Ensuring a peaceful transition

Pep is a high-level event host, keynote speaker, communication trainer, stand-up comedian and collaborative partner. Pep hosts high-profile events like The Nordic Business Forum where he made Barack Obama laugh and receives higher audience ratings than most speakers. His interviews with thought leaders like Simon Sinek, Brené Brown and Malcolm Gladwell get rave reviews. As co-founder and director of content for Boom Chicago for Business, Pep puts Boom's philosophy, “Humor Makes Business Better,” into effect hosting business events, where he uses comedy to make hard-to-communicate messages land and stick. His interactive keynotes, including, “Up Your Leadership Game with Humor” is in high demand. Pep was nominated for an Emmy for his writing on America’s long-running television show, Saturday Night Live.

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Olivia Lazard is a fellow at Carnegie Europe. Her research focuses on the geopolitics of climate, the transition ushered by climate change and the risks of conflict and fragility associated to climate change and environmental collapse.

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Achim Steiner became UNDP Administrator in June 2017 and has been reappointed by the United Nations General Assembly to a second four-year term beginning in June 2021. He is also the vice-chair of the UN Sustainable Development Group, which unites 40 entities of the UN system. He has been a global leader on sustainable development, climate resilience and international cooperation. He has worked to champion sustainability, economic growth and equality for the vulnerable, and has been a vocal advocate for the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. Prior to UNDP he was the director of the Oxford Martin School and previously led the UN Environment Programme. He was also director general of International Union for the Conservation of Nature and the secretary general of the World Commission on Dams.

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Patrick Schröder specialises in research on the global transition to an inclusive circular economy with a focus on international policy coordination, closing the investment gap, the role of global trade and the contribution of the circular economy to the Sustainable Development Goals. Prior to joining Chatham House, he was Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex. From 2008–15 he was based in Beijing where he worked extensively in development cooperation programmes of the European Union and climate change programmes with GIZ. He is currently coordinating lead author for UNEP’s Global Environmental Outlook 7. Patrick holds a BA in Chinese from the University of Westminster and received his MA in international relations and PhD in environmental studies from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.

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Emily leads the green industrialisation team at CAP-A. Her work focuses on creating an enabling environment for “climate competitiveness” in specific sectors across Africa. This means engaging with public and private sectors and investors to identify and unlock barriers of hard and soft infrastructure, both in specific countries and regionally. She is deeply engaged in industrial policy and strategies for several countries, including proactive and reactive approaches to evolving geopolitics of the energy transition. Emily holds a BA Hons from University of Leeds and an MBA from Saïd Business School, University of Oxford.

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Olivia Lazard is a fellow at Carnegie Europe. Her research focuses on the geopolitics of climate, the transition ushered by climate change and the risks of conflict and fragility associated to climate change and environmental collapse.

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To support Pawanka Fund’s mission, Edna Kaptoyo applies over 15 years’ experience in non-profit organisations working in social development and Indigenous peoples rights practice and policy advocacy. She is experienced in local, regional and global external engagement in the development sector, with specific focus on climate change and environment programming and policy, Agenda 2030, Indigenous peoples’ rights, and project implementation. Edna currently serves as the global grant making and partnerships officer at Pawanka Fund, a global Indigenous led fund. She is also the main representative for Africa Indigenous peoples in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Local Communities and Indigenous Peoples Platform (LCIPP) facilitative working group, which is an inclusive space that brings together people and their knowledge systems to build a climate resilient world.

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Slendy Diaz Mendez is a circular economy expert. She is a speaker and consultant, holding a background in civil engineering, with extensive experience in project management, the energy sector and circular business models in both the public and private sectors.

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Olivia Lazard is a fellow at Carnegie Europe. Her research focuses on the geopolitics of climate, the transition ushered by climate change and the risks of conflict and fragility associated to climate change and environmental collapse.

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Pep is a high-level event host, keynote speaker, communication trainer, stand-up comedian and collaborative partner. Pep hosts high-profile events like The Nordic Business Forum where he made Barack Obama laugh and receives higher audience ratings than most speakers. His interviews with thought leaders like Simon Sinek, Brené Brown and Malcolm Gladwell get rave reviews. As co-founder and director of content for Boom Chicago for Business, Pep puts Boom's philosophy, “Humor Makes Business Better,” into effect hosting business events, where he uses comedy to make hard-to-communicate messages land and stick. His interactive keynotes, including, “Up Your Leadership Game with Humor” is in high demand. Pep was nominated for an Emmy for his writing on America’s long-running television show, Saturday Night Live.

Read full bio