Speakers

Carina Barnett-Loro (Climate Advocacy Lab)

Profile

Carina Barnett-Loro currently is Deputy Director at the Climate Advocacy Lab, where she manages the Lab's programmatic offerings, including webinars and in-person workshops. Her work focuses on helping the climate community to build grassroots power and win through evidence-based advocacy. For more than 10 years, she has worked as an advocate to design strategic campaigns and communications training related to climate action and energy.

She has previously worked as outreach coordinator for different programs, including the Climate & Energy Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington, DC. She also served as North Carolina Conservation Program Coordinator for the Sierra Club.

Barnett-Loro holds a BA in Environmental Sciences and Policy and Latin American Studies from Duke University.

Paul Clements-Hunt (The Blended Capital Group)

ProfilesPaul Clements-Hunt works on responsible investment and sustainable finance. While Head of the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP FI) from 2000-2012 his team conceived and delivered the Principles for Responsible Investment (2005), the Principles for Sustainable Insurance (2011); and the Natural Capital Declaration (2012). He was a PRI Board member for six years and with his UNEP FI team created the term ESG, ensuring that social issues were central to responsible investment.

In 2011-2012, he supported the work of the United Nations on financial stability and sustainability and continues to regularly consult to the UN Secretary General’s office. Clements-Hunt left the UN in 2012 to concentrate his professional efforts on the mobilization of capital at scale to serve the world’s burgeoning infrastructure needs in developed, emerging, and frontier economies.

He started his career in the mid-1980s as a UK-based journalist specializing in environmental business issues. He also served in multiple positions in Europe and Southeast Asia, including as Senior Energy and Environment Policy Manager for the Paris-based global business organization; the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).

After leaving the UN in 2012, Paul established The Blended Capital Group, a private equity and advisory firm focused on delivering health, wealth, education, and environmental impacts for last-mile communities in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Naoko Ishii (University of Tokyo)

ProfileNaoko Ishii is currently the Director of the Center for Global Commons at the University of Tokyo, where she also serves as Professor of the Institute for Future Initiatives. Until recently, she was the CEO and Chairperson of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), where she led the development and implementation of GEF’s first long-term strategy. Prof. Ishii also promoted integrated approaches to tackling environmental challenges, leading the GEF to create and participate in multi-stakeholder platforms. She successfully concluded two international replenishment negotiations, both of which mobilized more than $4 billion for the GEF.

Before joining the GEF, Prof. Ishii was Japan’s Deputy Vice Minister of Finance and represented the Japanese Government while designing the Green Climate Fund. She worked as a Country Director for the World Bank and held positions at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Harvard Institute for International Development.

Prof. Ishii is on the board of the World Economic Forum’s Platform for Accelerating the Circular Economy (PACE), and Co-chair of the Advisory Network of the High-Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy. She is a Special Advisor to the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED), an Ambassador to the Food and Land Use Coalition (FOLU), a Commissioner for Food System Economics and the Global Adaptation Commission, a Member of the Leadership Council of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (UNSDN), and a Member of the Advisory Committee of Future Earth.

She has published numerous papers and several books. She is also the inaugural recipient of the 2006 Enjoji Jiro Memorial Prize. Prof. Ishii holds a B.A. and a Ph.D. from the University of Tokyo.

Maria Ivanova (University of Massachusetts Boston)

ProfilesMaria Ivanova is an Associate Professor of Global Governance and Director of the Center for Governance and Sustainability at the University of Massachusetts Boston. She is also a visiting scholar at the Center for Collective Intelligence at MIT.

Her work focuses on the performance of international institutions, the implementation of international environmental agreements, and sustainability. She has been studying the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and she has written a biography of the institution entitled UNEP, A Revisionist History of the World’s Leading Environmental Institution: UNEP at Fifty, which will be published by MIT Press in early 2021. Her current work examines national performance on global environmental conventions. Her academic work is informed by and informs policy at the national and international levels.

From 2014 to 2018, Prof. Ivanova served on UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Scientific Advisory Board. In 2012, she was a coordinating lead author for the policy chapter of the Fifth Global Environmental Outlook (GEO-5). She is Chair of the Board of the United Nations University’s Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability and was an Andrew Carnegie Fellow in 2015. In 2018, she chaired the jury for the five-million-dollar New Shape Prize for global governance by the Global Challenges Foundation.

Prof. Ivanova earned a Ph.D. with distinction and two master's degrees from Yale University, in international relations and environmental management. She also holds a bachelor’s degree from Mount Holyoke College.

Yolanda Kakabadse

ProfileYolanda Kakabadse has worked in the environmental conservation nature for most of her career. After her studies in psychology in Quito (Ecuador), she was one of the founders of Fundación Natura and was its executive director until 1990. After that, she was involved with the organization of the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development, where she coordinated the participation of civil society organizations. In 1993, she created Fundacion Futuro Latinoamericano, an organization dedicated to promoting the sustainable development of Latin America through conflict prevention and management.

From 1996 to 2004, Kakabadse was the President of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) . During this period, she was also appointed Minister of Environment for the Republic of Ecuador, a position she held from 1998 until 2000. From 2010 to 2017, she was President of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

She is a Member of the Board of Arabesque and Chairs the Independent Science and Technology Panel of Fundacion Renova in Brazil. Kakabadse is also a trustee of the Ford Foundation, and seats on different Boards such as the LafargeHolcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction. She is also an Earth Charter International Commission member.

Daniel M. Kammen (University of California Berkeley)

ProfileProf. Kammen is a Professor of Energy in the Department of Nuclear Engineering and the Goldman School of Public Policy, where he directs the Center for Environmental Policy. He serves as chair for the Energy and Resources Group and is the founding director of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory (RAEL).

He was appointed in April 2010 by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as the first energy fellow of the Environment and Climate Partnership for the Americas (ECPA) initiative under the Obama Administration. Prof. Kammen also served as Science Envoy for U. S. Secretary of State John Kerry in 2016 but resigned over President Trump’s policies in August 2017. He has also served the State of California and the US federal government in expert and advisory capacities, and the World Bank Group as the first Chief Technical Specialist for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency.

Since 1999, Prof. Kammen has been contributing or coordinating lead author on numerous reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He has also co-authored several books, numerous peer-reviewed journal publications, and more than 50 technical reports for governments. Kammen also served for many years on the Technical Review Board of the Global Environment Facility. He is the Specialty Chief Editor for Understanding Earth and Its Resources for Frontiers for Young Minds and frequently contributes to or commentates on international news media.

Prof. Kammen holds a BA in physics from Cornell University, and both a MA and a Ph.D. from Harvard University. He has held postdoctoral positions at the California Institute of Technology and Harvard.

Melissa Low (National University of Singapore)

Biographic Photo

Melissa Low is a Research Fellow at the Energy Studies Institute. She has participated in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of Parties (COP) for over a decade, and she is active sustainability thought leader who authors, publishes, and presents at numerous forums. Low is the Designated Contact Point for the National University of Singapore's (NUS) accreditation to the UNFCCC and serves on the nine-member Steering Committee of the Research and Independent Non-Governmental Organizations Constituency under the UNFCCC.

Prof. Low provides policy analyses and conducts workshops for stakeholders to improve understanding of the implications of both the Paris Agreement and countries’ progress in meeting their climate pledges. Her current research focus is on the transparency of climate action and supports reporting in Southeast Asia.

She earned an LLM in Climate Change Law and Policy from the University of Strathclyde, where she graduated with distinction. She also earned an MSc in Environmental Management and BSocSci (Hons) in Geography from NUS. Prof. Low was awarded the Shell Best Dissertation Award 2013 for her NUS Master thesis on past and contemporary proposals on how equity and differentiation shaped the 2015 climate agreement. She is currently pursuing a part-time Ph.D. at the NUS Department of Geography.

Wanjira Mathai (World Resources Institute, Wangari Mathai Foundation)

ProfilesWanjira Mathai is the Vice President and Regional Director for Africa at the World Resources Institute (WRI). She formerly served as co-chair for the WRI’s Global Restoration Council and Senior Advisor to the Global Restoration Initiative. She is the current Chair of the Wangari Maathai Foundation and the former Chair of the Green Belt Movement in Kenya.

Mathai has over 20 years of experience advocating for social and environmental change on both local and international platforms. Over the years, she has also served important strategic and advocacy roles within Women Entrepreneurs in Renewables (wPOWER), the Wangari Maathai Foundation (WMF), and the Green Belt Movement (GBM), which her mother, the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai, founded in 1977. In these roles, she raises the prominence and visibility of global issues such as climate change, youth leadership, sustainable energy, and landscape restoration. She currently serves on the Board of the World Agroforestry Center (ICRAF) and as an advisory council member of the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves.

Mathai has a Master’s in Public Health and Business administration from Emory University, and a BA in Biology from Hobart and William Smith College.

Petra Molthan-Hill (Nottingham Trent University)

ProfilePetra Molthan-Hill is a Professor of Sustainable Management and Education for Sustainable Development at Nottingham Business School and was as NBS Sustainability Coordinator responsible for embedding sustainability and business ethics into the curriculum of the School. She is the Co-Chair of the United Nations Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) working group on climate change and environment.

Recently, she  reconceptualized the Sustainable Development Assessment Tool (SDAT) of NHS England funded by, and accountable to, NHS England and Public Health England to work across the NHS, public health, and social care system.

Prof. Molthan-Hill has led the Green Academy at Nottingham Trent University since 2013, to include Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) related curricular and extra-curricular initiatives into the whole university. She also has a strong interest in how HEIs and other organizations integrate sustainability into their core activities.

Besides, she serves as Co-Chair of the PRME Working Group on Climate Change and Environment intending to share innovative curricular and extra-curricular teaching material worldwide, to help other universities to develop policies and strategies in how to integrate climate change and other environmental issues into operation and curriculum and to encourage partnerships with companies in addressing these issues in innovative projects.

She holds an MBA at Manchester Business School and a Ph.D. from Nottingham Trent University.

David S. Reay (University of Edinburgh)

ProfilesDavid Reay is a climate change scientist, author, professor, and program director for the MSc in Carbon Management at the University of Edinburgh. His research focuses on greenhouse gas fluxes and land use, and his work with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has been featured in its Fourth Assessment Report. He has also written widely on climate change policy and society, particularly on individual and community action.

Prof. Reay has actively engaged in climate change knowledge exchange and provides policy advice and expert evidence both nationally and internationally. He currently serves as a climate change expert on the British Council Scotland Advisory Committee, and has authored several books on climate change and is co-creator and co-editor for the climate change science website, GreenHouse Gas Online.

Besides, he currently serves as executive director of the Edinburgh Center for Climate Innovation and policy director at ClimatexChange, Scotland’s center of expertise connecting climate change research and policy.

Prof. Reay studied Marine Biology at Liverpool University and obtained his Ph.D. with the British Antarctic Survey and Essex University, during which he studied the response of Southern Ocean algae and bacteria to global warming.

Katherine Richardson (University of Copenhagen)

ProfilesKatherine Richardson is a professor in biological oceanography at the University of Copenhagen, where she leads the Sustainability Science Centre. She was Chairman of the Danish Commission on Climate Change Policy, whose 2010 report presented a roadmap for Denmark to gain independence from fossil fuels by 2050. She is a lead author on the book Climate Change: Global Risks, Challenges, and Decisions (Cambridge University Press, 2011) and co-authored Our Threatened Oceans alongside Stefan Rahmstorf (2009). She is also a co-author of the Planetary Boundaries initiative and has published over 100 scientific papers and book chapters.

As a principal investigator at the GLOBE Institute’s Center for Macroecology, Evolution, and Climate, Prof. Richardson studies how the ocean’s biological processes influence CO2 uptake from the atmosphere, as well as how ocean biology—including oceanic diversity—contributes to ocean function in the Earth System.

Prof. Richardson acts as both member and chairperson for numerous national and international research committees and advisory boards. Previously, she served as Vice President of the European Science Foundation from 2001–2008, and Chairman of the Earth System Science Evaluation Panel for European Research Council Starting Grants from 2008–2010.

Dallase Scott (Trust)

ProfileDallase Scott is an energetic and talented facilitator with more than ten years of experience. She is the founder and Principal at Trust, a change motivator and incubator for mission-driven organizations.

She has previously worked with several universities and with the Association for Advancement in Higher Education (AASHE) in their transition to more just, sustainable, and resilient organizations. She also served as the Director of the Office of Sustainability at Babson College, where she launched the office and related programs in 2010. Scott also developed and taught an undergraduate course designed to foster effective environmental activism at Tufts University.

Her background includes community work, psychology, and urban/environmental planning. She earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from California State University, Chico, and a Master of Arts in Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning from Tufts University.