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.

Rui Yun Gan is a Senior Manager (Global Partnerships) at the National Climate Change Secretariat, Strategy Group, Prime Minister’s Office. He develops policies and strategies in the areas of carbon markets and global partnerships, to facilitate efforts to mitigate emissions and harness green growth opportunities arising from climate change. Previously, he worked on carbon pricing and economic research on climate change-related issues.

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 Chief Planning Officer for the Ministry of Economic Affairs of 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).

Dinesh has over 29 years of experience in carbon markets, GHG mitigation, clean energy planning, policy development, financing, and capacity building. He previously worked as Executive Director at EY and led a The World Bank funded and State Bank of India operated 5-year solar rooftop PV program. He was also Chief of Party for a USAID-funded Partnership to Advance Clean Energy – Deployment (PACE-D) (TA) in India. Earlier, Dinesh worked as a Group Director and CEO for a Singapore firm (Asia Carbon Group) and a UK firm (The Carbon Ratings Agency), both of which were actively involved in driving carbon market initiatives.

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 is a strategic project manager with expertise in climate policy and international carbon markets. She was part of the IETA team which helped establish CAD Trust in partnership with the World Bank and the Singapore government and contributed to its early-stage development. Prior to that, she worked as a strategic account manager at Amazon Advertising, where she drove customer insights, long-term planning, and business development for large corporate clients. Ieva has a BA in Mathematical Economics and International Relations from Colgate University and has recently finished an MSc in Environmental Technology (focus: economics and policy) at Imperial College London.

Terence is currently a postgraduate student at the University of California, Berkeley and the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), where he is pursuing a Master’s degree in Technology and Startup Management. With an academic background in Computer Science, Terence has specialized in the fields of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) and has a strong passion for blockchain engineering. During his studies, he previously completed internships at Climate Impact X, Temasek, SAP AI & DBS Bank.