Erin MacDermott is the Content Officer for C40’s Knowledge Hub, where C40 captures and disseminates many of its key learnings, best practices, and unique insights into the political economy of climate change in cities.
Prior to joining C40, Erin worked at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) on research communications, media and policy, generating wider external engagement with research on inclusive trade, climate adaptation and digital inclusion in cities.
Previously Erin was based in Madrid, and worked at CrowdFarming, a start-up initiative supporting farmers to switch to more sustainable practices. She holds an MSc in Climate Change, Development and Policy from IDS, and a BSc in Economics and Politics from Bristol University.
Amaia is C40’s Divest/Invest Forum Project Officer, where she works closely with the Head of Sustainable Investment as part of the Climate Finance, Knowledge and Partnerships team. In this role, she supports cities with their commitments to divest financial assets from fossil fuel companies and champion investments in climate solutions.
Prior to joining C40, Amaia was at the Birmingham City Council, with a focus on various international projects with Birmingham’s sister cities and EU-funded projects. She also supported partners within the Commonwealth networks. While at the Council’s leading Brexit Programme, she collaborated closely with the UK Government Home Office.
Amaia is passionate about working with cities and building global relationships with partners, and has rich experience with city governments, NGOs, universities and local authorities.
Conrad serves as Projects & Events Officer for UrbanShift, delivering the many events and deliverables the UrbanShift team oversee globally every year. Working with our partners UNEP, WRI, and ICLEI, he helps coordinate the smooth running of the team both internally and externally. Having joined C40 as a World Mayors Summit intern, Conrad supported the Head of Summit Delivery and the C40 Executive Office.
Prior to joining C40, Conrad produced radio and television for National Geographic, MTV and the Smithsonian, and has worked on large-scale events for clients including TikTok, BBC and Channel 4.
He has a degree in Communications from Goldsmiths University of London, specialising in Political Communications.
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.
As C40’s Manager for Climate Budgeting, Annabel works to deliver C40’s Climate Budget programme by providing guidance and support to cities in understanding different options and approaches to climate budgeting through peer-to-peer learning.
Annabel joined C40 in August 2021 as a Project Officer for C40’s Divest/Invest Forum. She has experience in organising and coordinating in-person and online events, conducting research, and developing knowledge and communication materials to showcase best practices and lessons learned from C40 programmes and cities.
Annabel has a strong background in climate politics gained through her BA in Human Sciences from the University of Oxford and MSc in Environment, Politics & Society from UCL. Her dissertation was focused on the interaction of climate policy with social justice in both London & Cape Town. Annabel is also a youth leader and has previously represented the UK at the youth engagement group to the G7.
Felipe works as a Research Officer in the Climate Finance, Knowledge and Partnerships department, supporting C40’s research team to develop and coordinate projects on different themes, such as healthy and efficient buildings, clean and renewable energy transition, and sustainable urban design and mobility.
Among other relevant previous experiences, Felipe served as a Regional Low Carbon Analyst at ICLEI, supporting the implementation and coordination of international cooperation projects related to sustainable urban development for local governments in South America. His work involved elaborating municipal GHG inventories, climate action plans and energy transition roadmaps.
Felipe holds a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Engineering from the Federal University of Espírito Santo (Brazil) and an MSc in Environmental Management with emphasis on climate change from Kingston University (London), fully funded by Chevening Scholarships, the UK government’s global awards programme.
Henrique Goes is C40’s Clean Construction Research Officer. In this role, Henrique works closely with both research and clean construction teams to assess the socioeconomic effects (jobs, equity and costs) of a transition to clean construction in cities.
Before joining C40, he served in the City Government of São Paulo as one of the directors of the Public Innovation Laboratory (011.lab), and he also was a policy advisor at the Special Ministry of Strategic Projects. In both instances, he worked to improve public service delivery in several agendas, such as environment, urban planning, education and health. Earlier on, Henrique worked for the South American Office of Article 19, researching and advocating for greater public accountability in environmental matters in Brazil. He has also served as a graduate consultant for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria as part of his MSc Program at LSE.
He holds a BSc in International Relations from the University of São Paulo, an MSc in Economic Development Management from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and is completing an MSc in Public Management at INSPER.
Amélia Maradas serves as City-Business Engagement Project Officer at C40.
Prior to joining C40, Amélia worked as Innovation Lead with UNLEASH, a global Innovation Program with the mission to build the world’s leading initiative and platform for innovative, implementable, and scalable solutions to the SDGs.
Amélia has experience working with innovation, social entrepreneurship, and youth network mobilisation. She also worked with UNDP Junior Professional Service Center for partnerships, donors, and outreach campaigns.
Amélia holds a B.A. in Political Science and International Relations from Sciences Po Bordeaux (France) and graduated from Vrije Universiteit (Netherlands) with an LLM. in Law and Politics of International Security.
Francesco is C40’s Senior Ecological and Wellbeing Economist, providing evidence and analysis for a progressive economic and policy narrative that supports the transformational change needed to achieve 1.5°C, equitable and resilient cities.
Prior to joining C40, Francesco worked as an economist for Homes England, the UK Government agency responsible for housing and urban regeneration, for PwC, a consultancy, and for the Mayor of London.
Outside of work, Francesco is a steering group member of the Finsbury Park and Stroud Green Neighbourhood Forum, helping to develop a design code and a Neighbourhood Plan for the local community.
Francesco has a MSc in Urban Economic Development from University College London and a BSc in European Economics from the University of Rome Tor Vergata.
Lucy is C40’s Head of Sustainable Investment, responsible for the Divest/Invest Campaign, working to divest public pension schemes and assets from fossil fuels and invest in socially just, environmentally sustainable solutions.
Previously Lucy worked with the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) as Senior Programme Manager of the Investment Leaders Group (ILG): a global network of pension funds, insurers, asset and wealth managers, with over USD 12 trillion AUM, working to unlock sustainable investment challenges through advocacy and applied research. Before CISL, Lucy was Head of ESG for Savills Investment Management.
Lucy has an MSc in Environment and Sustainable Development from University College London and spent time in Freetown co-producing sustainable urban development strategies with civic, government and academic stakeholders.
Angel Monjarás is responsible for developing and maintaining data visualization applications for internal use and the C40 Knowledge Hub using the Qlik platform.
Prior to joining C40, Angel has worked at two Qlik partners in many roles, including practice leader, solution architect, training manager and product specialist.
Angel has a bachelor’s degree in computer science and a diploma in business intelligence. He is a part time teacher at ITAM in Mexico City and a Qlik Academic Program Ambassador for 2022.
Lauren is C40’s Policy Engagement Officer in the Climate Finance, Knowledge and Partnerships team, working with C40’s research and campaigns teams to make C40’s knowledge products more impactful for targeted outreach.
Lauren holds a masters from Erasmus Mundus in Environmental Science, Policy and Management which has taken her to Vienna, Austria, and Lund, Sweden. She recently conducted a research project on the landscape of Green New Deal advocacy in Europe to inform the Green New Deal Cities knowledge hub of the Global Center for Climate Justice, based in Boston.
Prior to her master’s studies, Lauren lived and worked in Edinburgh for an environmental management consultancy which gave her an understanding of this side of the environmental sector. This was following her graduation from a Biology BSc, within which she focused on the overlap between human and environmental health. During her bachelors studies, she worked for a climate legal charity to encourage greater ambition from the UK government.
Wilberforce Chege serves as C40’s TUMI E-Bus Manager for Africa, India, and Indonesia. In this role, Wilberforce works to support the deployment of electric buses in emerging markets, ensuring readiness for 100,000 e-buses by 2025.
Prior to joining C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, Wilberforce’s worked with GreenCape Sector Development Agency in South Africa as a Senior Energy Analyst and Sector Lead, working on providing technical assistance and advisory on Sustainable Mobility and Energy Storage to cities, local governments, municipalities, and private sector clients and SMMEs. His previous career roles have included Technical Director, Project Manager, and Civil and Transportation Engineer, delivering on projects across Africa, Europe, and the Americas. He is also the author of several publications in Electric Mobility and Sustainable Transportation.
Wilberforce holds a Master of Engineering (M.Eng.) in Transport and a B.Sc. (Eng.) Civil Engineering degree from the University of Cape Town, with the research component conducted at the University of Twente in the Netherlands. He is also a Master of Business Administration (MBA) candidate with Project Management specialisation at the University of Edinburgh Napier in Scotland, UK. Wilberforce is a Net Zero Accredited Professional (Carbon, Water, Waste, and Ecology) by the Green Building Council of South Africa and was shortlisted as the Graduate Engineer of the Year finalist by the South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE) in 2020.
Viola serves as Project Manager in C40’s UrbanShift team. She is responsible for many vital functions to support the tracking, coordination, budgeting, events and outcomes of C40’s participation in UrbanShift.
Before this role, Viola was the C40 Projects & Events Officer for the Financing Sustainable Cities Initiative (FSCI). She supported FSCI academies, forums, communication and knowledge management, and assisted cities in accessing vital finance to make their Climate Action Plans a reality. Previously, Viola worked with the C40 Measurement & Planning team as an intern.
Viola holds a Master in Sustainable Cities from King’s College London, where she focused her research on the benefits of urban nature on the human brain through neuroscience technology. She also holds a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Management.
Snigdha Garg serves as the Senior Manager, Adaptation Research and Integration. In this position, she is responsible for managing adaptation research projects of C40 and mainstreaming adaptation across C40’s projects and programmes. Before joining C40, Snigdha graduated from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies with a Masters in Environmental Management. She previously worked with ICLEI South Asia for three years on building climate resilience strategies, disaster risk reduction, developing climate change mitigation and adaptation plans for cities, and bench-marking basic services against national standards for South Asian cities. She has experience in sustainability consulting, project management and urban resilience. In addition, she also holds a Masters of Environmental Studies from TERI University, India and a Bachelors of Science from Delhi University, India.
Markus Berensson serves as Senior Research Manager for C40 Research and Innovation Team. He is working on the Deadline 2020 Programme, building on C40’s Deadline 2020 research, as well as a number of forward looking research areas. Prior to joining C40 Markus was a member of the City of Stockholm’s Urban Development Committee and Political Advisor in Stockholm City Hall, where he was involved in a wide range of reforms within the energy sector, urban planning and sustainable transport. Markus has also worked a Senior Political Advisor in the Stockholm County Council where he was responsible for a sustainable regional development plan and helped drive an administrative reform aimed at strengthening regional governance. Markus is currently reading for a MSc in Sustainable Urban Development at the University of Oxford.
Rachel Huxley is Director of Knowledge and Learning, responsible for C40’s knowledge management and research strategy. Rachel has been with C40 for over 3 years during which time she has developed and led a priority programme of research on the co-benefits of urban climate action, as well as contributing to research on the barriers to climate action, and undertaking city consultation for the current C40 strategy to 2020. Rachel is also undertaking a PhD on Sustainable Cities at the University of Leeds, her research is looking at the processes and practices of transition and decision making. Prior to this Rachel was Chief Executive of Peterborough Environment City Trust, leading the Trust’s work on sustainable behaviour change and engagement project delivery, as well as, working strategically with city partners to develop a sustainable city plan. As part of her work on sustainable cities Rachel established and led the Sustainable Cities Network, an informal network of leading UK cities to enable sharing of best practice and challenges.
Neuni Farhad serves as Project Officer of Adaptation Research. She is responsible for identifying knowledge gaps in adaptation research and is currently working across several research projects to support cities in undertaking climate adaptation actions.
Before joining C40, Neuni completed her Master’s degree in Environment and Sustainable Development from University College London. During this, she worked on urban risk resilience through project based in Lima, Peru assessing urban development in the city’s coastal area with a focus on transport and governance.
Neuni previously interned at the UK’s Department of Energy and Climate Change as an Economist, working across several policy teams to pass legislation and quantify benefits of energy and climate change policies. She has also previously worked in the UK NGO sector on Women’s livelihood and empowerment projects across countries in South Asia and Africa with UK based charity Global One.
She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London and is fluent in Bengali.
Matheus serves as Senior Manager for Climate Action in C40 Cities’ UrbanShift team. His role is to build capacity and support UrbanShift cities to commit to more ambitious targets and accelerated climate action. He is leading the development of a City Academy module and regional training sessions on Integrated Climate Action Planning.
Prior to this role, Matheus was the C40 City Adviser for Salvador, Brazil, working from within the city hall to coordinate the development of the city’s first ever Climate Action Plan. Before joining C40, Matheus worked as Head of Future Cities for the UK Government in Brazil. He led the design and delivery of a £16 million Prosperity Fund program in smart transportation and water management, in collaboration with international partners such as the World Bank and UN-Habitat. He also worked as a project manager in areas such as climate-smart cities planning, sustainable mobility, urban infrastructure, solid waste management, and sustainable social housing in several Brazilian cities.
Matheus has a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations and a Master’s degree in International Development and Humanitarian Emergencies from the London School of Economics.
Jessy is a Senior Manager at C40, where she serves as Regional Coordinator for Africa for the UrbanShift programme. 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. She is particularly interested in climate finance which is paramount to unlocking and accelerating the development and implementation of interventions to adapt and increase resilience to climate change in the region.
Jessy has previously served as the C40 Cities Finance Facility’s Regional Engagement Manager for Africa. She has worked for several years in environmental management and climate change, on projects ranging from climate finance to improving energy access in rural parts of sub-Saharan Africa. Jessy holds a Master Degree from the University of Cape Town, South Africa.
Honorine van den Broek d’Obrenan works as a Benefits Research Officer, exploring the wider social and economic benefits of climate action. She is helping to coordinate a range of meetings and events, assisting with stakeholder communication, and coordinating city support including data collection. Previously, Honorine had worked as an intern for the C40 adaptation masterclasses and research, and contributed to C40’s overarching Climate Action Planning Programme.
Honorine has both an architecture and sustainable urban engineering education in France. During her studies, Honorine has conducted a series of study trips through Europe and Asia interviewing developers of innovative sustainable projects for cities on energy, transport, waste and water management, and education. She has questioned the interaction of health and sustainability at a building scale through her master thesis, and her work in sustainable architecture firms in Taiwan and Rotterdam.
Helen leads the technical assistance part of C40’s Air Quality Program and works on deploying projects within cities in the areas of air quality monitoring, health impact assessment, air quality modelling, data analysis and policy development. Prior to this role, Helen led the Empowering Cities with Data Programme to support city governments to a) insitutionalise and transform their data management processes and systems and b) collect criticial data needed to develop and implement targeted policies across all sectors. She joined C40 in 2016 on the Research, Measurement & Planning team and previously worked on climate change, energy and transport policy at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR). She holds an MSc in Environmental Technology from Imperial College London and a BSc in Natural Sciences from University College London.
Emily serves as a Manager within the Business & Innovation team, working across both the City-Business Climate Alliance (CBCA) and the Sustainable Cities Impact Programme (SCIP). In this dual role, she facilitates the delivery of local and global city-business partnerships by conducting research, coordinating events and developing tools and guidance. Prior to this, Emily supported the Climate Action Planning Programme with internal coordination and communication, development of best practice and lessons learned from the different regional programmes as well as support in the development and dissemination of CAP resources. She also supported the C40 City Solutions Platform programme as an Intern in the Business and Innovation team. Emily has an MSc in Climate Change: Environment, Science and Policy from King’s College London, and previously completed a Bachelors in Natural Sciences at Nottingham University. During her degree, she worked as an Explainer at the Science Museum in London, was a presenter at BBC Eco Day in 2019 and completed an international climate entrepreneurship course with EIT Climate-KIC.
Daniel Samuels serves as the Senior Knowledge Platform Manager at C40 on the Research, Development and Innovation team. In this position, he is responsible for the development and overall management of C40’s knowledge platforms and data, including C40’s primary public knowledge-sharing platform, The C40 Knowledge Hub. In this role, he is also responsible for mapping C40’s data across its systems. Prior to this, Daniel was a Project Analyst with the Clinton Foundation working on the C40-CCI (Clinton Climate Initiative) team, where he helped the first CCI intranet. Daniel came to the Clinton Foundation after spending 8 months in Ghana working for the Kokrobitey Institute, a sciences, arts and humanities school, that promotes cultural understanding, community service and sustainable development. Daniel holds a Bachelor in Economics and Social Sciences from Sydney University, Australia.
Diego is C40’s Head for UrbanShift. He is responsible for managing C40’s workstreams on urban growth, climate action planning, city finance and city-business collaboration. Before joining C40, Diego was Special Assistant to the CEO and Chairperson of the Global Environment Facility.
In his native Colombia, Diego built a strong career in the public sector. He served as Deputy Director of Subnational Public Finance at the Ministry of Planning, where he led several initiatives to build the capacity of Colombian cities on fiscal health, urban planning and sustainable development. At the Executive Office of the President of Colombia, Diego was a Monitoring & Evaluation Specialist for the social policy branch. Earlier in his career at the Bogotá City Hall, he worked for the first city-wide recycling program.
Diego holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration from New York University and a Bachelor’s degree in Government and International Relations from Universidad Externado de Colombia.
Elizabeth serves as Technical Adviser for the Climate Action Planning Programme in East Africa, within the Measurement and Planning Team. In this role, she provides technical assistance to the C40 cities of Addis Ababa, Dar es Salam and Nairobi to develop climate action plans and begin implementing these plans in line with the Paris Agreement. Prior to joining C40, Elizabeth worked for ClimateCare as a Project Developer and Manager where she managed a couple of donor funded programmes by UKAID including “The CDM Support Project in Kenya” under the Strengthening Adaptation and Resilience to Climate Change in Kenya (StARCK+) Programme. She has extensive climate change mitigation and adaptation experience including expertise in development projects in the areas of household energy and water. She has previously worked in the private sector engaging governments and other stakeholders in climate change consultancy. She was part of the team that developed Kenya’s 2nd National Climate Change Action Plan (NCCAP) to the UNFCCC in collaboration with IISD. She is an Afrika Kommt! Alumni (2018 -2020), having spent a year in Germany on a capacity building programme to foster sustainable economic cooperation between Germany and Africa. Elizabeth holds an M.A. in Environmental Planning and Management from the University of Nairobi and a B.A. from Kenyatta University.
Elliott serves as the Programme Manager for the Climate Action Planning Programme in Europe and South & West Asia, within the Measurement and Planning Team. In this role, he is working directly with city officials across Europe, South and West Asia to help them develop Paris Agreement compliant climate action plans.
Elliott is currently seconded from Arup, where he works as a senior design engineer on projects across the built environment, working to develop innovative zero-carbon energy strategies for buildings, neighbourhoods and cities, as well as integrating the SDGs and circular economy principles into designs. Recent projects include working with Stockholm Royal Seaport on seasonal energy storage, developing metrics to measure the sustainability of new neighbourhoods for By & Havn, and the zero-carbon design for the UN17 Village in Copenhagen.
Elliott holds a first-class MEng degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Warwick, a Masters in Sustainable Development from the University of Cambridge, and a PhD from the University of Cambridge which examined how cognitive biases in workshops can limit rational decision making about the future.
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.
Claire is Head of the City Finance Programme, a global initiative that supports investment in green infrastructure and adaptation projects.
Amy Kirbyshire is the Senior Editorial Manager for C40’s Knowledge Hub, where C40 captures and disseminates many of its key learnings, best practices, and unique insights into the political economy of climate change in cities.
Prior to joining C40, Amy worked at the Overseas Development Institute, where she spent seven years first with the Climate and Development Knowledge Network on adaptation research and knowledge management, and later as a researcher on climate risk and resilience.
At ODI her work explored extreme heat adaptation in Indian cities, mass displacement to cities, climate-induced migration, flood early warning in Nepal, political economy analysis, and Adaptation Communications under the UNFCCC, among other issues.
Prior to ODI, Amy also worked at the Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre and the Red Cross Climate Centre on climate risk. She holds an MSc in Disasters, Adaptation and Development from Kings College London, and a BSc in Geography from Sheffield University.
Andrea Fernández serves as C40’s Managing Director of Climate Finance, Knowledge and Partnerships. Andrea is responsible for overseeing C40’s Climate Finance, Business Engagement and Knowledge and Learning programmes, as well as C40’s engagement in the Urban Shift Programme. She also drives new strategic priorities and partnerships.
Previously, Andrea worked in the World Bank’s Private Sector Development Department for five years, where she delivered investment appraisals and technical assistance for public enterprise reform and infrastructure projects in emerging economies. Andrea has a Bachelor’s degree in International Business and Economics from Concordia University and an MBA with a finance specialisation from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.