Advisory Council

As CEO of the Global Center on Adaptation, Rindra Hasimbelo Rabarinirinarison leads a global organization dedicated to advancing adaptation action and serving at the forefront of efforts to address the rising climate risks facing the planet. A national of Madagascar with more than two decades of public service experience, she served as the country’s Minister of Economy and Finance from 2021 to 2025. Internationally, she has been a Governor on the boards of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank Group, the African Development Bank, and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

Dr. Beria Leimona is Theme Leader for Climate Change, Energy and Low-Carbon Development at CIFOR-ICRAF. With more than 20 years of experience, she works at the intersection of climate policy, landscape governance and innovative finance. Her expertise includes payments for ecosystem services, carbon markets, sustainable commodity investment, and financing for smallholders and nature-based solutions. She leads research and partnerships that connect scientific evidence with policy and investment, with a particular focus on equitable, locally grounded approaches that strengthen community resilience and ensure climate action delivers benefits for people and ecosystems.

Paul Mitchell is an adaptation and resilience specialist. He is Principal at consulting firm adapt-develop and a Senior Associate at the International Institute for Environment and Development. Over the past two decades he has worked with communities and governments to design and implement adaptation strategies across the Asia-Pacific, Africa and the Caribbean. He has helped secure over USD 150 million to support community-based and locally-led adaptation action in hundreds of communities, and currently advises funders on strengthening governance and finance flows so that adaptation investment reaches local communities effectively.

Mikko Ollikainen is the Head of the Adaptation Fund and leads the Fund’s secretariat located in Washington, D.C. Mikko has over 25 years of experience in climate change and other global environmental issues. Before taking office as the Head in 2017, he served as a lead adaptation expert of the Fund since 2009, playing a key role in building the Adaptation Fund’s portfolio of concrete adaptation projects which currently consists of over 220 projects and programmes, in more than 100 countries, with a total funding of USD 1.5 billion benefitting over 90 million people. Prior to joining the Adaptation Fund, Mikko worked as a technical specialist with the World Bank on nature-based climate change mitigation and forest conservation projects in Africa and Indonesia.

Avinash Persaud is Special Advisor to the President of the Inter-American Development Bank. Persaud has over 30 years of experience in finance, public policy, and academia. Prior to this appointment, he was Special Climate Envoy to the Prime Minister of Barbados and an architect of the 'Bridgetown Initiative’ that played an instrumental role in helping to set the international financial reform agenda in recent years. Persaud is a member of the High-Level Expert Group on Climate Finance of the COP26, 27 and 28 Presidencies and a member of the Independent Expert group on Debt, Nature and Climate.

Mary Robinson is a passionate advocate for gender equality, women’s participation in peace building, human dignity and climate justice. The first woman President of Ireland and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson is a globally recognised voice on climate change and frequently highlights the need for drastic action from world leaders, as well as the intersectionality of the climate emergency: from intergenerational justice to gender inequality and biodiversity loss.

Sharan Burrow is a global advocate for human rights, climate action and just transition. She is the former General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (2010-2022) and was President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (2000–2010). She has represented workers and civil society groups in global policy discussions in United Nations bodies, on the Governing Body of the International Labour Organisation, as well as at the tables of the G7, G20, World Bank and International Monetary Fund. She has twice been a Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos.

Mandy Rambharos, Vice President for Global Climate Cooperation, leads EDF's strategy to ensure the implementation of effective global climate policy and a just transition. Prior to joining EDF, Mandy worked for two decades at Africa’s largest electric utility, Eskom Holdings. As General Manager for Just Energy Transition, she led the development of the utility's strategy to transition from a coal-dominated utility to a renewables company. Rambharos is a former negotiator for South Africa at the United Nations climate talks and was instrumental to the Just Energy Transition Partnership agreed at COP26.

Nonette Royo is a lawyer, and a specialist in Indigenous Peoples, land rights, environment, and natural resources management. Most of her work has been in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, especially in Indonesia, Philippines, Mekong region and Melanesia. She co-founded and led the Samdhana Institute and set up several non-governmental organisations focusing on advancing Indigenous Peoples and women’s legal rights. Nonette is also the executive director of the Tenure Facility.

Leonardo Sakamoto is a journalist with a PhD in Political Science from the University of São Paulo. Sakamoto is the chairman of Repórter Brasil, a Brazilian NGO, reference in the investigation on slavery and social and environmental rights violations and is writer of the II Brazilian National Plan for the Eradication of Slave Labour. He is also professor of Journalism at the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo, author of books such as "Contemporary Slavery" (2020) and works in UOL, the biggest Brazilian journalism website, being one of the most read journalists on political issues in Brazil.

Katherine Stodulka is a Partner at Systemiq where she leads the Sustainable Finance platform and is head of the London office. Katherine drives Systemiq's country transition finance work, including on JET-Ps, and supports financial institutions to set and implement net zero strategies, including structuring climate funds and investment opportunities, integrating climate risk, accessing catalytic capital and assessing impact. Katherine is the Chair of the Blended Finance Taskforce, a global coalition set up to unlock public, private and philanthropic capital for people and planet, helping design, fundraise and develop pipeline for new financial products & vehicles to accelerate net zero, nature positive and more inclusive investment.

Alison Tate is the Director of Economic and Social Policy, International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC). Representing 200 million workers in 165 countries, the ITUC seeks to increase intergovernmental cooperation to ensure that the social dimension of globalisation, including decent work and fundamental workers’ rights, is right at the centre of decision-making at the world’s major global and regional institutions. An economist with experience in national and global economics, international trade and investment, social policy, human rights and labour standards, sustainability, climate action, migration, responsible investment and corporate accountability, Alison leads the ITUC’s work on “Global Shifts and Just Transitions” to future proof the world of work.