Global Climate Change and Energy Transition Team

Ali Raza Rizvi serves as Director of the Global Climate Change & Energy Transition Team and Acting Head of the Human Rights in Conservation Team at the IUCN North America Regional Office in Washington D.C. He has over 30 years of leadership and management experience in the international development and conservation sectors, having worked across Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas, collaborating with international and national development partners. Holding a Master’s degree in Applied Sciences and a postgraduate qualification in Environment and Community Development, he brings extensive expertise in social development, poverty reduction, sustainable development, disaster risk reduction, resilience, and climate change. In his current roles, he provides vision, strategic direction, and operational guidance for IUCN’s global initiatives on climate change, gender, Indigenous Peoples, and human rights.   

Rachel Asante is a Senior Programme Coordinator at the IUCN’s Headquarters in Gland. A molecular biologist by training, Rachel has been with IUCN for over 14 years. Rachel works with the energy industry to measure and reduce their impact on biodiversity and natural resource-dependent communities. A key focus of her work is to contribute to an accelerated energy transition while supporting measures to safeguard biodiversity and ecosystem services. She can be contacted for inquiries or collaborations. 

Adriana Vidal is a Senior Programme Coordinator for Climate Change at the IUCN North America Regional Office in Washington D.C. With 18 years of experience in climate change and biodiversity action, she brings her expertise in Nature-based Solutions (NbS) and natural resource management to various land-use contexts, providing a strong foundation for addressing environmental challenges across ecosystems. In her current role, she spearheads global projects and flagship partnerships, and devises the teams’ global advocacy strategy for international policy platforms. Her significant contributions to policy and governance include providing advice to over 15 countries across Africa, Asia, and Latin America, to enhance their enabling environments and partnerships for ecosystem restoration, conservation, and livelihoods.​

Verónica Ruiz is a Senior Climate and Resilience Manager at IUCN’s Headquarters in Gland, where she has worked since 2017. Trained in ecosystem management and experienced in climate strategies for communities and nature, she leads work on nature-based solutions at the climate–nature–people nexus (NAbSA). She also supports the IUCN Indigenous Peoples Programme, strengthening Indigenous leadership and fostering access to direct and inclusive finance - ICI, PODONG. Her work includes building trust-based, innovative partnerships and facilitating meaningful cross-sectoral dialogues with non-traditional actors, including the humanitarian sector. She can be contacted for inquiries and collaboration. 

Aldo Celasco is a Senior Project Officer at IUCN’s Headquarters in Gland with over 20 years’ experience in sustainability, business management and international organizations. Aldo focuses on advancing innovative solutions at the intersection of climate and technology. His work encompasses carbon capture and storage (CCS), carbon dioxide removal (CDR), and sustainable biofuels. He can be contacted for inquiries or collaborations. 

Spandana Battula is a Senior Programme Officer for Climate Change at the IUCN North America Regional Office in Washington D.C. She is an accomplished grants management and portfolio leadership professional with over a decade of experience managing multi-country climate and disaster resilience funding programs. She brings rare, first-hand experience overseeing the full lifecycle of more than 200 grants across Asia, Africa, and Latin America through her work with the World Bank Group.

Her core strength is end-to-end grants portfolio management—from program design and pipeline development to implementation oversight, performance management, and strategic reporting to donors and governing bodies. Complementing this, she brings strong expertise in results measurement, monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL), ensuring that funding portfolios deliver both financial accountability and measurable impact. She is particularly skilled at managing complex multi-partner programs, synthesizing portfolio-level performance for senior leadership and donors, and using evidence and results to support resource mobilization and fundraising.

She holds a dual master’s degree in law and public policy, with a focus on environment and natural resource policy, from The Fletcher School at Tufts University. She is fluent in English, Hindi, and Telugu.

Qiulin Liu is a Programme Officer at IUCN’s Headquarters in Gland focusing on the integration of biodiversity and nature-positive solutions into the global shift towards renewable energy. Qiulin’s portfolio includes supporting initiatives such as the REnewable for Nature Coalition (REN), GINGR (Global Initiative on Nature, Grids and Renewables), IUCN Ecowende Biodiversity Advisory Group, etc.  She can be contacted for inquiries or collaborations. 

Gregory Davies-Jones is a Programme Officer at the IUCN North America Regional Office in Washington D.C. His work centres on advancing nature-based approaches to climate action through international partnerships and global policy processes. He can be contacted for enquiries regarding the ENACT Partnership or the FEBA Network. 

Christopher Roy is a Climate Change Programme Officer at the IUCN North America Regional Office in Washington D.C. with 7 years’ experience in climate action. He supports the implementation of Nature-based Solutions initiatives for climate adaptation, and his responsibilities include providing technical support, capacity building, and developing knowledge products and new programmes and initiatives. Christopher can be reached for inquiries related to climate adaptation, ecosystem-based adaptation, climate risk assessments, and climate finance. 

Rose Washington is a Programme Officer at the IUCN European Regional Office in Bonn. She advances global work on climate change, with a specific focus on the climate-nature-people nexus. Her role involves implementing initiatives that utilize nature-based solutions and ecosystem-based adaptation to enhance climate adaptation and resilience. She can be contacted for inquiries related to nature-based solutions, ecosystem-based adaptation, or potential collaborations on projects or initiatives at the intersection of climate change, conflict, and peace. 

Lisa Marie Zammit is a Communications Officer at the IUCN North America Regional Office in Washington D.C. Bringing 6 years of experience of communications in the field of food security and nutrition, she now supports the implementation and visibility of global initiatives on climate adaptation, ecosystem-based approaches, and just energy transitions through strategic communications, knowledge management and stakeholder engagement. Lisa can be contacted for potential collaboration on climate communications as well as inquiries related to the team’s websites and social media accounts. 

Enni Kallio is a Programme Officer at the IUCN European Regional Office in Bonn, advancing the work on ecosystem-based climate adaptation. She has over eight years of experience working in environmental and humanitarian sectors working on policy, research, project management, and proposal writing.  At IUCN, she supports the implementation of the Global EbA Fund linking local EbA solutions to global policy and action to facilitate broader uptake of EbA. Enni holds a master’s degree in Environmental Management from Yale University and a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Environmental Science from Westminster College, Missouri.   She can be contacted for inquiries on ecosystem-based adaptation and on the Global EbA Fund. 

Kathryn Goodwin is a Programme Associate at the IUCN North America Regional Office in Washington D.C, supporting the implementation of the Global EbA Fund, a catalytic funding mechanism that promotes innovative and inclusive ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) solutions. She contributes to advancing EbA by linking local initiatives to global policy and action, helping to foster enabling environments for climate resilience. She can be contacted for inquiries on ecosystem-based adaptation or the Global EbA Fund. 

Zoe Jafflin is a Programme and Grants Associate at the IUCN North America Regional Office in Washington D.C. She primarily advances work on nature-based solutions for climate adaptation through the NAbSA project, addressing the climate-people-nature nexus. She also serves as Grants Manager for IUCN’s friends-of 501(c)(3) non-profit in the United States, the IUCN US Fund, which connects US-based donors to IUCN’s global work. She can be contacted for inquiries about NAbSA or the IUCN US Fund.  

Jason Ocampo is a Programme Associate at the IUCN North America Regional Office in Washington D.C. He works with the Global EbA Fund team to support the risk management of Fund grantees throughout the project cycle and general grant management activities, working primarily with Latin American grantees. Jason holds a BSc in Human Development from Binghamton University. He brings with him experience through his work on the RISE Grants Challenge, a first-of-its-kind granting mechanism that supports activities designed to address gender-based violence and environmental linkages in environmental and climate-related programmes and generate evidence on promising interventions.

Lena Maghraoui is a Programme Associate at the IUCN North America Regional Office in Washington, D.C. Her work combines nature-based solutions with a focus on human rights in climate adaptation. Lena holds a B.S. in Environmental Science from the University of Chicago, and she brings experience with research, grant management, and program development in global environmental initiatives.

Emily McInerney is a Programme Associate at the IUCN North America Regional Office in Washington D.C., where she supports the implementation of the Global EbA Fund. She has over six years of experience in the environmental and international development sectors. With dual master's degrees in Environmental Management and Global Affairs from Yale University, she brings expertise in advancing equitable and inclusive environmental solutions. 

Emily Guinan is an Intern at the IUCN North America Regional Office in Washington D.C., primarily supporting IUCN's work with the Regenerative Seascapes (ReSea) project and the Global Mangrove Alliance. Bringing prior experience in plant conservation and land management, she now focuses on helping advance inclusive Nature-based Solutions for climate adaptation across coastal and marine ecosystems.

Hannah Cook is a master's student at Georgetown University pursuing an MS in Environment and International Affairs. She holds bachelor's degrees in International Affairs and Ecology from the University of Georgia. Her work and research interests center on international climate policy with an emphasis on renewable energy and decarbonization.