Nidhi Shashidhara serves as the US Federal Affairs Officer for C40 Cities, supporting the organisation’s work to help US cities harness federal funding to advance local climate action. Working closely with our partners, Climate Mayors and USDN, Nidhi will support mayors in hosting workshops in their cities to bring together community, business, and other local leaders to advance shared priorities and secure as much funding as possible.
Prior to joining C40, Nidhi served as the Development Associate for the Institute for Sustainable Communities where she helped lead their own efforts to secure federal, philanthropic and corporate funding to support local climate action in the US, China, India, Bangladesh, and the Mekong region. She started her career working as a congressional campaign fundraiser working with progressive and pro-climate candidates on their DC and national-level fundraising. Nidhi is also an Aspen Institute Future Climate Leader.
She is a Jacksonville, FL native but is based in Arlington, Virginia where she will soon graduate with a Masters in Sustainable Urban Planning from George Washington University. She also holds a Bachelors in Environmental Studies and Global Development Studies from Mercer University.
Nienke serves as C40’s Coordinator, Climate Action Planning & Innovation. She leads the coordination of Climate Action Plan reviews across all C40 member cities.
Before joining C40, Nienke worked as a Junior Policy Fellow in Climate & Health at Imperial College London where she managed “Connecting Climate Minds”, a global research project focussed on the intersection of climate change and mental health.
Before this, she gained extensive experience working with cities as a key member of CDP’s Cities technical team. She was furthermore part of the urban health team where she spearheaded CDP’s contribution to the WHO Health & Climate Change Urban Profiles pilot project, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine’s Pathfinder Initiative.
Nienke holds an MSc in Urban Development Planning from UCL and a BA in Latin American Studies from Universiteit Leiden.
Nikhil serves as Senior Manager, Climate Implementation, and works closely with the C40 Regions and Mayoral Engagement team. He supports Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Amman cities with their C40 engagements and overall other strategic regional initiatives.
Nikhil has prior work experience focused on climate and low-emission development strategies. He joined C40 from ICLEI, South Asia, where he was involved in GHG emission inventories, climate risk and vulnerability assessments, low emission development strategies, climate action planning, integrated water management, on-ground implementation of pilot projects and stakeholder engagements. Prior to this, he also worked with Ambuja Cements Ltd as an Environmental Engineer and with the Indian Institute of Technology (Mumbai) as a Research Engineer.
Nikhil holds a Master of Technology (M.Tech) in Environmental Engineering from Mumbai University, and he completed a number of professional courses on environmental management.
Nikoleta supports the legal team as C40’s Grants and Contracts Officer at the London office.
Apart from C40, she serves as the Managing Director of the world’s first legal think-tank dedicated to climate migrants, Earth Refuge. She is also the Head of Digital Communications at the International Institute of Space Law’s latest initiative, the Knowledge Constellation.
Nikoleta has been a coach, judge and award-winning participant in international law moot court competitions, including the Philip C. Jessup International Law Competition and the Manfred Lachs Space Law Competition. She also volunteered with the European Commission as a youth lecturer to make EU knowledge more accessible.
Nikoleta holds an MA in Human Rights from University College London, where she was recognised in the Dean’s List for Academic Excellence. Her dissertation explored climate change law and public health, and was awarded with Distinction. She received her BA in International Relations from Sofia University, where she won the Legal Studies Student of the Year award.
Njenga serves as City Advisor for Nairobi, Kenya. In his role, as part of C40’s UCAP Climate Action Implementation (CAI) Programme, he is responsible for engaging city officials, to ensure the implementation of the Climate Action Plan and the fulfilment of C40’s Leadership Standards.
Njenga is a spatial planner, with a passion for supporting African cities to build resilience against the effects of a rapidly changing climate. Prior to joining C40 Cities, he worked as a Project Manager, at a Nairobi based project management and consultancy firm, where he was responsible for leading the firm’s activities across Sustainable Cities, Industrial Parks and Climate Change. He has also contributed to efforts by the Kenya Forest Service, to develop a park management and resilience strategy for the Nairobi Arboretum and participated in the formation of the Nairobi Arboretum Conservancy Community Forest Association.
Njenga holds a Master’s degree in City Planning and Real Estate Development from the University of Glasgow and a Bachelor’s degree in International Business Administration from United States International University – Africa.
Nonhlanhla is the Senior Manager, Grant Finance at C40. This role, within Corporate Services, she oversees the restricted grants portfolio which is currently approximately 65 grants worth over $50k to $20m.
Noni is a Chartered Accountant, trained in South Africa through SAICA. Prior to joining C40, she worked “on the other side of the fence” as a senior auditor. Noni brings strong technical and audit expertise after working on a diverse portfolio of international clients with a focus on large groups of nonprofit organisations.
Noni will be based in the Johannesburg, South Africa office. In her spare time she loves to travel to the ocean in Durban, Cape Town and around various bodies of water such as the Victoria Falls in Zambia. She enjoys hiking and spending time with her family.
Oliver serves as Manager of Climate Analytics within the Measurement and Planning Team. In this role, he is responsible for developing a cloud-based database for managing C40’s quantitative data and an internal website for sharing data across the organisation. He supports the Modelling team’s work by developing methods to curate, extract and model data for use in tools such as Pathways and Impacts and other bespoke projects. Before joining C40, Oliver gained experience in data management, research and analysis by working for the Wellcome Trust, Public Health England and the Department for International Development. Oliver holds a BA degree in Natural Sciences from Cambridge University.
Olivia serves as Head of Monitoring and Evaluation, part of the Business Planning and Reporting Team. Building on reliable evidence and analysis methodologies she works to enhance how C40 tracks and communicates its impact to cities and their mayors, as well as funders and wider stakeholders. Olivia is passionate about climate policy and mitigation strategies and has worked in this space for 15 years.
Before joining C40 Cities, she was an Associate Director at Ipsos’ Energy and Environment team in London, where she led complex and mixed-method evaluations for the UK government in the field of energy, climate and air quality. Prior to that, she worked at ICF, a global consultancy firm, at both their London office, where she managed evaluations for the European Commission, and at their Rio office, where she led corporate sustainability strategies and GHG inventories in a range of sectors.
Olivia is an Economist by background, with a Master’s in Energy Planning from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil).
Omar serves as Global Head of UCAP Climate Action Implementation Programme, within the Climate Action Implementation Team. In this role, he is responsible for providing overall programme management support and guidance to the three regions participating in the programme: Latin America, Southeast Asia and Africa.
Prior to joining C40, Omar worked with INGOs such as Mercy Corps, Institute for Sustainable Communities and World Vision, as well as UNEP and UN-Habitat. He worked for several years in South and South East Asia, providing technical support to sub-national level governments on projects related to climate change mitigation, resilience building and green growth. Previously, Omar worked in Eritrea on an initiative to reforest the desert and produce food with seawater crops, planting over a million mangroves along the Red Sea for animal fodder and carbon credits.
Omar has a Bachelor of Arts in Architecture from ITESO University in Guadalajara, Mexico, and a Master’s degree in Environment and Sustainable Development from University College London.
Pablo serves as a Data Scientist within the Analytics team as part of the Business Planning and Reporting Team. In this role, he is responsible for developing and maintaining C40’s Data Warehouse, a cloud-based database for managing C40’s quantitative data. He is also responsible for maintaining, analyzing, and reporting on key datasets related to C40 and C40 cities’ performance measurement. He also supports C40 teams in promoting good data practices and management through enhancing data sharing, methodologies, resources, training, and building up staff knowledge and capacity.
Prior to joining C40, Pablo worked in a number of data-driven roles, such as the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses of Argentina, the General Directorate of Statistics and Censuses of the City of Buenos Aires, and the National Directorate of Markets and Statistics of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports. Pablo holds a degree in Sociology from the National University of Buenos Aires.
Idrissa serves as a City Adviser for Waste in Senegal, assisting the municipality of Dakar in identifying and implementing crucial waste-related initiatives aimed at reducing current and future emissions from the solid waste sector.
Before joining C40, he worked at Practical Action as a climate resilience adviser. He also served as the Project Manager for “Improving Human Health and Livelihood through Reducing Open Burning of Waste in Senegal,” a project funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering in partnership with the national waste management agency (SONAGED) and a local research institute (EPT).
Idrissa is also a specialist in urban resilience with a broad focus on disaster risk reduction, urban planning, environmental issues, and waste management. Over the past three years, he has contributed to the work of the Zurich Flood Resilience Alliance in West Africa, engaging in research, knowledge management, advocacy, and project implementation, particularly in the city of Thies, Senegal.
Idrissa holds a Master’s degree in development economics with a specialization in sustainable development from CERDI (Centre d’Études et de Recherches sur le Développement International) at the University of Clermont Auvergne in France.
Pat Sri is a Helpdesk technician working in C40’s London office. In this role, Pat manages Helpdesk tickets and provides excellent support to staff on various computer-related issues. Before joining C40, Pat was an IT Support Engineer at Better.co.uk, a mortgage broker company, and assisted users with support-related issues, including setting up new systems and migrating application platforms. Pat studied at the University of Portsmouth, where he completed a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Software Engineering.
Patricia is a Technical Adviser supporting African cities to identify and implement climate actions as part of a regional sectoral programme on solid waste management to reduce methane emissions. She supports city teams through training, cross-city knowledge sharing, technical advice, and one-on-one support to design relevant sectoral actions, help identify and exploit opportunities, and overcome barriers to delivery.
Before joining C40, Patricia was a Chief Environment Officer at the Nairobi City County Government. She was responsible for the circular economy transition led by the National Ministry of Environment and Forestry, championed the Waste Wise Cities Campaign by UN-Habitat and environmental safeguarding of the Kenya Integrated Slum Improvement Project by the World Bank as well as the Urban Fabric Initiative by the French Development Agency.
She represented Nairobi in various professional networks, including the Connective Cities platform, African Clean Cities Platform, African Circular Economy Network, ICLEI- Africa Circular Cities Initiative and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation Community.
Patricia has also consulted on waste management with Aranca UK Ltd. and Roland Berger.
Previously, she was the project coordinator at the JICA Study Team on Nairobi’s ISWM.
She has extensive experience in climate action and sustainable waste management.
Patricia holds a BSc. in Environmental Health from Moi University and an MSc. in Health Systems Management from Kenya Methodist University. She is also a DANIDA fellow in Water Sector Governance and Operations from Denmark Technical University and Copenhagen University.
Patricia is based in Nairobi, Kenya.
Paul Cartwright serves as Programme Manager for New Building Efficiency. Paul is responsible for managing the New Building Efficiency Network supporting cities to accelerate actions to improve energy efficiency and achieve net zero carbon for new buildings, as well as managing technical assistance programmes, including the C40 South Africa Buildings Programme. Prior to joining C40, Paul was a Principal Consultant at BRE (Building Research Establishment), a building research and consultancy organisation in the UK. Paul led a multi-disciplinary team of sustainable building professionals delivering applied research and consultancy projects focused on improving the performance of buildings for both public and private sector organisations. Paul took key roles in delivering a number of building performance innovation projects including working with industry, public sector and academic partners to develop solutions for scaling-up the delivery of low carbon housing. He holds a Bachelors degree in Geography and International Relations from Lancaster University and a Masters degree in Urban Development Planning from University College London.
Paula serves as City Adviser for Medellín, Colombia, as part of C40’s UCAP Climate Action Implementation (CAI) Programme.
Prior to joining C40, Paula worked in the public administration for Medellín City as an Environmental Engineer in the Environment Secretary, working to coordinate International cooperation. Previously, Paula worked within the energy sector, developing small hydroelectric plants in Antioquia, Colombia. Paula has experience with sustainable projects such as: environmental education, carbon footprint calculation and research on the impacts of climate change on high mountain ecosystems water supply in Natural National Park Los Nevados, Colombia.
Paula is an Environmental Engineer from EIA University, holds a Master’s degree in Hydro Science & Engineering from the Technische Universität Dresden, Germany and an Advanced International Training Program “Climate Change – Mitigation and Adaptation”, Sweden.
As Director of the Executive Office, Pauline is responsible for liaising with the Bloomberg Philanthropies environment team on projects and activities related to C40 and Michael Bloomberg’s position as C40 Board President.
Pauline initially joined C40 as Project Manager for the Women4Climate Tech Challenge, a global competition designed to promote and support innovation and climate solutions from women in the tech community. She started her career in e-commerce, where she worked as a localisation and operations manager for six years, before taking part in the On Purpose leadership programme to transition her career into the environmental impact sector.
She since worked with sustainability leader and carpet manufacturer Interface, designing and implementing circular solutions to reduce waste, and developed a new portfolio of services for the innovation foundation Nesta.
Pauline Makoni is a Project Accountant managing a portfolio of grants mainly in Inclusive Climate Action, Transport and Urban Planning.
She is an experienced finance professional with a strong background in project accounting, financial reporting and revenue management. With over a decade of experience in accounting and finance, she has worked across various industries, including consulting, retail and manufacturing.
As a Project Accountant, Pauline specialises in managing grant funds, budgeting, forecasting and financial analysis to drive informed decision-making. Her expertise extends to budget gap analysis and financial planning to support grant funds management.
Pauline holds a Bachelor of Accounting Science (BCompt) degree from UNISA and a CIMA Advanced Diploma in Management Accounting. She is also a graduate of the STRIVE for Leadership program with Duke CE.
Pedro Bastos is the Policy Manager for Zero Emission Vehicles at C40. His primary focus is the Laneshift program, which aims to reimagine medium- and heavy-duty shipping vehicles and optimize their travel routes for environmental sustainability in six cities across Latin America: Rio, Curitiba, Mexico City, Quito, Bogotá, and Medellín.
Pedro is an urban planner with extensive experience in transportation, zero-emission technologies, and public policies. Over the last decade, he has worked at the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) and completed successful consultancy projects for both the public and private sectors. Pedro holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business and Public Administration, as well as a Master’s and PhD in Urban Planning from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.
Pedro Ribeiro is C40’s Head of Water Programmes. He supports a network of global cities to identify, plan and implement projects to increase resilience to urban flooding impacts. The network is focused on four work streams: Governance and Holistic Water Management; Measuring and Monitoring Urban Floods; Flood Operations and Response; and Flood Reduction.
Before joining C40, Pedro worked at the Rio de Janeiro Resilience Office, where he worked on the development of Rio Resilience Strategy. In Rio’s Resilience Office, Pedro focused on the city’s urban climate vulnerabilities including Heat Waves, Drought, and Floods. Pedro was responsible for leading initiatives on Heat Waves, developing the first municipal urban heat map, and the Urban Water Resilience, developing Rio de Janeiro’s rainwater harvesting potential analysis (Reuse Map).
Pedro holds an environmental sciences degree at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro State, with a post-graduate degree in Ecological Landscape at the Pontifícia Universidade Católica of Rio de Janeiro.
Pegah is responsible for the C40 Healthy and Efficient Buildings Program, an innovative approach aimed at supporting cities to develop and implement building decarbonization actions that increase the health of their occupants, reduce energy use and create green jobs.
Pegah previously managed C40 Municipal Buildings Efficiency Network, supported cities in driving energy efficiency in their municipal assets, as well as provided cities with technical assistance on building energy data analysis that would inform and support ambitious policies. In addition, Pegah evaluated building energy efficiency scenarios in C40 Cities Climate Action Plans and produced building energy data-related research pieces for C40 Knowledge Hub.
Prior to joining C40, Pegah worked for Siemens Global Centre of Competence for Cities as an Infrastructure Researcher. There Pegah worked on projects including C40’s Air Quality Research, Digitalization and Industry 4.0 study, and an infrastructure overview project with Myanmar. Pegah is also an experienced web and graphic designer with data visualisation and communication expertise. Pegah holds a Masters’s in Smart Cities and Urban Analytics from University College London and a BA in Architectural Engineering from Azad Tehran, Iran. She speaks Persian and English.