Board

Andria is currently Acting Director, Americas in the Bilateral Affairs and Trade Directorate, in the International Affairs Branch.  In this role, she is responsible for managing strategic bilateral relations to advance ambitious cooperation on climate, environment and conservation issues in North, Central and South America.

Andria has over 10 years of experience in advancing environmental priorities both domestically and internationally, including through bilateral and regional agreements and regulations.  Andria also has 15 years of experience in stakeholder relations, having lead consultations and negotiations with diverse stakeholders and partners, including national and sub-national governments, indigenous nations, and non-governmental organisations in the fields of climate, environment, environmental public health and indigenous governance. 

Andria holds a Masters Degree in Environmental Studies, and an Honours Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science and Geography

Peter Justice Dery has coordinated a number of initiatives, including the CCAC Supporting National Action Planning/Institutional Support project, the development of Ghana’s INDCs to the UNFCCC, the implementation of environment and climate related projects at the national and community level notably, the Ghana Adaptation Fund Project, Partnership Action on Green Economy (PAGE) Project, Green Climate Fund Readiness Project and NDC Support Programme. He is the Coordinator of the National Climate Change Steering Committee and chairs a number of green economy and climate change related committees at the national level.

Ms Masako has over 15 years experience in range of of senior environmental policy roles within the Government Of Japan. These include working as Senior Environment Specialist with the Global Environment Facility, as Senior Policy Coordinator, Policy Planning Division, Global Environment Bureau, Ministry of the Environment and as Director, Environmental Health and Safety Division, Environmental Health Department, Minister’s Secretariat, Ministry of the Environment.

Dr. Iniobong Abiola-Awe is Director, Department of Climate Change, Federal Ministry of Environment, Nigeria and the current Executive Chairman, Nigerian Alliance for Clean Cooking.  

She has a Professional Masters in Environmental Management and a Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences (with focus on Climate Change Policy).  

A consummate environmental professional and Policy Maker, She spearheads the development several of Nigeria’s national climate change and climate related Policies, strategies, frameworks, Programmes Action Plans towards the implementation of the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Paris Agreement and other key Environmental Frameworks.

Her academic depth, experience and policy acumen has advanced and driven global, regional, local, sub national level and community based  partnerships in enabling gender, youth-inclusive, age group focused and faith based climate actions. An Advocate, championing locally led  adaptation and climate resilience initiatives across Nigeria.

She is widely travelled representing Nigeria at several International Meetings. She is a Speaker, Author.   

Mirjam Macchi Howell is the Head of Climate, DRR and Environment, Swiss Agency for Development & Cooperation, Federal Department of Foreign Affairs.

Jonathan has worked with CATF since 1999 and serves as Global Director of the Super Pollutants program, where he develops and directs all of CATF’s efforts to dramatically reduce methane pollution from energy, waste and agriculture.  Jonathan brings over two decades of experience working with governments, companies and civil society around the world to foster and implement policies to reduce methane pollution. Jonathan works to catalyze international coalitions, country level policies and subnational efforts, to foster rapid change. 

Prior to joining CATF, Jonathan served as policy director for a national environmental campaign working to clean up coal fired power plants in the US and was legislative assistant to U.S. Congressman Ralph Hall for energy and environment.

Jonathan has a B.A in Latin American Studies from the University of Texas and also served as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Republic of Congo.

Tad Ferris is the Senior Counsel for the Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development (IGSD), where he leads governance work across IGSD on non-CO2 super climate pollutants. Tad also serves as IGSD’s General Counsel. Tad’s focus includes strengthening governance strategies to cut non-CO2 super climate pollutants, including governance mechanisms at all levels that are fit for purpose to implement fast, near-term reductions. IGSD has focused on rapid action on mitigating non-CO2 super climate pollutant emissions since its inception.

Tad has over three decades of experience as an international environmental, health, and climate lawyer focusing on treaties, compliance, developing-country legal systems, and global public affairs. His legal work and research have focused on bridging national understanding of environmental legal systems and strengthening protections for vulnerable populations, including children. This also includes building NGO, government, multilateral-organization, and private-sector groups aimed at sustainability, climate, health, and regulatory compliance leadership. Tad has lived and worked in various parts of the world, including East Asia and Africa. 

Tad holds a Master’s degree in East Asian Studies, a Master’s degree in Comparative and International Law, and a Juris Doctor degree. He also speaks and writes in several languages. Tad serves in numerous academic, multilateral, and NGO advisory roles, including on the Duke University School of Law International Advisory Board and the International Nitrogen Network (iN-NET) Governance Working Group. He is also an accomplished visual artist and musician.

Alternate: Zerin Osho is the Director of the India Program at IGSD, where she leads the development and implementation of IGSD’s subnational work on fast mitigation of short-lived climate pollutants. She is focused on developing an investible project pipeline for fast mitigation of short-lived climate pollutants by facilitating the development of supporting policies and an investment framework. 

Before IGSD, Zerin was seconded to the International Solar Alliance (ISA), where she served as a Coordinator for the United Nations General Assembly and led the development and launch of ISA’s seventh work program on Solarizing Heating and Cooling Systems. Before her ISA secondment, she served as a Special Advisor to the Executive Director of UNEP, Mr. Erik Solheim, on the development and launch of UN Cool Coalition – an international platform for promoting energy-efficient and Kigali Amendment-compliant cooling appliances under the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. Zerin has over a decade of experience in government relations and has worked in several capacities with the Government of India. 

Kaveh Zahedi is a senior official at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. He serves as the Director of the Office of Climate Change, Biodiversity and Environment at the FAO. In this role, he oversees the implementation of the organization’s climate change and biodiversity mainstreaming strategies, including partnerships with the climate and biodiversity conventions, as well as coordinating the FAO’s Global Environment Facility and Green Climate Fund portfolios.

Valerie Hickey is the Global Director for Climate Change at the World Bank.

Prior to that she was the Global Director for Environment (ENV) at the World Bank. Before that she was the manager for Advisory and Operations in the Climate Change Group, where she oversaw the implementation of the World Bank’s commitments on climate change, climate mainstreaming and climate finance, and before that the Practice Manager for ENV in Latin America and the Caribbean where she managed a cross-sectoral team that supported countries and communities on issues related to climate change, sustainable forest management, integrated conservation and development, integrated coastal zone management, fisheries, pollution management and environmental health, environmental economics and environmental risk management.

Valerie joined the World Bank in 2003 as a specialist in East Asia and the Pacific, working on environment and rural development projects in Cambodia, China and Lao. Valerie has since worked across the Bank’s regions providing design and implementation support to a variety of operations, including in fragile states, where she led the Bank’s environment portfolio in Haiti following the earthquake in 2010. She has also led analytical work and technical assistance on frontier issues related to the blue economy, biodiversity and wildlife crime. Valerie focuses on solving problems and deploying the World Bank’s capital, convening services and analytical powers to unlock healthy nature as an engine of jobs and GDP, ensure healthy environments set communities, cities and whole countries up to succeed, and build green, inclusive and resilient economies. Before joining the World Bank, Valerie worked for World Wildlife Fund, the Wildlife Conservation Society and the US National Park Service where she worked on invasive species programs in Lake Mead, the reservoir to the Hoover Dam. Valerie holds a Ph.D. in Environmental Science and Policy from Duke University.

Drew Shindell is the current Chair of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) Scientific Advisory Panel. He is Professor of Climate Sciences at the Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University.

From 1995 to 2014 he was a scientist at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York City. Dr. Shindell taught atmospheric chemistry at Columbia University for more than a decade. His research concerns natural and human drivers of climate change, linkages between air quality and climate change, and the interface between climate change science and policy.

He has been an author on more than 200 peer-reviewed publications and received awards from Scientific American, NASA, the EPA, and the NSF.