Catherine Ittner works in a dual role of Head of Transport Innovation and Technical Engagement, as well as Senior Programme Manager for Zero Emission Freight. In her roles, she provides strategic direction on the C40 Transport program, including supporting team management and fundraising, and serves as the expert lead on all transport content to support the delivery and update of C40 cities’ Climate Action Plans. She also works directly with cities to overcome barriers to electrifying and decarbonising the urban freight sector, focusing on topics like cargo bikes and microhubs, Zero Emission Delivery Zones, and city-business collaboration.
Prior to C40, Catherine spent nearly a decade at Environmental Defense Fund covering a wide range of areas, including clean energy, clean air, and transport. Catherine led strategic communications for the Breathe London pilot, an ambitious project to map and measure the capital city’s air pollution in partnership with C40, the Mayor of London, Google, and scientific experts. Her work also contributed to the passing of congestion pricing in New York City. Catherine has lived in several C40 cities: Austin, Buenos Aires, London, and New York City. She has a BA in International Studies and Sociology from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and a PRINCE2 Practitioner certification.
Catrin is Head of Climate Budgeting at C40, a new programme supporting cities to improve their governance systems to operationalise and deliver climate targets. Before joining C40, Catrin worked for the Climate Agency for the City of Oslo as the lead technical advisor on Oslo’s climate budget. Prior experiences include national emissions inventories and impact assessments at the Norwegian Environment Agency. Catrin holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and a Master’s degree in Economics, specialising in development and natural resource economics, from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences.
Cécile Faraud is Technical Lead for Clean Construction, supporting cities in driving zero carbon construction by 2050, with a focus on reducing carbon from materials and machinery.
Before C40, Cécile managed the London City-Business Leaders initiative at CDP, aiming to align the city and businesses’ climate ambitions and actions. The partnership comprises the Greater London Authority, 11 global companies operating in London such as Tesco, Sky, Siemens and Landsec, and NGO partners CDP, C40 and The B Team. She had previously shaped and led the Circular Economy programme for the city of Peterborough (UK), authoring blogs on the Circular Economy. When based in Bangkok, she has also worked on French and South-East Asian collaboration for sustainable development and cross-cutting regional issues.
She holds an MSc in Environment and Sustainable Development from University College London (UCL) and a Master’s degree in International Relations and Geography from IRIS Sup’ (France) and the Sorbonne respectively.
Celeste serves as Urban Climate Resilience Manager for the Adaptation team. In this role, she is responsible for ensuring coordinated management of a portfolio of activities and projects to achieve the overall objectives of the Climate Resilience programme within C40. Previously, Celeste served as Programme Officer for the Climate Action Implementation team, supporting programme management, planning and coordination across teams.
Before joining C40, Celeste was part of the UN-Habitat team in Lao PDR, where she contributed through project and programme management to expand the organisation’s portfolio in the country. She engaged in several projects linked to addressing climate change impact through adaptation and mitigation strategies, working closely with the government, donors, and development partners.
Celeste holds a Degree in Architecture, with a specialisation in Urban Planning, and an MSc in International Cooperation from the International University of Catalonia, Spain.
As Senior Manager for Research and Communications, Chiara leads the further development of the C40 Centre. As a connecting point between the C40 Centre and the C40 Communications department, she helps equip mayors with the narrative and science they need to win the argument to stop climate breakdown.
Prior to joining C40, Chiara worked in communications for Amanda Levete Architects, the sustainability team at University College London and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe’s Forestry and Timber section.
Chiara has an MSc in Politics and Communications from LSE, an MPhil in Latin American Studies from the University of Cambridge and an MA in Spanish and English literature from the University of Edinburgh.
Chloe is the Senior Manager, Knowledge and Policy, for Breathe Cities, a global initiative supporting cities worldwide to cut their air pollution and climate emissions. In this role, Chloe leads the initiative’s knowledge-sharing activities, supporting cities within the programme to share lessons and best practices in air quality policy with each other and more widely, to help drive ambitious air quality action in cities across the world.
Before joining C40, Chloe was a Senior Policy Adviser at the Wellcome Trust, where she worked on climate and health policy, focusing on how health evidence can be used to strengthen climate action at the global level. Before this, she worked at the British Heart Foundation, where she worked to influence UK policy in areas including air quality and tobacco control to support people living with heart and circulatory diseases. Chloe holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from the University of Bristol and a Master’s in Global Health from Maastricht University. She completed her Master’s thesis on the connection between urban green space and health at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (IS Global).
Christina brings over 20 years of experience working in the International Culture and Transformation space within a Global remit. At C40, she oversees Global Operations, IT and the People and HR functions.
Christina has extensive experience working within a global remit and a track record of providing efficient and creative solutions across countries and cultures in order to contribute to the smooth running of C40.
Outside of the office, Christina is a stylist for Smartworks (helping women get back into employment), a trustee for Mothers Uncovered, an Aspire mentor, a mum to two daughters and an advocate for feminist and inclusive leadership.
Christina is a Senior Research Manager at C40. She oversees the delivery of a wide range of research projects which accelerate and drive policy innovation in how cities tackle climate change.
Prior to C40, Christina was an associate at leading international engineering and sustainability consultancy Arup. Part of the leadership team for a group of 20 consultants specialised in research and analysis on climate-related topics, she worked on climate policy, carbon analysis, climate mitigation and resilience strategies for public and private clients.
Christina has a BSc degree in Physics and Philosophy from Manchester University as well as an MA in International Affairs with a specialisation in Resources and Sustainability from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. Her Master’s research on South Africa’s national renewable energy policy was recently published in the Energy Policy journal.
Christina is the Urban Climate Resilience Manager at C40 Cities, where she works within the Water, Heat, and Nature programme management team to drive the delivery of C40’s climate resilience portfolio.
Prior to this role, she served as Regional Officer for East, Southeast Asia, and Oceania (ESEAO), and earlier as Regional Coordinator for both ESEAO and South and West Asia (SWA). Before joining C40, Christina worked at Eco-Business, contributing to operations, events, and global innovation challenges that addressed climate change and sustainable development across the Asia-Pacific region.
She holds a Bachelor of Science in Life Sciences from the National University of Singapore, with a specialisation in Environmental Biology and a minor in Aquatic Ecology.
Christina is a Senior Research Manager at C40, where she assesses the impact and co-benefits of climate actions. Her research spans the waste, transport, energy, and food sectors, focusing on how climate interventions drive broader economic, social, and health improvements.
Prior to joining, Christina was a public health researcher whose work focused on evaluating the impact of health policies at the intersection of urban design, sustainable transport, and physical activity promotion. In addition, she has worked as a consultant for local government and non-profit organizations, such as Sustrans and Impact for Urban Health. She also has experience as a health policy consultant within the Health Division of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Throughout her career, she has focused on issues at the intersection of health, environment, and climate change by assessing policies that promote both human health and environmental sustainability.
Christina holds a PhD in Epidemiology from the University of Cambridge, a Master of Public Health from École des hautes études en santé publique, and a BA in Public Policy from the University of Chicago. She enjoys running and cycling, photography, discovering new recipes, and improving her blind wine-tasting skills.
Chris serves as Information and Knowledge Systems Manager at C40, where he aids in the development and maintenance of knowledge management platforms for the sharing of research, case studies, and best practices to foster C40’s mission. Chris began at C40 in 2013 as a contractor to assist the launch of the C40 Exchange, a knowledge-sharing portal and community for member city officials and C40 staff. He has also managed C40’s contact systems, which aim to improve member support and outreach. Prior to C40, Chris was Vice President of a family-run writing and publishing company that focused on producing biographies for business executives, and worked on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange for a market specialist. Chris holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Richmond, with a Finance concentration and added major in Economics.
Chris ‘Schmo’ Schmalz serves as C40’s IT Manager. This role is responsible for the internal information technology operations of the global organization. Primary areas of focus include managing support channels, implementing technology projects, monitoring systems and managing internal policies and processes. Prior to starting with C40, Chris worked for nearly seven years for Apple with a focus on account management and business sales to large organizations and not-for-profits. Chris has an extensive technology support background having worked for integrators and service providers before his career with Apple. Chris earned a BA in History from DePauw University in Greencastle Indiana.
Claire is Head of the City Finance Programme, a global initiative that supports investment in green infrastructure and adaptation projects.
Claire Saville serves as Director of Business Planning and Reporting at C40. She is responsible for supporting the organisation in setting its long-term strategic direction. She ensures that everyone across the organisation is aligned and working towards organisation-wide objectives to deliver maximum impact.
She oversees the process of turning these long-term strategic goals into actionable, annual work plans as well as the monitoring of progress against them. The role also oversees annual key performance indicator (KPI) reporting to C40 Strategic Funders and the Board. This includes integral information on the C40 cities Leadership Standards Compliance and High Impact Action Data, which demonstrate progress on climate action policies in C40 cities.
Claire has worked in monitoring, evaluation, reporting and learning (MERL) for nearly 20 years. She has supported organisations in improving processes and systems to ensure more effective tracking and understanding of impact. Previous roles include Head of Performance and Reporting at the King’s Trust, Energy Evaluation Manager at the Energy Saving Trust and work at the UNDP Global Environment Facility, Uganda. Claire holds a Master’s in Environment and Development from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and a BSc in Zoology from the University of Leeds.
Clara Lafon coordinates C40’s Funding Development Board, Go/No Go processes and the funding pipeline. She also supports programme teams in grant management, focusing on grant review, approval, and compliance.
Before C40, Clara spent over seven years with various humanitarian/international development organisations (International Rescue Committee, ACTED, Sightsavers), working with programme teams in different regions, supporting them with everything related to programme design, proposal development and grant management.
Clara is based in London and holds an MSc in International Relations from the London School of Economics.
Claudia Huerta is Senior Advocacy and Political Strategy Advisor at C40. She focuses on urgent leadership priority projects, from Loss and Damage to Data Centres, as well as the operationalisation of the leadership strategy, monitoring and evaluation.
Before joining C40, Claudia worked at the Inter-American Development Bank on the Cities Network program and at L’Oréal in international business development.
Born and raised in New York City, Claudia holds a Master’s in International Affairs from Baruch College.
Connor serves as Project Officer in C40’s Inclusive Climate Action team. In this role, he is responsible for supporting the Global Green New Deal pilot cities in technical assistance activities, knowledge production, coordination, procurement, and funder reporting.
Prior to this, Connor worked at the Rainforest Foundation UK for two years supporting Real Time Monitoring projects in Central Africa and Peru. The projects aimed to equip indigenous forest peoples with technology to monitor illegal extractive activities taking place on their lands. Prior to this, Connor worked as part of the operations team at the recycling company TerraCycle.
Connor holds an MSc in Environment and Sustainable Development from UCL, joining the already quite big UCL alumni group we have at C40. The course focused on urban planning in the Global South and included a research project in Freetown, examining the cycles of risk experienced by communities living in informal settlements.
Cornelia von Einem serves as Senior Team Coordinator for the global Communications team and works closely with the Brand, Creative and Digital Content team and wider organisation. Based in Paris, Cornelia provides daily support to the Director of Communications, and serves as a key member of the team, helping to coordinate and structure meetings and agendas with internal and external stakeholders. She also liaises with Les Canaux, a metropolitan hub for innovation and economic solidarity and the location of C40’s Paris office. Cornelia has held administrative and customer-facing positions in private and public-sector organisations in France, after working as a picture editor in scientific book publishing, where she developed a keen interest in environmental issues. She has lived in Venezuela, Germany, and Japan before moving to France, and speaks German, French, and English (and is now brushing up on her Spanish!).
Costanza is the Reinventing Cities Project Manager. She graduated from UCL with an MSc in Environment & Sustainable Development and has a background in Environmental Engineering.
She has worked in marketing and communication in London and has first-hand experience in cities of China, Argentina and Western Africa. Recently, she was part of a research group in Freetown, working with local communities to tackle daily challenges and risks in informal settlements.
Costanza is Italian but she can speak five other languages including Spanish, French, some Portuguese and a little Mandarin too.