COP29 Trade and Investment House event: Exchanges and climate action – financing the net zero transition

Nan has over 25 years’ experience in strategic management roles both with the United Nations and the private sector across Asia, Africa, North America and Europe. She currently leads a global team in investment and sustainable finance research, policy, investment promotion and facilitation, enterprise development, and technical assistance to governments in over 160 countries. She chairs the Governing Board of the UN Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative, leads the World Investment Forum and the inter-governmental Working Group on International Standards of Accounting and Reporting.

Before joining UNCTAD, she served as the Global Director of Sustainable Investments and Innovation at UNOPS, where she led a team to promote infrastructure investments in many developing countries and co-invest with DFIs and private investors. She served as UNOPS focal point in the UN Inter-agency Task Force on Financing for Development.

Previously, she served as the Head of UNDP SDG Innovative Finance and as Head of South-South Cooperation and Investment at UNDP's Asia Pacific Center in Bangkok. She led a team to engage public and private investors and developed national policy dialogues and networks on SDG investment, piloted SDG-aligned funds, bonds and projects in multiple countries. She helped to position UNDP as a pioneer in the UN on sustainable investment and innovative finance. She also held positions as Policy Specialist in Capacity Development and Public-Private Partnerships in New York and Johannesburg since 2009, overseeing a regional portfolio in Eastern and Southern Africa.

Before joining UNDP, she spent about 10 years in the private sector in China and the USA, covering market entry and investment strategy, merger and acquisition, business development and sustainability. She holds a master’s degree in business administration from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and participated in the Executive Leadership program at IESE, and Finance Executive program at Tsinghua University.

Eric Usher Heads the UN Environment Programme Finance Initiative, UNEP FI, a global partnership bringing together the UN with a global group of banks, insurers and investors working to develop the sustainable finance and responsible investment agendas. Eric oversees governance, strategy and day-to-day management of UNEP FI’s work programme and global network development. Over the years UNEP FI has established some of the most important sustainability oriented frameworks within the finance industry, including the Principles for Responsible Investment (2006), the Principles for Sustainable Insurance (2012) and the Principles for Responsible Banking (2019).

Since joining in 2015, Mr. Usher has focused on accelerating the deep integration of sustainability risks into financial practice, including addressing climate change, natural capital loss and human rights abuses, as well as building out the frameworks for positive impact finance needed to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Eric sits on several industry bodies including as UN representative on the Board of the Principles for Responsible Investment, and as a member of the governing boards of the Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative, the Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance, the Investor Agenda and the impact fund REPP Africa.

Prior to leading UNEP FI, Mr. Usher has over twenty years of experience in the low carbon sectors, spanning technology commercialisation in Canada, solar rural electrification in Morocco and financial sector development across emerging markets. During 2011, Mr. Usher worked on the establishment of the Green Climate Fund and led efforts to create its Private Sector Facility. Eric has been an editor of the Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment report published annually with Bloomberg and was lead author for finance of the IPCC Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources. Earlier in his career, Eric was General Manager of a solar rural electrification company based in Morocco.

Jean-Paul Servais is the chairman of the Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA), the Belgian supervisory authority for financial markets, products and conduct.

Internationally, he holds mandates as vice chair of the IOSCO Board, as well as chairman of the IOSCO European Regional Committee, the Audit Committee of IOSCO and IFRS Foundation Monitoring Board.

He is also a board member of ESMA and the ESRB. Within ESMA, he chairs the Financial Innovation Standing Committee (FISC). He is also member of the College of Euronext Regulators.

He teaches at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB, Free University of Brussels), where he is the professor in the LL.M. in International Business Law and deputy director of its special Master in Tax Law. He is author or co-author of numerous contributions, in particular in areas of relevance to the FSMA's activities and the academic and scientific activities undertaken at the ULB.

He obtained a Master of Law (Master en droit) from the ULB and a Master of Economics in Business Management (Master in de economie, bedrijfskunde) from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB).

Specialist on sustainability reporting and corporate governance disclosure

Mardi McBrien is Director Strategic Affairs at the IFRS Foundation where she is currently playing an active role in setting up the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB). Prior to the IFRS Foundation, Mardi spent over a decade leading the global ESG standard setter, the Climate Disclosure Standards Board (CDSB). She is a trustee of one of the oldest environmental NGOs, the International Tree Foundation, a founding Board member of WOCAN – Women Organising for Change in Agriculture and Natural Resource Management / W+ Standard, a former member of the UK Financial Reporting Council Advisory Panel, a school governor and a member of the ICAEW Sustainability Advisory Committee. In 2021 Mardi was selected as one of the ESG Foundation’s ones to watch.

The CEO founded Clarity AI in 2017. She is a serial entrepreneur and is an engineer by training who has worked in that discipline at German Aerospace Agency, Siemens, and IBM. She has also worked as Global Head of Digital Transformation at Santander, in Private Equity at Bain Capital, in management consulting at Boston Consulting Group, and was the founder and CEO of the tech company Blink Booking, which was acquired by Groupon in 2013. She was selected as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and earned her MBA with Distinction from Harvard Business School.

Since December 2022, Mathilde Mesnard is Deputy Director for the Environment Directorate and OECD Co-ordinator for Climate and Green Finance. She supervises work on climate and green finance and investment, as well as on environment and economic integration.

From 2021 to 2022, she was the OECD Deputy Deputy Finance for the G7 and G20 and acting Director for Financial and Enterprise Affairs. From 2016 to 2022, she was Deputy Director of the OECD Directorate for Financial and Enterprise Affairs, responsible for the policy areas of financial markets, corporate governance and corporate finance, anti-bribery, as well as the Centre for Responsible Business Conduct.

From 2013 to 2016, she was Co-ordinator of the New Approaches to Economic Challenges (NAEC) Initiative where she supported the development of multiple innovative projects across the Organisation, promoting new approaches with an impact on OECD analytical work, data collection and publications. From 2009 to 2013, Mathilde was Senior Advisor to the Secretary-General and Counsellor in his Office, where she supported the delivery of his Strategic Agenda, including in the preparation of the Ministerial Council Meetings, advancement of the relationships with Key Partners and the OECD Accession Process. She also supported the development of the CleanGovBiz Project, a strategic horizontal initiative on anti-corruption and integrity.

From 2001 to 2009, Mathilde worked in the Corporate Affairs Division of DAF where she led and contributed to a number of projects on corporate governance in South-East Europe, the Russian Federation, Asia and China, and developed the OECD Guidelines on corporate governance of SOEs. Mathilde has previously held positions as management consultant with Deloitte & Touche, Assistant Professor in Economics, and Financial Analyst at Citibank.

Mathilde has a degree in Philosophy, a Master’s Degree in Finance from the Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Paris and an MBA from Drexel University. She received her PhD in Economics from the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales.

Mathilde is a French national.

Sherry Madera is a prominent thought leader on sustainability, with a focus on sustainable finance, environmental data and public policy. As CEO, Sherry manages a global leadership team and staff across the UK, Europe, North America, Singapore, Japan, China and Latin America.

Prior to joining CDP, Sherry was Chair of the Future of Sustainable Data Alliance (FoSDA), a global organization focused on supporting data requirements to drive success in sustainable finance. As Senior Vice President, Public Policy for Mastercard, Sherry led on identifying trends and issues that are a priority for governments, industry and regulators for strategic engagement.

A unique combination of former investment banker and diplomat, Sherry has held roles at the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), the City of London and the British Embassy in Beijing, as well as Non-Executive Director Roles at Sondrel Limited and the University of Nottingham.

Sherry speaks regularly in global forums on topics including sustainable finance, FinTech, international trade, data policy and geopolitics. She is also author of the book, Navigating Sustainability Data: How Organizations can use ESG Data to Secure Their Future, published in January 2024.