The SDGs as an asset class? Getting serious about green finance for development

Katie Kedward

Policy Fellow at UCL IIPP

Samantha Power

Sustainable Finance Specialist at The World Bank

Prior to working at the World Bank Samantha consulted on climate finance and climate policy at boutique consulting firms and for a political candidate. During graduate school she interned in the US Treasury Department’s Environment and Energy Office. She previously lived in Southeast Asia for three years, where she worked for the American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore and for BRAC in Myanmar.

Samantha graduated with a Masters in International Affairs and International Economics from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in 2017. She also holds a Bachelor’s Degree in International Economics from Louisiana State University.

Fathimath Musthaq

Visiting Assistant Professor of Political Science at Reed College

Fathimath Musthaq is a visiting assistant professor in political science at Reed College. Fathimath’s research interests are in central banking, the politics of finance and financialisation, natural resources, colonial legacies and development.

Her dissertation examined the trajectory and politics of central banking in the Global South, focusing in particular on when central banks accommodate financial accumulation by banks and nonbanks that impede broader growth and development goals. Areas of ongoing research include the pathways through which hierarchies in the international system incentivise financialisation of debt and natural resources in poor countries, the role of the state in de-risking accumulation in late capitalism, the politics of climate finance, and the impact of colonial legacies on development trajectories.

Fathimath received her PhD in political science from Indiana University Bloomington in 2021. Before starting her PhD, she worked in the NGO sector as a project manager for civic education programs. She received her BA from Williams College (MA), and her International Baccalaureate diploma from the United World College of the Atlantic. Her work has appeared in New Political Economy, the Review of African Political Economy, the Journal of Democracy and the Review of International Political Economy.

Dharshan Wignarajah

Director of Climate Finance at Climate Policy Initiative

He has more than 20 years’ experience of private sector; strategy consultancy and government in climate and development finance, impact investing, clean technology and renewable energy; with an emphasis on innovation that leverages scarce public resource to catalyse private finance at scale. 

At CPI, he leads teams working on climate finance landscape work including CPI’s flagship Global Climate Finance Landscape; tracking of finance commitments; methane finance; air pollution; nature finance and initiatives such as the Cities Climate Finance Leadership Alliance.  

He previously served in the UK Government’s Cabinet Office COP26 Unit, where he led the UK Presidency’s work on Finance and aspects of Resilience, after roles in leading international development department teams focused on private finance mobilisation. This included working closely with multilateral development banks; the UK’s development finance institution and a number of infrastructure financing platforms including the Private Infrastructure Development Group. Professional experience includes working as a strategy consultant, both independently and with McKinsey. Where he focused on pharma; energy and non-profit sectors; on a range of leadership, strategy and sustainability topics. As well as industry experience with Shell in their solar businesses.