RDR Monthly Event: The Road to COP29 in Baku: Tackling the Climate Crisis

Dr Susannah Fisher leads an international research programme on climate change adaptation based at UCL Department for Risk and Disaster Reduction. Before joining UCL, she worked with philanthropic foundations, multilateral climate funds, bilateral donors and national and sub-national governments to support them to evaluate and learn from their efforts to adapt to climate change. She holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge.

Binyam Gebreyes works as the climate diplomacy lead for the global climate law and governance team at IIED supporting the voices of least-developed countries within international climate negotiations for fair and equitable outcomes. Binyam specialises in climate diplomacy and negotiations, with a focus on climate finance and adaptation policies. As the head of governance for the LDC Initiative for Effective Adaptation and Resilience, Binyam works towards building sustained resilience and adaptative capacity in LDCs and helps move from traditional adaptation projects to innovative, programmatic approaches.

Laetitia is a climate economist with 10 years of research experience on issues relating to economic transformation, development and gender economics in rural and urban settings. Prior to joining ODI, Laetitia worked at C40 Cities on issues of inclusion and migration in cities’ climate actions. She completed her post-doc at the Grantham Research Institute at the London School of Economics working on sustainable and inclusive economic growth in development corridors in East Africa. Laetitia holds a PhD in economics on improved water management for inclusive growth in Ghana from the University of the Basque Country, Spain.

Demet is a policy expert in climate justice and climate change adaptation. She holds a PhD from the University of Warwick, UK on environmental justice and cultural production by marginalised communities. She is currently working as Climate Adaptation and Resilience Expert at Practical Action, leading the mainstreaming of climate change adaptation and mitigation across Practical Action’s programmatic work. She is actively following climate negotiations under the UNFCCC, with a focus on climate change adaptation, adaptation finance, and locally-led adaptation. She also chairs the Climate Action Network UK’s Adaptation Working Group and co-chairs Women and Gender Constituency’s Adaptation Working Group.