About

Andrew Howard is the Senior Director for Climate Policy and Strategy at Verra, where he leads strategic engagement to develop opportunities for Verra’s carbon-related standards and build greater ambition in climate action. He works with initiatives in the voluntary market as well as governmental and intergovernmental programs to shape new frameworks for private and public sector finance and to feed needs and priorities back into Verra’s work programs.

Hugh Salway is Head of Markets at Gold Standard, a non-profit certification standard that enables companies and activities to measure, manage and maximise impact towards climate and sustainable development goals. Hugh is responsible for Gold Standard’s market development and engagement, including its work with cross-market initiatives. Hugh previously worked for eight years in the UK Government, including roles focused on international, EU and domestic carbon market mechanisms.

Jessica began working in GHG accounting and carbon projects in 2011 and joined ACR in 2019. In her current position, she is responsible for providing leadership and coordination of ACR’s technical and strategic work to mobilize emission reductions, ensure the integrity of carbon credits, and promote market innovation. This includes advising staff and partners on methodology and program development, project review and credit issuance, registry infrastructure, and market opportunities. Her previous work has involved a variety of climate financing mechanisms and multiple project types giving Jessica a wide range of knowledge across the transportation, energy, building, natural resources, and waste sectors.

Juan Pedro Searle has a scientific background on biochemistry. He has nearly 30 years of experience on climate change related matters in Chile, most of them dedicated to multilateral negotiations under the UNFCCC. As landmarks of this process, he has participated in the design of the Kyoto Protocol, the Marrakech Accords (in particular with regards to the CDM) and in the debate that culminated in subsequent landmarks under the UNFCCC such as the Paris Agreement. He now works in the Ministry of the Energy as Head of Climate Change.

Mock Yi Jun is Senior Manager (Global Partnerships) at the National Climate Change Secretariat, a unit within the Strategy Group of the Prime Minister’s Office in Singapore. In this role, he helps drive Singapore’s climate change cooperation with international partners in areas such as carbon markets, energy transition, and low-emissions technologies. He served as Singapore’s Lead Negotiator for the first Global Stocktake of the Paris Agreement, and currently serves as Lead Negotiator for Article 6 (Carbon Markets). Yi Jun started his career at Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and holds a concurrent appointment with Singapore’s Policy Analytics Office, working to strengthen whole-of-government capabilities in data-driven policymaking.

Kishor Rajhansa is a climate change, energy, and sustainability leader with a professional experience of 27 years at leadership positions in multi-national advisory, international regulatory and government organisations. Currently, Kishor is working as Chief Operating Officer at Global Carbon Council (GCC), Doha, Qatar. He is primarily responsible for operationalising the GCC, a CORSIA-approved GHG emission unit. He is the acting member of expert panel responsible for climate mitigation standards of UNFCCC (CDM Methodologies Panel).

Chris is Head of Global Carbon Markets at the UK’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. He manages the UK’s input into several carbon pricing and markets programmes and works with the UK transport department on CORSIA. His team work with others in the UK on initiatives to build integrity in voluntary carbon markets, and on Article 6. He is a member of the CPLC Advisory Group and is a manager of the UK’s Kyoto Protocol Registry.

Sonam Tashi is the Director General for Department of Climate Change in Bhutan. The ministry is responsible for the development of the trade, industry, energy and mining sector. He has led the Task Force for Doing Business Reforms in the country and policy initiatives for improving the investment climate and promoting private sector development. Sonam is also Bhutan’s chief negotiator for Article 6 (carbon markets) of the Paris Agreement and has contributed to raising the country’s interests in the emerging carbon markets.

Mr. El hadji Mbaye Diagne is the Director General of AFRIQUE – ENERGIE – ENVIRONNEMENT (AEE) a consultancy firm in Senegal. Mr. Diagne is an engineer, senior consultant and former President of the COMNACC (Senegalese National Board on Climate Change). He is member of the Senegalese official delegation for the UNFCCC negotiations since 2000 and he is the lead coordinator for market issues. He supports many UNFCCC negotiating groups including the African Group of Negotiators (Lead Coordinator), the G77 & China (Lead Coordinator) and Least Developed Countries on issues related to “carbon markets” (KP mechanisms and Article 6 of the Paris Agreement). Mr. Diagne is a Lead author for chapter 16, Innovation,Technology development and transfer of the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report (AR6).

Rui Yun Gan is an Assistant Vice President at GenZero, which is a global investment company that focuses on decarbonisation.

Prior to his secondment, Rui Yun Gan was a policymaker at the National Climate Change Secretariat, Strategy Group, Prime Minister’s Office, Singapore. He developed policies and strategies in the areas of carbon markets, carbon pricing and global partnerships, to facilitate efforts to mitigate emissions and harness green growth opportunities arising from climate change. He was an Article 6 negotiator at UNFCCC, and coordinated Singapore’s negotiation of the carbon markets cooperation MOUs and Implementation Agreements with more than a dozen host countries.

Federico has extensive experience in developing new climate ventures and innovative solutions for environmental markets. He is currently the Chief Sustainability and Innovation Officer of ACT Group and serves as a board member for both the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) and the Climate Action Data Trust (CAD Trust).

Federico joined the IETA Board in April 2019, playing a key role in the organization’s significant growth. As part of his move to Singapore, he helped establishing IETA’s presence in Southeast Asia and joined the board of CAD Trust.

Federico holds an MBA from IE Business School, a Master’s in Management Engineering from the University of Bologna, and a PCert in Sustainability from the University of Cambridge.

Federico has extensive experience in developing new climate ventures and innovative solutions for environmental markets. He is currently the Chief Sustainability and Innovation Officer of ACT Group and serves as a board member for both the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA) and the Climate Action Data Trust (CAD Trust).

Federico joined the IETA Board in April 2019, playing a key role in the organization’s significant growth. As part of his move to Singapore, he helped establishing IETA’s presence in Southeast Asia and joined the board of CAD Trust.

Federico holds an MBA from IE Business School, a Master’s in Management Engineering from the University of Bologna, and a PCert in Sustainability from the University of Cambridge.

Chandra Shekhar Sinha is the Global Lead for Carbon Markets and Finance in the Climate Change Group and joined the World Bank in 1997 as a part of the team that established carbon finance at the institution. He has worked on energy and climate change in the Latin America and Caribbean and South Asia regions of the World Bank. Chandra Shekhar has also worked at JP Morgan, TERI (New Delhi), and at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University and has a Ph.D. and M.Tech. in Energy Studies from IIT, Delhi and master’s degree in Physics from IIT, Kanpur, India. His current work focuses on: (1) development of Paris- aligned carbon markets; (2) leveraging climate finance for World Bank operations including deepening engagement with clients; and (3) maximizing synergies of different climate change initiatives of the Climate Change Group at the World Bank.

Evan is a seasoned banking and digitalization expert with a diverse background in product leadership, user experience design, and project management. Evan is known for developing and implementing innovative digital strategies that drive customer engagement, enhance operational efficiency, and generate revenue growth. His expertise includes digital banking initiatives, customer journey design, agile implementation, and online activation. He has previously held senior roles at Standard Chartered Bank, United Oversea Bank and a FinTech start-up Fazz. Evan holds a MBA from Manchester Business School.

Ieva has a track record of shaping strategy and driving its implementation in projects bridging technology, data, and climate policy. She was part of the team which operationalised CAD Trust from its inception and contributed to its early-stage development. Prior to that, she researched international carbon markets at IETA and worked as a strategic account manager at Amazon Advertising, where she led customer insights, long-term planning, and business development for large corporate clients. Ieva has an MSc in Environmental Technology (focus: economics and policy) from Imperial College London and a BA in Mathematical Economics and International Relations from Colgate University.

Erick is a final year Computer Science student at the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), specialising in Artificial Intelligence and Fintech. Erick plays a technical role combining product management and data engineering. This position enables him to both optimise data-centric solutions and oversee product development. Previously, he honed his software engineering skills at Mediacorp, where he gained exposure to complex data systems and applied software system design. Erick is particularly passionate about blockchain, sustainability, and data, integrating these interests to achieve the goals and missions of CAD Trust.