Introducing the 2025 Climate Champions Youth Fellows

From left to right: Vittoria Porciuncula Horch, Pedro Tufic Silveira Bouchabki, Javahir Muradova, Naomi Wanja Njihia, Jocelyne Tomas Rojas, Dang-Dao Nguyen, Constance Iwu, Bridget Adams.

The Climate Champions Team is proud to introduce its fifth cohort of ambitious and stubbornly optimistic Youth Fellows. Representing seven countries across four continents, our Fellows, aged between 23 and 29,  will work within the team, supporting the UN Climate Change High-Level Champions for COP29 and COP30,  Nigar Arpadarai and Dan Ioschpe.

As part of the programme, the Fellows will leverage their experience in key areas, from finance to nature, to play an integral part in rallying climate leadership across the non-State actor community in support of the goals of the Paris Agreement. 

The Climate Champions Team believes that elevating the role of young people – as well as other marginalised groups, including Indigenous Peoples and women – is critical to accelerating meaningful climate action. It will continue to position this vital stakeholder group at the heart of its work.

Meet the Youth Fellows for 2025

Bridget Adams, Finance (Nature) Youth Fellow

With a background in climate and nature finance, Bridget Adams has over five years of experience developing innovative financial mechanisms and partnering with the private sector to mobilize investment for nature-positive solutions. She currently works at the global conservation charity, the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), where she leads on the design and delivery of nature finance programmes across Africa and Asia. Her current work focuses on scaling investment into blue carbon and structuring blended finance models, including conservation outcome bonds, for ecosystem restoration and human-wildlife coexistence. 

Prior to her work in nature finance, Bridget worked with the NGO and investor Reall where she led the design of Green Affordable Housing Finance, a new guarantee facility developed through the Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance to improve access to climate-smart affordable housing. With degrees in both Politics and Economics, she is committed to advancing solutions and best practice that demonstrate ecological integrity and social equity, supporting the redirection of financial flows towards positive outcomes for both nature and climate.

Constance Iwu, Race To Zero Youth Fellow

Constance Iwu is a data scientist and sustainable energy researcher with a background in mechanical engineering. She began her career as an Energy Data Analyst at the Nigerian Bottling Company, where she optimized industrial energy efficiency through data analytics. Her current work focuses on applying data-driven solutions to address energy access, agricultural resilience, and climate adaptation in Africa.

She leads digital transformation efforts at Manamuz Electric, where she develops digital tools and platforms that improve the sustainability of solar-powered cold storage systems. These systems provide affordable, reliable refrigeration to smallholder farmers, simultaneously tackling post-harvest losses and energy poverty.

Constance is also a researcher at the Sustainable Energy Engineering Research Group (SEERG), where her work on renewable energy technologies and climate data laid the foundation for her startup, EuMarge, an AI-powered platform delivering high-quality climate data for Nigeria. In response to the country’s climate data gap, she is leading a national initiative to deploy 1,500 weather stations by 2040.

Dang-Dao Nguyen, Systems Transformation Youth Fellow

Dang-Dao Nguyen, an urbanist and a Schwarzman Scholar at Tsinghua University, promotes sustainable urban development across Asia. Prior to Tsinghua University, Dao worked for UN-Habitat, UNESCO, the Cornell Center for Cities, and the Vietnamese government on inclusive urban and climate policies. 

A passionate advocate for meaningful youth engagement, he was appointed Head of the ASEAN Youth Delegation to the G20 Youth Summit, COP 29 Youth Delegate, ASEAN Youth Peace Figure, and ASEAN-EU Youth Leader. He founded the first regional youth-led organization focused on sustainable urban development, Young Urbanists of Southeast Asia (YUSEA), with members spanning Southeast Asia and beyond. 

With expertise in climate policy, urban planning, and community engagement, his work bridges interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral collaborations in tackling climate crises. 

Javahir Muradova, Sharm El-Sheikh Adaptation Agenda Youth Fellow

Javahir Muradova is a climate adaptation and sustainability professional from Azerbaijan with over seven years of experience at the intersection of public policy, environmental governance, and international development. She previously served on the COP29 Presidency Negotiations Team, where she contributed to shaping global frameworks for climate resilience and inclusive adaptation.

Javahir played a key role in the development of Azerbaijan’s first National Adaptation Plan, supporting climate policy design, institutional coordination, and stakeholder engagement through her work with the Green Climate Fund. She also supported the United Nations Development Programme’s Energy and Environment Portfolio, contributing to the implementation of strategic projects on climate change, sustainable energy, and environmental protection.

Her experience spans the design of capacity-building programs, facilitation of high-level multistakeholder events, and advancement of international cooperation efforts. In addition to her Master’s degree in public administration, Javahir has conducted graduate research on emission management strategies and climate sustainability, generating innovative policy recommendations. She is committed to championing Global South leadership, driving people-centered climate action, and bridging the gap between policy and practice.

Jocelyne Tomas Rojas, Strategic Communications and Events Youth Fellow

Jocelyne Tomas Rojas is a Mexican international affairs specialist with experience in climate diplomacy and interregional cooperation. She has worked to strengthen ties between Latin America and Europe through the EU-LAC Foundation in Germany, and in Mexico, she has advanced international partnerships for sustainable urban development at the Institute of Planning and Development Management in Guadalajara.

Her academic background includes a degree in international relations and an exchange programme in South Korea, where she deepened her understanding of public policy and intercultural diplomacy. Rooted in her local context, Jocelyne actively promotes the inclusion of Indigenous perspectives in global climate solutions, recognising their vital role in environmental stewardship.

Naomi Wanja Njihia, Race To Resilience Youth Fellow

Naomi is a climate action and biodiversity conservation expert working to advance community-led solutions in Kenya. With a background in Range Management, her work focuses on climate adaptation, ecosystem restoration, and climate finance, with a strong commitment to nature-based solutions and inclusive climate action. Naomi is passionate about connecting science, policy, and local action to build a more resilient future. She believes that real climate impact happens when local knowledge meets bold, strategic innovation- shaping climate action from the ground.

Pedro Tufic Silveira Bouchabki, Finance (EMDE) Youth Fellow

Pedro has been since 2019 an entrepreneur and founding team member of Impact Bank—a regenerative-driven Brazilian fintech—bringing strong experience in fund and project management at the intersection of climate philanthropy and impact finance. He currently serves as Head of Special Projects.

He also co-leads since 2022 the Amazon Food and Forest Sociobioeconomy Fund as a founding member and Head of Origination & Impact, combining grassroots relationship-building and stakeholder engagement with financial innovation to unlock tailored funding solutions.

Pedro navigates between the grounded realities of Indigenous and community-led nature-based initiatives—especially in the Amazon—and the world of climate finance, having studied Public Administration with a Minor in International Relations at the São Paulo Business School of Fundação Getulio Vargas.

Vittoria Porciuncula Horch, Stakeholder Engagement Youth Fellow

Vittoria Porciuncula Horch is a Brazilian climate and gender justice advocate currently serving as Stakeholder Engagement Youth Fellow at the Climate Champions Team. She promotes climate justice with a feminist lens, focusing on the disproportionate effects of climate change on women and girls in the Global South. Vittoria is also the Project Management Director at EmpoderaClima, a youth-led organization advancing gender-transformative climate education and advocacy in Latin America. 

Additionally, she is a 2025 Max Thabiso Edkins Climate Ambassador, a program by the World Bank Group and Connect4Climate that empowers young leaders to drive impactful climate action in their communities. She recently completed an internship in the Climate Change Section of the Organization of American States (OAS), where she supported project development and regional policy engagement across Latin America and the Caribbean.

She has participated in UN climate negotiations and is part of the Feminist Action for Climate Justice Coalition under UN Women. With a background in International Relations, she brings experience in public policy, project coordination, education, and youth mobilization, with a focus on amplifying Global South perspectives in international and local decision-making spaces.