Huey is Head of Implementation, Climate Action Implementation – Southeast Asia for UKAID’s UCAP CAI Programme, where she oversees climate action mainstreaming and implementation at Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta and Quezon City.
Prior to joining C40, her experience included leading the implementation of urban sustainability initiatives, including facilitating the entry of Kuala Lumpur into C40 at the highly successful National Transformation Program (NTP) of the Malaysian Government, where systemic transformation is materialized through co-creation of solutions and relentless recursive implementation efforts. She has also supported the development of Kuala Lumpur’s Climate Action Plan 2050, as well as developing C40’s ESEAO 2022-2024 Regional Business Plan. She led the advocacy work with the Government of Malaysia in accelerating EV adoption in Malaysia through 30 catalytic incentives, proposed to be financed through targeted fuel subsidy rationalization, which has seen a 300% increase in EV adoption as an outcome.
Huey completed her MSc Sustainable Cities in King’s College London on a UK Government Chevening Scholarship and holds a Bachelor of Science (Psychology and Genetics) from the University of Melbourne, Australia. She is a YSEALI Professional Fellow alumni and is fluent in 6 Asian & European languages, contributing greatly to cross-cultural understanding, which is crucial for team and stakeholder influencing.
As Senior Manager, Knowledge and Reporting, Ibtissam is responsible for leading several strategic projects which allow C40 to demonstrate city action, including reporting, data tracking and knowledge projects across the Climate Solutions and Networks team.
Ibtissam has been with C40 since 2018 with various responsibilities. She previously supported the CSN team in delivering high quality network engagement and outputs. She also supported C40’s work as part of the GEF-funded Global Platform for Sustainable Cities programme to deliver knowledge-sharing and capacity development activities in cities working on urban sustainability issues.
Prior to joining C40, Ibtissam worked at ClientEarth as a Programme Officer, supporting the work undertaken by the Climate & Forests team across the EU and in West and Central Africa. She also gained experience working in project management and business development in the private sector.
Ibtissam holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Bordeaux and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics, Law and Management from the University of Rouen.
Idan Sasson is a Senior Manager for the C40 x GCoM Joint Program, where he is focused on the Subnational Climate Action Leadership Exchange (SCALE). Prior to joining C40, Idan was responsible for global urban climate finance programs at CDP and the Cities Climate Finance Leadership Alliance, advancing climate infrastructure projects towards implementation at scale.
Idan has worked extensively with cities around the world on urban sustainability and resilience issues, having worked at Rebuild by Design – 100 Resilient Cities, and the New York City Department of Park and Recreation on strategies for inclusive community and stakeholder engagement to address climate-related challenges. Idan holds a Master’s Degree from the London School of Economics and Political Science in Environment and Development and a B.A. from NYU’s Gallatin School in Sustainable Urban Development.
Inés serves as Senior Manager, Climate Action Planning, within the Measurement and Planning Team. In this role, she provides expert assistance across the climate action planning process in Africa, China, Latin American and South East Asia, and works to develop essential resources, trainings and workshop materials. She joined C40 in mid 2016. Prior to her current role, Inés was City Adviser for Buenos Aires and before that she served as Project Manager for the Technical Assistance Programme as well as Programme Manager for the Climate Action Planning Latin America Programme. Prior to joining C40, Inés was part of Buenos Aires Environmental Protection Agency serving as the city´s Climate Change coordinator, responsible for climate action plan development process, from the GHG Inventory development and climate hazards identification, towards target setting and strategic planning towards the development of the city´s Climate Change Action Plan 2010-2030 (launched in 2009 and updated in 2015). She managed and coordinated the interaction with different stakeholders and has been the technical liaison for the city over the years in the different international networks, and the local focal point with the national government. Inés studied environmental science in Buenos Aires, and she speaks Spanish and English fluently.
Ingrid serves as Director for the C40 Cities Finance Facility (CFF), leading the CFF C40 team of this UNFCCC award-winning project preparation facility, which is delivered with C40 partner GIZ.
Previously, Ingrid was Head of the Climate Action Planning South East Asia, within the Measurement and Planning team. In this role, she was responsible for leading the climate action planning of South-East Asian cities of C40 to align their climate action programs with the Paris Agreement to be carbon neutral by 2050.
Prior to joining C40, Ingrid worked for Mott MacDonald where she led their Cities Practice in the Middle East, helped establish their Cities Practice in Southeast Asia and provided advisory services on infrastructure investment with a particular focus on public-private partnerships. She has worked on a multitude of project finance deals globally across a wide range of sectors and on many strategic master-planning advisory assignments. Ingrid holds a master’s degree in engineering-architecture, with a specialisation in urban development from KULeuven, Belgium and is also a certified APMG PPP professional (fellow).
Irene Skoula serves as the Director of the Energy and Buildings Programme at C40. In that role, she leads a team that actively supports cities in implementing ambitious building energy efficiency initiatives and catalyzing the cleaning up of the energy supply in line with a 1.5°C climate mitigation target. She has previously acted as the Technical Lead for the Energy & Buildings team, helping C40 cities deliver ambitious actions in line with the goals of the Paris agreement, specifically through initiatives to deliver zero carbon new buildings by 2030 and all buildings by 2050 and increase low carbon energy supply as part of the global grid decarbonization required by 2050. She has also previously managed the Clean Energy Network at C40, which is focused on supporting cities plan and implement ambitious low carbon energy programs for electricity, while she has also acted as an interim network manager for Private Building Efficiency. As C40’s former City Advisor for the City of Athens, she facilitated the delivery of the first GPC-compliant GHG inventory for the city and a fully‐integrated Climate Mitigation and Adaptation Action Plan.
Before joining C40, Irene was the Head of the Department for Environmental & Energy Projects in one of the biggest consultancy firms in Greece. For more than 10 years, she worked with Greek and European local authorities for the development and implementation of sustainable energy action plans.
Irene holds a Bachelor’s degree in Physics from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, and a Master’s degree in Environment and Sustainable Development from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA).
Irma Carranza serves as Regional Officer. In this position, she provides administrative support to the Director of Initiatives and Regions, the Regional Director of Latin America, and the Regional Director of North America. Before joining C40 Cities, Irma was a partner in the City of Santa Monica’s Cradle to Career Initiative looking at and measuring youth well being. Prior to this, she worked at the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy as an organiser working to bring good jobs into underserved communities. Prior to LAANE, she worked over ten years in several clerical and administrative support roles with the City of Santa Monica, including serving the Civil Engineering and Architecture Division staff. Irma attended Santa Monica College and Los Angeles Trade-Tech.
Isabelle is the Schools Reinventing Cities with Minecraft Manager within C40’s Urban Planning and Design team.
In this role, she works closely with cities and Minecraft Education to launch the first year of the Schools Reinventing Cities competition, which aims to empower young people to find tangible solutions for a more sustainable and resilient urban future. Solutions from this competition will be created within a virtual Minecraft representation of each city.
Prior to C40, Isabelle was working as an urban researcher at the Mori Memorial Foundation Institute for Urban Strategies in Tokyo. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Geography [International] from the University of Leeds and a Master’s degree in International Planning from UCL.
Iyad Kheirbek serves as Director, Air Quality at C40, and is responsible for the development and delivery of C40’s global air quality strategy. Prior to joining C40, Iyad spent a decade working on air quality, climate, and public health issues with the City of New York, most recently serving as the Executive Director of the Air Quality programme at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. In that role, Iyad was responsible for leading the New York City Community Air Survey, the largest ongoing urban air monitoring program in the US, and led research and policy analysis to support development and implementation of New York City’s air quality and climate agendas. Prior to joining the New York City, Iyad worked as an environmental scientist for the nonprofit NESCAUM, assisting States in the Northeastern US in developing air quality and climate programmes. Iyad has an MS in Environmental Health from University of Washington in Seattle and a BA from Tufts University.
Jacqueline serves as Coordination Officer within C40’s Climate Solutions & Networks team. Prior to joining C40, Jacqueline worked with the International Renewable Energy Agency’s (IRENA) Office of the Permanent Observer to the United Nations. At IRENA, she became well acquainted with the UN System while also conducting research on renewable electricity access in Least Developed Countries and Landlocked Developing Countries.
Jacqueline holds an MA in Near and Middle Eastern Studies from SOAS, University of London. There, she specialised in economic development and the energy transition in North Africa. In London, Jacqueline worked with SUFINDA (Sustainable Finance Data) to research climate change technologies in the Nationally Determined Contributions of countries in the Global South.
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Jana supports C40 with strengthening its strategic planning and monitoring & evaluation. She managed cities’ membership and oversees the delivery of annual city reporting and support to cities on data management.
Previously at C40, Jana coordinated the Deadline 2020 Programme, including strategic funder relationship around assisting cities with developing inclusive and resilient climate action plans compatible with the 1.5˚C goal of the Paris Agreement. She had also held roles in the C40 Regions and the Global Initiatives teams where she contributed to the delivery of major C40 events, including the past two C40 Mayors Summits, helped produce sectoral Good Practice Guides, assisted with C40 workshops, and strengthened engagement with Chinese cities and partners.
Jana is a double MSc graduate from the London School of Economics and Sciences Po Paris, including a year at the University of California. Before joining C40, Jana worked at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, London, where she co-authored the 5th edition of the Global Climate Legislation Study. Jana is proficient in English, French, Spanish, Czech, Russian, and Slovak, and is currently improving her Mandarin Chinese, having held a Confucius Scholarship at Tsinghua University, Beijing.
Jane serves as Finance Assistant in C40’s Corporate Services team, supporting the accounts, payment processes and more. She is based in Cambridge, UK and previously served as a Finance Assistant at JDR Cables Ltd. Jane has 5 years experience working in Finance and prior to that, 2 years managing her own business. She plans to begin studying for her AAT accounting qualifications in 2023.
Janki Rajpura is the Head of Programme Management Office at C40. She ensures robust project management practices and sufficient staff capacity across the organisation, including planning, reporting and risk management.
Before joining C40, Janki was a Senior Project Manager for international development research and evaluation projects across various thematic areas, including investment in cities, girls’ education, economic growth, livelihoods and violence against women and girls.
She is a PRINCE2 Practitioner, with an MSc in International Development (Conflict, Security and Development) and a BSc in International Business and Modern Languages (French).
Jazmin Burgess is C40’s Director for Inclusive Climate Action where she manages the team and strategic direction of C40’s work with cities on equitable, inclusive and fair responses to the climate crisis- including city policies and programmes, peer-to-peer learning, mayoral advocacy and leadership, and data and research. Jazmin has held previous roles at C40 as Deputy Director for Inclusive Climate Action and Head of the Global Green New Deal Initiative. Before joining C40, Jazmin worked for four years at City Hall in London for current C40 Chair Mayor Sadiq Khan as Head of Climate Change Mitigation, and as Senior Adviser to the Deputy Mayor for Environment, Shirley Rodrigues. Before City Hall, she spent eight years at the United Nations for UNDP and UNICEF on development and climate approaches at the country and HQ level in London, Hanoi, Geneva and New York where she worked on the process to negotiate and deliver the Paris Agreement, with particular focus needs of Global South countries.
Jazmin started her career working for the UK Government on refugee and migrant policy and at Amnesty International on gender campaigning. She holds a diploma in Climate Diplomacy awarded by the UN, an undergraduate degree in Sociology and a Master’s in International Development from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
Jenny is the Water Safe Cities Research Manager at C40 Cities, where she leads the writing and communication of key water adaptation research projects. Her mission is to help cities adapt to and mitigate water-related climate risks by equipping cities with the necessary tools and support to drive impactful actions. In her role, Jenny develops research plans, engages in report writing and content production, and coordinates the internal and external dissemination of research findings.
Jen has over seven years of experience in research, advocacy, and communications within the international development and human rights sectors, having worked previously at organisations such as the Resilient Water Accelerator, WaterAid, Amnesty International, and various smaller refugee organisations. Her work in water security, particularly in developing countries, has equipped her with a solid understanding and passion for addressing global water challenges.
Growing up in South Africa, she witnessed first-hand how the impacts of the climate crisis, including environmental degradation, pollution, water scarcity and food insecurity, have an adverse impact on realising human rights and undermine every effort to protect them. Finding solutions to these issues is what drives her.
She holds a Master’s Degree in Water Science, Policy and Management from the University of Oxford, and an undergraduate degree in International Relations from the University of St Andrews. You’ll find her running or climbing in the mountains or behind the decks in her spare time.
Jess Kavonic is C40’s Head of Implementation for Africa. In this role, she supports the African region cities in accelerating the implementation of the most impactful climate actions, and in facilitating learning from their peers across other C40 cities. She works closely with teams across C40 as well as other city and climate organisations in the region to ensure cities have access to the most relevant and effective technical assistance. Jess oversees all C40 led delivery programmes offering technical assistance in the region, working with the CSN, CAI, CAPI, Climate Finance and the Business teams.
With an MSc degree in Climate Change and Sustainable Development from the University of Cape Town, her work with local governments started at the City of Cape Town and later with ICLEI Africa where she spent seven years as part of the Climate Change, Energy and Resilience workstream.
She has a background in atmospheric science with more specialised knowledge of climate change and its relationship with a sustainable approach to development. In particular, Jess has managed an array of climate adaptation programmes in African cities, working to improve urban human well-being, build climate resilience, strengthen local sustainability and protect the urban natural asset base in cities through influencing development policies and planning systems.
Jessica is Head of Finance for Grants at C40. This role, within Corporate Services, oversees the restricted grant portfolio which is currently approximately 60 grants worth over $100m.
Jess spent three years at SouthSouthNorth, a climate resilience NGO, in Cape Town. Prior to that, Jess worked at Standard Bank Group in South Africa and the UK where she undertook various roles and also gained her chartered accounting qualification through SAICA.
Jess will be based in the London office, and is a South African and Irish dual citizen. In her spare time, Jess likes to do yoga, surf and run.
With over 10 years of experience in development and climate finance, Jessy brings a wealth of knowledge to her current role as the Head of C40 UrbanShift, a GEF-funded transformative initiative. Throughout her career, she has actively contributed to impactful projects, including climate finance initiatives and efforts to enhance energy access in rural areas of Sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to her current position, Jessy served as the Regional Engagement Manager for the C40 Cities Finance Facility (CFF), where she played a pivotal role in project preparation of climate-related infrastructure projects.
Through her current and previous work, she seeks to support the transition of African cities towards climate-compatible economies through integrated planning support, knowledge exchange, and access to global expertise and finance. Jessy’s passion lies in climate finance, recognizing its paramount importance in unlocking and accelerating the development and implementation of interventions to adapt and increase resilience to climate change in the region.
Committed to continuous learning, she pursued post-graduate studies at Yale’s Centre for Business and Environment and holds a Master’s degree from the University of Cape Town, South Africa.
Jing serves as the Sectoral Policy Senior Manager of Regions and Mayoral Engagement team at C40. In this role, she will work closely with C40 China member cities and national and local level research institutions, and oversee pioneer sectoral action development to deliver the C40 China Regional strategy linked to the C40 Business Plan.
Before joining C40, Jing served as assistant secretary-general at a Chinese national industrial association, China Association of Building Energy Efficiency (CABEE). Her focus areas include policy research, analysis, advice, and development for building energy efficiency, green-eco district, and low-carbon city. She also fully supported C40 China Buildings Programme during that period. Before CABEE, Jing performed as a joint postdoc fellow of Tsinghua University and LBNL; her research focuses include climate policy and sustainable development. Before and during the postdoc, Jing also worked at the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment.
Jing is a registered Associate Researcher with a PhD in Management Science and Engineering and an MSc in Construction and Project Management, both from Beijing Jiaotong University.
Jingjing Jiang serves as the Sectoral Policy Officer of the C40 China office, within the Regions and Mayoral Engagement Team. In this role, Jingjing mainly works on supporting Chinese cities in developing Green & Thriving Neighborhoods (Net Zero Communities), and she will also supports the team to explore other key sectoral topics in C40 China Region, such as transportation and adaptation.
Jingjing started her journey with C40 in July 2020 and worked as the Project Officer of CAP China Programme for two years, during which she provides a variety of support to Chinese cities of Qingdao and Hangzhou in developing their Climate Action Plans. She also leads the Inclusive Climate Action analysis and events organization for CAP China cities.
Jingjing holds a Master of Environmental Management degree from Yale University and a Master of Science in Environmental Engineering from Tsinghua University. Before C40, Jingjing worked as a Brand Consultant with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in China, where she worked on the coordination and implementation of public engagement campaigns about climate change and biodiversity conservation. Jingjing has also worked as a Chinese social media producer with Yale Program on Climate Change Communication (YPCCC), where she facilitated the planning and organization of YPCCC’s side events during COP23 and helped to promote their work in China on social media.