Over twenty years of project management and consultancy on climate change and social development in developing countries, emerging economies as well as developed countries, where successfully managed the creation and growth of teams and projects in the fields of green finance, environmental engineering, climate mitigation and adaptation, renewable energies, emission reductions, waste, water, recycling technologies, forestation, sustainability, carbon management, energy efficiency, urban and rural social development and gender/vulnerable/indigenous empowerment. Qualified as an Environmental chemical engineer and a bachelor in Third World development. Currently finalising a Master in Sustainable Energy Technology at the Royal Swedish Institute of Technology.

Relevant previous works include the development, implementation and compliance of extensive climate change initiatives and sustainability strategies including green finance and high-quality carbon credits that were successfully implemented, and verified by the most demanding schemes like the UNDP-GEF, UNFCCC, The Gold Standard and the European Commission. As a result Elisabeth’s team won the Ashden Award on best Sustainability Solutions and she led the first successfully registered multi-country program of activities in America by the Clean Development Mechanism.

Elisabeth also led multiple projects of activities by the UN Clean Development Mechanism in the residential and industrial sectors, where she also had the opportunity to influence key public authorities for the adoption of climate change policies that led to the successful registration of first-of-its-kind programs in Africa, Asia and Latin-America for accelerating energy efficiency adoption.

As one of the early sustainable energy program developers in the carbon market she also participated in the UNEP-IPCC suppressed demand working group to assess the development of technical methodologies for de-centralised renewable power under the carbon market. As a result the CDM Executive Board approved at their 68th meeting the amended guidelines for suppressed demand to be implemented in the relevant methodologies. Later on, Elisabeth continued contributing with her expertise to the Gold Standard as a methodology and project reviewer for climate activities pursuing technology transfer.

Other relevant works include her auditor/assessor role in the private sector on sustainability reporting and Green House Gas emissions compliance, where she has directed Blue Chip clients to continuous improvement for years.

Also as an expert in climate & ESG in the public sector, Elisabeth was the lead developer of the Handbook on “Effective National to Local Governance for Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation” for the Curriculum on Governance for the SDGs delivered by the UN to senior government officials.

Furthermore, a notable contribution is the preparation of the wining proposals, team leadership and expert roles on the ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance safeguards) of moderate to high-risk projects for international development institutions (i.e. KfW, UN, EU). An example of this is the high-risk Project Document for NAMA (now Mitigation Action Facility) on Integrated Waste Management and Biogas Production in East Africa funded by the UNDP-GEF. This project was chosen to be audited by the UNDP-GEF board and scored the maximum punctuation. Furthermore, Elisabeth was the environmental and social expert of the multi-country project GEF-7 Africa Mini-grids Program for the UNDP.

Similarly, Elisabeth prepared the National Communication report of Egypt to the UNFCCC through the Global Environment Facility (GEF) – “Greenhouse gases inventory, mitigation strategy & national circumstances. The waste sector”, and collaborated on the “National Capacity and Action Plan for Capacity Development” for the UNDP.

Elisabeth has recently led the environmental and social safeguards for the German Development Bank (KfW) to support their Project Executing Agency on the Urban Infrastructure Insurance Facility (UIIF).

Furthermore, Elisabeth is a roster expert for three relevant institutions, the UNDP – SDG Finance Sector Hub, The Gold Standard Foundation (the strictest standard to certify the impact for climate and development interventions) and the UK Government (for the deployment of the UK PACT aiming at accelerating climate resilience of targeted countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America). Exemplary projects are, 1) the UNDP Adaptation Fund for Innovation Small Grant Aggregator International Platform supporting and evaluating the ESG of up to 100 program grantees, 2) capacity building to the Colombia Government for their Renewable Energy program, 3) capacity building of the Malaysia Government for the creation of the Sustainability Council within the Ministry or Energy and Environmental Sustainability to catalysing climate actions via planning, monitoring and implementing sustainability related arrangements and carbon trading, including my technical assistance on their GHG inventories, 4) design of the project proposal for the SDG Climate Facility of Tunisia, as well as other.

Competences:

Elisabeth has lived in different regions (LATAM, MENA, Europe, East Africa, USA), and conducted work in all regions worldwide (particularly in Africa and Latin America). She has built her career in a variety of roles and industries, from small to international companies where she is not only used to wearing many hats, she sincerely enjoys it; she thrives in an environment where no two work days are exactly the same.

Used to work in unstable regions, with limited resources and constrained budgets. An example of these constrains is the clean energy project developed despite the ongoing conflict of Darfur in Sudan. These also include a vast experience in remote and local team&project management.

Mature judgment and initiative are demonstrated through her investigation about social change and multicultural exposure as a personal interest. Her involvement living in very diverse contexts and regions of the world and in particular living in different countries has helped her develop excellent interpersonal relation, communication and presentation skills. These have facilitated her to communicate complex issues in a clear manner to a wide variety of stakeholders from national to local government institutions to private sector and community level stakeholders. One significant achievement of this ability is the creative thinking applied which has enabled governments to initiate new program of activities under the Clean Development Mechanism of the UNFCCC and The Gold Standard. This resulted in a first-of-its-class initiative in four countries to establish an open platform to scale up de-centralised clean energy technologies in the Latin-American region.

As an environmental and social specialist, Elisabeth was also part of the awarded team in Adler & Allan by the British Fire Brigade. The expertise and capability of the emergency response teams were tested to the full by the biggest exploitation in peacetime Europe at the Buncefield oil storage depot incident in 2005. The team led the massive clean-up to protect the local environment from potentially catastrophic contamination. Working in a very hazardous and tightly monitored environment, the project took 80,000 person-hours to complete without sustaining a single lost time incident.

AREAS OF EXPERIENCE INCLUDE

My thematic areas of expertise are as follows:

• Advisory services and technical assistance
• Air pollution modelling
• Business development
• Capacity building
• Carbon and energy accountancy
• Clean Development Mechanism
• Climate action & green finance
• Climate change policy, asset and risk management
• Cleantech, clean energy technologies and market/business development
• Climate change mitigation and adaptation
• Circular economy
• De-centralised energy and renewable energy
• Ecotourism and biodiversity
• Energy access, energy efficiency, sustainable energy, affordable energy and management systems
• Environmental & energy auditing
• Environmental and social impact and assessment
• Environmental and social management systems
• Environmental social and economic development
• Environmental Social and Governance (ESG)
• Gender empowerment
• Indigenous peoples rights
• Low carbon transition and carbon offset
• Monitoring and evaluation
• Project management and team leader
• Quality Assurance
• Stakeholder engagement and capacity building
• Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and sustainable solutions
• Sustainability strategy, reporting, and assurance
• The Gold Standard
• Waste & water management

Furthermore, my experience in regards to other interrelated and cross-thematic subjects are mainly cross-sectoral policy reforms and regulations, budget support, institutional development, capacity building, gender studies, human rights, environment & climate change, Public-Private-Partnership (PPP), technical advice/audit, market analysis, technical norms and standards.