What you need to know before COP 27

William Worley is the U.K. Correspondent for Devex, covering FCDO and British aid. Previously, he reported on international affairs, policy, and development. He also worked as a reporter for the U.K. national press, including the Times, Guardian, Independent, and i Paper. His reportage has included work on the Rohingya refugee crisis in Bangladesh, drought in Madagascar, the "migrant caravan" in Mexico, and Colombia’s peace process. He can be reached at [email protected].

Tasneem Essop is an expert on climate, energy, poverty, and social justice issues and is the founding director of the Energy Democracy Initiative in South Africa. Born and based in South Africa, Ms. Essop has significant experience in the climate movement. She has held various senior government positions in South Africa. She was a global climate policy and strategy leader for environmental NGO WWF International and served as the head of delegation for the organization at the UNFCCC including at the Paris COP. During this period, she also served on the board of the Global Call for Climate Action (GCCA) and was an active participant in the work of CAN International.

Moazzam Malik is the managing director for global delivery at the World Resources Institute. He champions WRI’s mission in Asia and the Middle East, and oversees the institutional infrastructure and systems required to deliver WRI’s global and country strategies. Before his time at WRI, he was one of the U.K.'s most senior development officials, serving as director general of Africa at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office. He led government policy on Africa, including the network of embassies across the continent, and oversaw thematic directorates covering open societies and human rights, conflict, and international finance. Prior to that, from 2014 to 2019, he was British ambassador to Indonesia, Timor-Leste, and ASEAN. He also held a range of senior roles at DFID, before it was merged with FCDO.

Unnikrishnan Divakaran Nair is the head of climate change at the Commonwealth Secretariat. Before joining the Commonwealth, he led the Global Green Growth Institute in India and served the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Secretariat in Bonn as the officer responsible for the climate finance and National Adaptation Plans process for low-income countries. He also had a long stint with GIZ India as senior adviser, managing the climate finance and natural resource management vertical under Indo-German bilateral cooperation.