Jean-Paul Adam is the Director for Technology, Climate Change and Natural Resources Management in the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. Prior to taking on this role, he served in the Government of the Republic of Seychelles in several Cabinet positions.

He was Minister of Health from 2016 to 2019. He served as Minister of Finance, Trade and the Blue Economy from 2015 to 2016 where he negotiated a debt for climate change adaptation swap and launched the process for Seychelles to become the first issuer of a Blue Bond. Between 2010 and 2014, he was Seychelles’ Minister of Foreign Affairs, where he advocated for countries to embrace the concept of the Blue Economy, to improve sustainability for island and coastal countries. Before entering the Cabinet, between 2005 and 2009, he occupied several senior roles in the Office of the President of the Republic of Seychelles including Director General for presidential affairs, Principal Secretary for the Office of the President and Secretary of state in the presidency. He started his career as a career diplomat in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs between 2001 and 2004.

He is a holder of a Masters in International Political Economy form the University of Manchester (UK) and a BA in English Literature and French from the University of Sheffield (UK). 

Sangmin Nam currently works as the Director, Environment and Development Division of ESCAP.  Prior to taking up the current assignment, he served as the Deputy Head, UNESCAP East and North-East Asia Office (2013-2022), and Environmental Affairs Officer at the UNESCAP Headquarters and ENEA Office (2005-2013). 

Before joining the UN, he taught at Hanyang University in Seoul, served as an expert member and subcommittee coordinator of the Presidential Commission on Sustainable Development of the Republic of Korea, and worked with Green Korea United, a leading environmental NGO in the ROK as a founding member and the manager of programme and policy. 

He also held visiting researcher positions at Chulalongkorn University, Australian National University and University of Washington, and worked with Korean media as an overseas correspondent of a Korean weekly newsmagazine, covering sociopolitical issues in Asia and the Pacific, and an environmental commentator for national radio programmes (KBS and EBS) in the ROK.  Dr. Nam obtained a PhD degree in the field of international environmental governance from University of Melbourne, Australia.  

Since 2004, Joseluis Samaniego has been Director of the Sustainable Development and Human Settlements Division of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

He was Director of the Sustainable Transport Centre of Mexico City, a programme jointly established by the Mexico City Ministry of Environment, the Interdisciplinary Centre for Biodiversity and Environment and the World Resources Institute.
He served as Coordinator of International Affairs of the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources and Fisheries from 1994 to 2000. In this capacity, he participated in the negotiation of the Kyoto Protocol and the Biosafety Protocol. He represented Mexico in the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation and before the OECD’s environmental policy committee.

He holds a PhD in Natural Resources from the Faculty of Economics of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, a BA in Economics from the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, an MA in International Political Economy from the Universidad de las Américas and is a Fellow of the International LEAD Programme of the Colegio de México.

He is author and co-author of several publications on climate change, including the ECLAC book “La emergencia del cambio climático en América Latina y el Caribe” (The emergency of climate change in Latin America and the Caribbean).

Former Head of Cabinet, Ministry Environment and Sustainable Development (MEDD), Cheikh Sylla is an environmental engineer, with 40 years of experience. Before being Head of Cabin MEDD, Mr. SYLLA was at the Prime Minister’s Office as Environmental Technical Advisor.

He held the post of Director of the Environment and Classified Establishments, a position that led him to be Senegal’s climate focal point, leading the climate negotiations in which he participates, as in sustainable development issues and negotiations, since 1992. He chaired Conferences of the Parties, including Vice_President COP 21-Climate, Ozone, POP, IFCS. He has represented Africa at some mechanisms and funds: Clean Development Mechanism, Adaptation Fund, GEF, GCF. He chaired the National Conferences on Sustainable Development of Senegal (2016 and 2018).

He has conducted numerous studies on the environment, sustainable development, and the implementation of international conventions. Currently, he also serves as GCF Board Member representing the African group.

Edoardo Dellarole has been Programme Committee Chairman of OMC Med Energy Conference since 2020.
 He is presently Head of Electrification Cluster – Business Partner Energy Evolution in the Research and Technological Innovation Department at Eni.

He holds a Master degree in Environmental Engineering, a PhD in Environmental Geo-Engineering and a Master in Business Administration. He has twenty years of experience in the Energy Industry with particular regard to General Management, Innovation, HSE and Technical consultancy.

Guloren Turan is responsible for the Advocacy team globally, including the international climate policy activities focused on the UNFCCC and its related bodies. Guloren has extensive experience in the energy and climate fields.

From 2015 to 2017, Guloren led the Government Affairs activities at the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline. Prior to this she held a number of roles over the course of 9 years at BG Group, including Head of Climate Change Strategy, Head of Business Risk for the Group and Lead Corporate Strategist.

Guloren holds a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School of Government, an MBA from Cornell University and BSc Industrial Engineering from Istanbul Technical University.

Carlijn Nouwen co-founded the Climate Action Platform for Africa (CAP-A) in 2021. She leads the organisation's data and analytics work, shapes its strategy and creates its various programmes. She set up CAP-A’s collaboration with UNECA, the UNFCCC High-Level Champions team and various innovator partnerships.

CAP-A works to unlock Africa’s potential as a global hub for climate action. Africa’s demographics, growth trajectory and natural resources, coupled with extremely low levels of current emissions, mean the continent can go beyond net-zero to a substantial net-negative carbon footprint sooner than any other part of the world. Becoming a leading player in climate action opens a path for Africa to grow to middle-income status with dignified livelihoods for all.

Carlijn's work focuses on competitiveness, inclusive industrialisation and inclusive business and investment in Africa. Prior to founding CAP-A, she spent nearly a decade as a senior partner with Dalberg Advisors in Africa, leading Dalberg's inclusive business work. In this role, she developed and pioneered Dalberg's toolkit on competitiveness assessment and investment prioritisation, leading projects in this space across sectors and countries for public, private and social sector clients. Prior to Dalberg, Carlijn spent 7 years at McKinsey and Company in the Netherlands and worked for the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. With her Master’s degree in Engineering she also leads the work on technical innovation at CAP-A.