founder and COO of the Danish Fintech company Matter, that has launched a sustainable pension product on the Danish market, with a digital platform to track the environmental impact of people’s investments. Matter also offers a software solution to help asset managers screen their investment portfolios on a broad range of sustainability criteria. 

Paul Nyberg is an experienced entrepreneur, who is passionate about the EV revolution, sharing economy and new innovative business models.

The CEO of Shareit.global is specialized in solving infrastructure and funding challenges in public and private sectors.
He has a strong background in property investment, property management and private equity management, is a disruptive thinker with high ambition level and proven track record.

Founder and CEO of Wanderfeel, a company set on disrupting the building information modelling world. Mikael is an expert in the built environment with over 13 years of experience in developing software for it. He worked with interactive systems for the AEC market and gained deeper understanding on how those systems would better serve the customers. Interactivity is not always intuitive, and sometimes it is the counter-intuitive solutions that solve the problems. Less is often more. Now he works in a team of passionate engineers and architects, tackling the most ambitious problems in AEC.