Inger Andersen is Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya.

Between 2015 and 2019, Ms. Andersen was the Director-General of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Ms. Andersen has more than 30 years of experience in international development economics, environmental sustainability, strategy and operations. She has led work on a range of issues including agriculture, environmental management, biodiversity conservation, climate change, infrastructure, energy, transport, and water resources management and hydro-diplomacy.

Between 1999 and 2014, Ms. Andersen held several leadership positions  at the World Bank including Vice President of the Middle East and North Africa; Vice President for Sustainable Development and Head of the CGIAR Fund Council.

Prior to her 15 years at the World Bank, Ms. Andersen worked 12 years at the United Nations, first on drought and desertification, beginning with the UN Sudano-Sahelian Office. In 1992, she was appointed UNDP’s Water and Environment Coordinator for the Arab Region.

Ms. Andersen holds a Bachelors from the London Metropolitan University North and a Masters in Development Economics from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

Gillian serves as the Chief Climate Officer and is responsible for directing and overseeing all climate and environment work across the agency. She also serves as Deputy Assistant Administrator, overseeing DDI’s Center for Environment, Energy, and Infrastructure and the Office of Environmental and Social Risk Management.

Ms. Caldwell has worked to protect human rights and the environment throughout her career. Prior to joining USAID, she served as the CEO of Global Witness, which has a focus on tackling climate change and deploys investigations into corruption and natural resource extraction to drive systems change worldwide. From 2007-2010, she launched and led 1Sky, a highly collaborative cross-sector campaign with over 600 allied organizations to pass legislation in the U.S. to address the climate crisis. Gillian also has extensive experience consulting in the areas of strategic planning and organizational development with over 70 non-profits, foundations, and universities.

Ms. Caldwell has a B.A. from Harvard University and a J.D. from Georgetown University, where she was recognized as a Public Interest Law Scholar. She has received a series of awards recognizing her work as a leading global Social Entrepreneur.

Amos J. Hochstein is the Special Presidential Coordinator for Global Infrastructure and Energy Security. He previously served as the Senior Advisor to the Secretary of State for Global Energy Security. He began his tenure with the State Department in 2011, when he was appointed Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Diplomacy. From 2014 to 2017 he served as Special Envoy and Coordinator for International Energy Affairs and led the Bureau of Energy Resources.

Hochstein has served in a variety of roles in the private sector and Capitol Hill. He was the Senior Policy Advisor to the Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives and also worked as an advisor to Senators Chris Dodd (CT) and Mark Warner (VA). Throughout his career, he has been a counselor for domestic and international energy companies, assisting in assessing potential new markets, the development of alternative sources of power, and the best strategies to bring them to market. Hochstein has served on the board of the Atlantic Council and as a Non-resident Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center.

In this decisive decade for climate action, the UAE will seek to bring the world together at COP28 to agree bold and ambitious solutions to this unprecedented global challenge. With a proven track record of building consensus in international negotiations ranging from climate change to energy to aviation,Ambassador Majid Al-Suwaidi brings invaluable diplomatic expertise to the UAE COP Presidency. As the UAE’s Lead Negotiator on Climate Change, Energy and Sustainability, Ambassador Al-Suwaidi played a key role in the negotiation and adoption of the landmark Paris Agreement in 2015, as well as in the design and adoption of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. In his most recent role, Ambassador Al-Suwaidi served as the UAE Ambassador to Spain, Andorra, and Vatican City. In a previous role as Consul General, he was responsible for opening the UAE’s first ever consulate in New York, where he also led the UAE Mission to the United Nations. As well as being a firm believer in the power of multilateralism, Ambassador Al-Suwaidi also brings considerable insight into the scale and practical complexity involved in the global transition to clean energy, having worked for almost a decade in the international energy sector. Ambassador Al-Suwaidi has an undergraduate degree in Geology from Brunel University (United Kingdom), as well as a graduate degree in Earth Sciences from Simon Fraser University (Canada). In 2023, he was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic by the Government of Spain in recognition of extraordinary services in the promotion of international relations, following his three year stint as UAE Ambassador to Spain.