The Paris Agreement calls for finance flows to be aligned with low emissions and climate-resilient development pathways. This event explores how to put this key goal into practice, and what governments and non-state actors are doing to support the necessary shifts in finance. It will also serve as the launch of a new research report, Making finance consistent with climate goals: insights for operationalising Article 2.1c of the UNFCCC Paris Agreement, produced by ODI, WRI, E3G and RMI on this topic.

This is a side event to the 24th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, taking place in Katowice, Poland. This event is open to all COP attendees. For further information, please contact Joe Thwaites, WRI.

Biographies

Paul Bodnar served in the Obama White House as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Energy and Climate Change at the National Security Council. Paul was a key architect of the Obama Administration’s international climate policies, including the historic U.S.-China presidential joint climate announcement of November 2014, the OECD agreement to strictly limit public financing for coal-fired power plants and the doubling of clean energy research and development budgets by 20 major countries through the Mission Innovation initiative.

Dr. Amal-Lee Amin is Chief of the Climate Change Division at the Inter-American Development Bank. She previously worked for the UK Government developing strategy and policy on climate change and sustainable energy between 2001 – 2011, achievements include design of a new Green Investment Bank; successfully engaging developing countries on the UK’s G8 and EU Presidency climate change agenda and leading EU negotiations under the UNFCCC.

Damien Navizet joined the AFD in 2001 to work on questions related to Development Aid efficiency. In 2005 he became Transport project manager before being nominated to the AFD agency in Beijing where he developed the transport and urban development activities. He joined in 2010 the agency of Johannesburg as deputy director in charge of renewable energies. Back in Paris in 2013, he prepared with Laurence Tubiana the COP21 as coordinator of the French presidency team. Since 2017, Damien Navizet has been Head of the Climate Division at AFD.

Nick Robins joined the Grantham Research Institute in February 2018 as Professor in Practice for Sustainable Finance. Nick is also Special Adviser on Sustainable Finance with UN Environment. From 2014 to 2018, Nick was co-director of UN Environment’s Inquiry into a Sustainable Finance System. As part of this, Nick led country activities in Brazil, the EU, India, Italy and the UK, as well as thematic work focused on investors, insurance and green banking. Before joining UNEP, he was Head of the Climate Change Centre of Excellence at HSBC.

Shelagh Whitley is Head of the Climate and Energy Programme at ODI. Shelagh leads ODI’s research on fossil fuel subsidies, green fiscal policy and private climate finance. Prior to ODI, Shelagh worked for Camco, a carbon project developer, on the origination, execution and financing of carbon projects covering a range of low carbon technologies in Asia, Africa, and North and South America. Shelagh was the Chair of the Carbon Markets and Investors Association (CMIA) Voluntary Market stream, and Vice-Chair of the Technical Advisory Committee of the Gold Standard (for carbon credits).