Aida Lorenzo

Aida Lorenzo was born in Guatemala, she is an industrial engineer, with a Master in Business Administration and Environmental Management degree. Aida is specialized in renewable energies, bioenergy, biofuels, climate change and environmental assessment. She has more than 20 years of professional experience, currently she is the general manager of the Renewable Fuels Association in Guatemala. She promotes the production and use of liquid biofuels in the Central America region. She coordinates the mitigation group of the Guatemalan Climate Change Science System (SGCCC), she also represents the SGCCC on the Climate Change National Council (CNCC). She is part of the Pan-American Biofuels Coalition (CPBIO). Currently she coordinates two Latin American communities of practice in the LEDS LAC Platform, one about Bioenergy and other about Methane emissions reduction from organic sources (MetLAC). She is a professor in different master's degrees related to biofuels and environment.

Catalina Cecchi

Catalina joins the Climate Champions Team (CCT) as Energy Efficiency Lead from the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions (C2ES), Washington DC.

She holds a Masters in Economics of Sustainable Development and Environmental Sciences. Catalina is a former member of the COP25 Presidency and hydrogen advisor to the Climate High-Level Champion. Her research at C2ES centers on the role of non-Party stakeholders in systems transformation and the accountability of voluntary initiatives toward achieving UNFCCC COP outcomes, such as the global stocktake. She is also a high integrity carbon markets policy expert.

Catalina has a sustainability auditing and consulting industry background from Deloitte France. She has specialised in energy and mining with a Latin American focus, having worked at BHP as institutional relations specialist, the Mining Council as policy workstreams manager and the Ministry of Energy of Chile on clean energy partnerships with subnational governments.

Catalina is a trained analytical philosopher and archetypal psychoanalyst from the James Hillman Institute in Florence. She has been a world trotter, loves singing, Latin dancing, Italian cooking, tennis, meditation and nature.

Chris Neidl

Chris has two decades of career experience in the fields of renewable energy, industrial decarbonization, and carbon removal. He has served in diverse, high impact roles as a policy analyst and advocate, business development specialist and project manager in North America, South Asia, East Africa and Central America. From 2010-2014, Chris served as the South Asia program manager for Arc Finance, where he supported rural financial institutions and social enterprises in launching loan programs for decentralized renewable energy products in off-grid and underserved communities.

In 2019 Chris co-founded OpenAir, a global volunteer collective launched to advance carbon removal support policies at the state and local levels through member-driven advocacy. In this role he has led advocacy efforts for the majority of subnational CDR legislation proposals in the United States. He is also the co-founder of the 4 Corners Carbon Coalition, a multi-jurisdictional initiative that supports and funds locally-led, first of kind carbon removal projects at the municipal and regional levels.

As a policy consultant, Chris has spearheaded multiple successful state level campaigns to enact building decarbonization legislation for the Natural Resources Defense Council. His other advisory positions include serving as an expert reviewer for both the Carbon XPRIZE, and the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management. He is currently the Board Secretary of the Direct Air Capture Coalition. Chris is an upstate New York native and long-time Brooklyn resident, currently based in Austin, Texas.

Ellie McBurney

Ellie McBurney is the Water Lead for the Climate Champions Team. Joining the team in 2025, Ellie is passionate about supporting the sector to engage with and contribute to the global climate agenda. Ellie is embedded in the global water community, working with partners to evidence and amplify water solutions to our pressing climate challenges. In this role, Ellie and the water team are focused on delivering the Water Workplan to enable systems-level transformation in water security and resilience. An engineer by training, Ellie is embedded in delivering water resilience in Arup’s Strategic Water Services team. Her work spans strategic planning, regulation and policy for resilience, nature-based solutions and climate adaptation.

Ephraim França

Ephraim França is an Energy Transitions Associate for the Climate Champions Team. As a secondee from Accenture Sustainability Services in Latam, he has a background in consulting and strategy on the climate agenda, climate policies and regulations, renewable fuels, and decarbonization for private, public, and multilateral entities.

With a strong view of the interface between socioeconomic factors and environmental impacts, Ephraim aids several industries, such as energy companies, manufacturers, agribusiness, development banks, and the public sector in planning and implementing their climate transition strategies.

Based in Brazil, he has a Bachelor's degree in Biology (2018) and a Master's in conservation ecology (2021), which builds on his previous experiences on studies and fieldwork for the conservation of endangered species and ecosystems.

Farida Abdelmordy

Hande Turkyilmaz

Harry Mills

Harry Mills is the Built Environment Activation Group Lead for the Climate Champions Team. He works across the built environment, climate, and nature sectors to accelerate the transition towards a more resource-efficient and resilient built environment.

Harry brings over a decade of international experience across architecture, engineering, research, and policy, working with governments, industry, academia, and civil society. His work focuses on the role of materials, value chains, and systems transformation in reducing emissions from buildings while supporting broader climate and nature outcomes.

Harry is a Global Policy and Engagement Advisor for Built by Nature and Co-Chair of the GlobalABC Bio-based Materials Working Group, supporting international collaboration on the role of bio-based materials in the built environment transition.

Isadora Pla Carlin

Isadora is the Food Systems Manager at the Climate Champions Team. Her background includes research on food systems at the Co-Laboratory of Ecology, Complexity, and Society, UC. Additionally, she has served as a facilitator for the Institute for Sustainable Development and various other entities, fostering impactful dialogues on global change. Isadora has a BSc. in Biology and an MSc. in Natural Resources. She grew up in Chile and she is passionate about nature and the outdoors, often spending her free time climbing or hiking.

Julia Chabariberi

Katherine Palmer

Katharine Palmer is the global head of sustainability for Lloyd’s Register. With nearly 20 years’ experience in the shipping industry she is an established thought leader and expert on environment and sustainability within the maritime value chain.

Katharine represents Lloyd’s Register on many industry forums and collaborative initiatives including the UN Global Compact, Getting to Zero Coalition and the Sustainable Shipping Initiative and is currently the co-chair of the IMarEST Technical Leadership Board and an elected trustee on the Board of the Sustainable Shipping initiative.

Kristina Rodriguez

Kristina Rodriguez is the Oceans Associate with the Climate Champions Team, where she supports implementation of the Ocean Breakthroughs under the Global Climate Action Agenda, mobilizing non-state actors to accelerate ocean-based climate solutions.

She also co-leads the global implementation of the Mangrove Breakthrough NDC Task Force, advancing action and investment to halt mangrove loss, restore degraded ecosystems, and scale mangrove protection by 2030. In addition, she serves as the U.S. Ambassador for SHE Changes Climate.

Prior to joining the Climate Champions Team, Kristina was a Research Analyst at Ocean Conservancy, where she assessed Justice40 metrics for federal ocean and coastal conservation programs. She holds a Master of Environmental Management in Climate Change Science & Solutions and Environmental Policy Analysis from the Yale School of the Environment.

Martin Shouler

Martin Shouler is the London Water Leader at Arup, a global design and engineering consultancy operating in more than 90 offices worldwide. With over 30 years of experience in the water sector, he has worked across building engineering, infrastructure, and advisory services - leading projects that connect design, research, and policy in diverse global contexts.

His expertise covers the full water cycle, including supply, sanitation, treatment, and efficiency, as well as the integration of water systems within resilient urban infrastructure. Martin has represented the UK in the development of national and international water standards (BSi, EN, ISO) and is a past Chair of the Society of Public Health Engineers.

At Arup, he leads the City Water Resilience Approach (CWRA), now implemented in more than 25 cities worldwide, helping governments and utilities strengthen resilience to too much, too little, or too polluted water. He also contributes to global partnerships such as the Resilient Water Accelerator and the Just Transitions for Water Security initiative.

As a member of the Alliance for Global Water Adaptation (AGWA) Strategic Advisory Committee, Martin brings deep technical knowledge and a systems-based, collaborative approach to advancing climate-resilient water management and investment. He is a Freeman of the City of London.

Mostafa Elsharkawy

Rebecca Brooks

Rebecca Brooks is Food Systems Lead at the Climate Champions Team. She leads the food and agriculture portfolio where she helps develop and launch multi-stakeholder initiatives to support food systems transformation to deliver better outcomes for people, nature, and climate. Rebecca previously led the global Land Use and Food Systems portfolio at the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, and before that worked across the Sub-Saharan Africa region at a climate consultancy working on agriculture and water infrastructure projects. Rebecca holds an MSc in International Development from the London School of Economics.

Santino Lacanna

Shana Gallagher

Shana Gallagher is the lead for the Net Zero Activation Group on the Climate Champions Team. She also directs net zero engagement at BSI (British Standards Institution), the UK's National Standards Body and UK member body to ISO. The Net Zero Activation Group builds on the knowledge, alignment, and momentum generated by the Race to Zero, providing a vehicle to scale proven solutions, strengthen cooperation across demand, supply, and capital, and secure enabling actions from governments. It represents an evolution from mobilization to implementation, formalizing the alignment of actions with measurable, time-bound targets and a periodic reporting cycle by leveraging the international standards system, and as part of the Action Agenda structure established at COP30. Prior to this work, Shana worked in US politics leading national campaigns for almost a decade.

Thomas Sberna

Virgina Barbieri