Climate and Energy Summit

Ko Barrett is widely recognised as an expert on climate policy, particularly on issues related to climate impacts and strategies to help society adapt to a changing world. Barrett was one of the first women elected to serve as a Vice-Chair of the IPCC. She is also the Senior Advisor for Climate at NOAA, where she previously served as the NOAA deputy assistant administrator for research, supervising operations and administration of the organisation’s research enterprise. For over 15 years, she has represented the United States on delegations charged with negotiating and adopting scientific assessments undertaken by the IPCC.

Stéphane Crouzat has extensive experience in diplomacy. Before taking up his current position, he was the French ambassador to Ireland and previously held posts as head of the Cooperation and Cultural Section at the French Embassy in Warsaw and spokesperson at the Permanent Representation of France to the United Nations in New York. Crouzat also served as diplomatic advisor to Ségolène Royal, the former French minister of environment, energy and the seas, and as deputy director for Central Eastern and Baltic Europe in the European Union Directorate of the French government.

In the European Parliament, Pilar del Castillo Vera co-chairs the Artificial Intelligence and Digital Intergroup and serves as a member of the Special Committee on Artificial Intelligence in a Digital Age. She has been the European Parliament’s rapporteur on a number of significant files – ranging from the Telecoms Single Market Regulation to the report on a Cloud Computing Strategy for Europe. Prior to being elected to the European Parliament, she was the Spanish minister of education and culture. Del Castillo is also the Chair of the European Internet Forum and Vice President of the European Energy Forum.

Kirsten Dunlop’s career spans academia, consulting, banking, insurance, strategy, design, innovation and leadership. She is committed to shaping and placing innovation to catalyse profound systemic change and is honoured to work with Climate-KIC’s world-class network of partners to support climate innovation across Europe and beyond. Prior to roles at Second Road, KPMG and Suncorp in Australia, Dunlop worked in the UK and Italy for 15 years. In Italy, she led the Generali Group Innovation Academy for Assicurazioni Generali, pioneering proprietary thinking in the areas of strategic risk management, strategic innovation, strategic leadership development and cultural change. Her publications include a case study in ‘The Routledge Companion to Strategic Risk Management’.

Emelia Holdaway is the Policy Programme Director at the IIGCC, where she advocates for sustainable finance and real economy policies that can accelerate climate investment at the global and EU levels. She also manages the policy work of The Investor Agenda, a common leadership agenda on the climate crisis. Holdaway has 25 years of experience in sustainability and climate change, including supporting the preparation of over 15 countries’ Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement.

Lubomila Jordanova is the Co-Founder and CEO of Plan A, a Berlin-based start-up developing an end-to-end platform that enables companies to measure, monitor and reduce their environmental footprint and improve their environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance. She is also the Co-Founder of the Greentech Alliance, a community of more than 500 start-ups which are connected with over 350 advisors, who offer advice and feedback across various areas of expertise, from venture capital, to media and business. She has previously worked in investment banking, venture capital and fintech in Asia and Europe. Jordanova was recently announced as Marshall Fund Fellow for 2021 and 100 Top Women in Germany 2020.

Alexandre Marty has been working on corporate responsibility, climate change policy and climate finance for more than 20 years. Earlier this year, he joined EDF’s Sustainable Development Division to spearhead the company’s work on climate and natural resources. Prior to his current role, he participated in the development of EDF Trading’s carbon and environmental products desk, managed EDF’s sustainable finance programme as part of the Group’s Investors and Markets Department and served as EDF Hydro’s environment and society (E&S) director. Marty started his career as a consultant for large international firms.

Mauro Petriccione worked extensively on EU trade policy before joining the Directorate-General for Climate Action, covering a wide range of activities and negotiations, from trade and standards, to defence, investment, competition and dispute settlement, as well as relations with member states and European institutions. He was the deputy director-general for trade, responsible for trade relations with Asia, Latin America and countries of Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. Petriccione also served as chief negotiator for the EU-Canada Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, the EU-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement and the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement.

Eamon Ryan is dedicated to ensuring that Ireland plays its part in the global fight against climate change by introducing climate policies that are fair, just, improve people’s quality of life and safeguard our future. Ryan is the leader of the Green Party and began his political career as a Dublin city councillor. He was the founding chairperson of the Dublin Cycling Campaign. Ryan previously served as minister for communications, energy and natural resources and has worked for Third Generation Environmentalism (E3G).

Karsten Sach is the Director General of the International and European Policy, Climate Policy Unit at the German Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety. He has a long track record in European and international policy and has acted as the German chief negotiator at the UNFCCC Conferences of the Parties for more than 20 years. Sach is the former chairman of the European Environment Agency’s Management Board and participated in the foundation of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). Before joining the ministry, Sach served at the Permanent Representation of Germany to the EU and taught environmental and economic law.

25 years ago, Nancy Saich became involved in discussions in the maritime engineering industry on the challenges of incorporating climate change impacts into design guidance. This was the beginning of her close interest in climate change. Saich is one of the longest standing members of the European Investment Bank’s Environmental Assessment Group and a founding member of the Bank’s Inter-Directorate Climate Working Group. In her current role, Saich is responsible for leading the work on Paris Alignment with other multilateral development banks, climate finance definitions and impact reporting. Most recently, Saich was a member of the EU’s Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance, and has now joined the EU Platform for Sustainable Finance as rapporteur for the “harmful and neutral” taxonomy group.

Eric Usher heads UNEP FI, a global partnership connecting the UN with a global group of banks, insurers and investors working to develop sustainable finance and responsible investment agendas. In this capacity, he 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. Prior to leading UNEP FI, Usher has over 20 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. Usher has also worked on the establishment of the Green Climate Fund.

Claire Waysand is an expert on European and international economic issues and maintains a strong commitment to carbon neutrality and the development of renewable hydrogen solutions. Prior to her current role as Secretary General and Executive Vice President at ENGIE, Waysand has held several positions within the organization, including corporate secretary and acting chief executive officer. Waysand previously served the French government as the deputy director general of the Treasury and chief of staff of the Minister of Finance. She has also worked at the European level as a member of the European Economic and Financial Committee (EFC) and as the former director of the European Investment Bank (EIB).

Mechthild Wörsdörfer is Deputy Director-General at the European Commission’s DG Energy, where she is in charge of the coordination of the just and green energy transition. This includes steering the work on REPowerEU, accelerating the deployment of renewables and energy efficiency measures and ensuring the EU’s security of supply. Wörsdörfer is also responsible for the relations with the Energy Community, and steers the bilateral relations with Ukraine, Moldova, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Prior to this, Wörsdörfer was the director responsible for sustainability, technology and outlooks at the International Energy Agency (IEA); and held various roles at DG Energy, including director in charge of renewables, research and innovation, energy efficiency; and director for energy policy, international relations, legal aspects and economic analysis. Previously, she was head of Unit on the 2030 Energy and Climate Framework and served in the Cabinet of Erkki Liikanen, former European commissioner for Enterprise Policy and Information Society.