Post-COP26: Driving Climate Action

Speakers:

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  Ingrid Barnsley

  Deputy Director of the Environment DirectorateOECD

  Ms Ingrid Barnsley is the Deputy Director of the Environment Directorate at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). She supports the Director in overseeing the work of the Environment Directorate and leads its work, in coordination with other directorates, on the International Programme for Action on Climate (IPAC). Ms Barnsley previously held the positions of Deputy Head then Head of Human Resources Management (2016-2021), during which time she oversaw numerous reforms in the areas of HR and staff integrity policies, including establishment of the OECD ethics function.

  Prior to joining the OECD, Ms Barnsley served at the International Energy Agency (2007-2016), where her roles included Senior Counsellor in the Energy Economics and Investment Office, Head of the International Partnerships and Initiatives Unit overseeing multilateral engagement and relations with the G7 and G20, Interim Chief Legal Counsel, Special Advisor to the Executive Director and Secretariat of the IEA Governing Board, and Energy and Environment Analyst. Ms Barnsley lectures in public international law at the University of Tokyo and the American University of Paris. An Australian and French national, she holds a Doctorate in Public International Law and a Masters in International Relations from Oxford University, where she studied as a Rhodes Scholar, as well as Bachelors degrees in each of Law and Political Science from the University of New South Wales.

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  David Waskow

  Director of International Climate InitiativeWorld Resources Institute

  David Waskow is the Director of WRI’s International Climate Initiative. The Initiative is focused on international cooperation that catalyzes and supports action on climate change at the national level in developed and developing countries. The initiative includes work on the elements of a 2015 international climate agreement and the Climate Justice Dialogue, addressing issues of climate impacts and equity.

  David has worked for many years at the intersection of environmental and development issues. Prior to WRI, David directed climate change policy at the development organization Oxfam America, where much of his work focused on the impacts of climate change on vulnerable communities. While at Oxfam, he addressed a wide range of climate finance issues, including increasing financial resources, the development of effective, responsive finance institutions, and the participation of local communities in directing the use of finance on the ground. At Oxfam, he also directed policy work on climate adaptation and resilience strategies, including food security and agriculture issues and the role of the private sector in climate resilience.

  Prior to joining Oxfam, Waskow served as the international program director for Friends of the Earth, where his role included overseeing the organization’s work on the environmental dimensions of trade policy and international financial institutions. In addition to his international experience, he has worked on domestic issues ranging from low-income housing to garment industry labor conditions.

  He has testified before Congress on responses to climate change and on trade issues, and he is frequently a go-to source on climate change financing for the media, from The Washington Post to The New York Times.

  He has graduate degrees from the University of Chicago and the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University; his undergraduate degree is from Brown University.

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  Norine Kennedy

  Senior Vice President, Policy and Global StrategyUSCIB

  With over 20 years’ experience as USCIB’s lead environment, energy and climate change expert, Norine Kennedy promotes U.S. business participation in international environmental policy and management initiatives, and works closely with industry, government and NGOs to promote sustainable development and green growth. She also spearheads USCIB’s strategic international engagement initiative, which seeks to advance meaningful business participation and regulatory diplomacy in inter-governmental organizations, and focuses on increasing accountability of international institutions regarding business interests.

  In addition to staffing USCIB’s 120 company Environment Committee, Kennedy represents business in environmental discussions at the UN and OECD. She was a business observer at the UN’s 1992 Earth Summit in Rio and served on the U.S. delegation to the Rio+20 summit in 2012. She regularly participates in meetings of the UN Environment Programme and UN deliberations on the Sustainable Development Goals and Post-2015 Development Agenda, and in negotiating sessions for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

  Kennedy joined USCIB in 1991, having served at the World Environment Center as project manager in its corporate programs department. She holds a master’s degree in international environmental policy from Claremont Graduate School, and a bachelor’s degree in international relations from Wellesley College.

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  Andrew Neustaetter

  Lead Climate LawyerU.S. State Department

  Mr. Neustaetter serves as the lead climate lawyer in the Office of the Legal Adviser at the Department of State. Since 2016 he has advised senior U.S. government officials on a wide range of issues relating to climate diplomacy. He serves as the primary legal adviser and a key member of the U.S. delegation to the annual Conferences of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and has a played a critical role in the negotiations of the Paris rulebook and other related outcomes. In addition to his work on the Paris Agreement, he has advised on and participated in negotiations on climate issues in other international fora, including the International Maritime Organization and the International Civil Aviation Organization. He has also advised on a variety of other areas of international environmental law.

  Prior to his work on climate and the environment, from 2012 to 2016, Mr. Neustaetter served in other roles in the Office of the Legal Adviser, working on matters related to international criminal law, the United Nations, and U.S. foreign assistance programs. Before joining the Department of State, Mr. Neustaetter worked at the Peace Corps and served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Burkina Faso. Mr. Neustaetter earned both his undergraduate degree and J.D. at Georgetown University.

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  Ben Geman (Moderator)

  Energy ReporterAxios

  Ben Geman is an energy reporter at Axios. He is the author of the daily Axios Generate Newsletter and covers the world of energy business and politics.

  He previously served as a reporter for National Journal since December 2013. Prior to joining National Journal, Geman was an energy reporter for The Hill from 2009 to 2013. He was a reporter for Environment & Energy Daily and Greenwire from 2004 until 2009.