“David McCauley is a veteran environment and climate policy and finance specialist, serving as an advisor on ESG finance. He was previously policy and partnerships lead for WWF and head of climate programs at Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Manila.
His career has focused on bringing environmental sustainability to international economic development through design of national environmental policies, brokering international resources management agreements, guiding international assistance policies, and developing public and private sector programs and standards on climate change, deforestation, marine conservation and other pressing environmental issues.
Based in Washington, DC, David has lived and worked in the Asia-Pacific region for much of his career. Prior to WWF and ADB, he was Asia-Pacific Director for International Resources Group, a leading US environmental consultancy, including residences in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Central Asia. He worked as an environmental policy specialist for the US Agency for International Development in Indonesia and Washington, and prior to that was a Fellow at the Environment and Policy Institute of the East-West Center in Honolulu and Program Officer with the Ford Foundation and Harvard Institute for International Development.
David holds a PhD in resource economics from the University of Hawaii / East-West Center, with undergraduate training in environmental science.”
Dr. Daniela R. G. de Faria is a Sustainable Finance Analyst at the General Coordination for Sustainable Finance at the Ministry of Finance of Brazil. She works mainly with the Brazilian initiatives related to the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and the Climate Investment Funds, and she is currently leading the Brazilian Investment Plan (IP) for the Nature People and Climate (NPC) Program.
Her previous professional experiences were as an environmental consultant at ERM Brazil (Energy and Climate Change) Change), as a researcher at the Brazilian National Institute of Metrology, Quality and Technology (INMETRO Technological Innovation Division), then as deputy sustainable development coordinator at Management and Operational Center of the Amazon Protection System (Censipam).
She has spent 10 years working on the sustainability agenda with themes such as corporate greenhouse gas inventory, ESG, changes in carbon stocks associated with land use, climate risks and impacts, industrial ecology, life cycle and water footprint assessment, 2030 Agenda, and Amazon Forest monitoring with earth observation products (deforestation, rivers, and fires). She also has experience with project management, remote sensing, GIS, and PostgreSQL applications.
Daniela holds a doctorate degree in Environmental Engineering, a master’s degree in Chemical and Biochemical Process Technology, and a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering, all from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ ). She has published more than 10 scientific papers including articles in Journal of Environmental Engineering, Journal of Cleaner Production, and works in international conferences.
Dr. Adefires Worku, hails from Ethiopia. He earned his PhD degree from the Technology University of Dresden, Germany in the field of Tropical Forest Management after earning a MSc degree from Addis Ababa University in the field of Biodiversity Management. He earned his Bachelor's degree from Haremaya University in Forestry. He has more than 20 years of experience working in forestry, environment, climate change, livelihoods, and green economy. Previously, he worked as senior researcher and Director for Climate Science Research Directorate of Ethiopian Environment and Forest Research Institute (EEFRI). Currently, he works at Ethiopian Forestry Development in the research, development, academia, and industry interface. His focus areas include nature-based solutions for building socio-economic, cultural, and environmental resilience. His has extensive experience in developing bankable projects to mobilize resources, building partnership and capacity development. He serves as Program Delivery Support at the Forest Sector Transformation Unit/EFD, is Chair of the Green Legacy Initiative Technical Committee, Focal person for the Great Green Wall Ethiopia, and Focal Person for the CIF NPC-Ethiopia project. Dr Adefires is the author of several peer reviewed Journal Articles, Book Chapters, and Main Editor of the “Re-greening Ethiopia” Book.
Rodrigo Fincheira’s goal is to transform society by making development worthwhile for all. Rodrigo is an economist by profession. By 28 years old Rodrigo had already moved from consulting and banking to CFO and CEO to entrepreneurship in the recycling and construction sectors. He is very involved with his community, working and chairing NGOs from 2013 to 2020. Rodrigo is a believer in democracy from a very young age and has been working for it since 2009. He has been a consultant for the government on climate change since 2020, and a CIF Trust Funds Committee member since 2021.
Hisham Osman is an Environmental Specialist with the World Bank Group in Washington DC. He has over seven years of experience in the fields of hydrology, hydraulics, water resources management, and mathematical modelling.
Hisham specializes in water resources management as well as developing and applying modelling tools for hydrological and hydraulics assessments. Hisham has been involved in a wide range of technical and research projects on water and agriculture in Canada, Africa (Sudan, Nigeria, and Mauritania), Europe (United Kingdom and Ireland) and Pakistan. He has extensive experience in both the academic research side of engineering as well as implementing hydrological engineering and design practices.
Climate Investment Funds
Neha leads the Evaluation and Learning (E&L) Initiative of the Climate Investment Funds (CIF). The E&L Initiative is at the forefront of making CIF's learning laboratory mandate a reality through learning that is evidence-based, timely, and relevant. Neha has over fifteen years of experience in climate, environment, and economic and social development, with deep expertise on evaluation methods, results measurements, and learning.
In the past, Neha worked at the Independent Evaluation Group of the World Bank on monitoring and evaluation capacity building. She has also worked on evaluative research and program design with organizations, including the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab and India Infrastructure Publishing. Neha holds a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School and a second Master’s degree in Economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University.
Climate Investment Funds
Paul is a new addition to the Climate Investment Funds team. He brings more than two decades of experience in natural resource management to his role as Team Lead of all the CIF's nature solutions programs. They include Nature, People and Climate Investment Program (NPC), and the Forest Investment Program (FIP).
Previously, in his work at the Global Environment Facility, Paul led the strategic design and rollout of its USD346-million Food Systems, Land Use and Restoration Impact Program. Its aims are to reduce deforestation, mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, and diminish biodiversity loss in 27 countries.
He also spent 15 years in Southeast Asia, leading field projects that were focused on forestry, biodiversity conservation, and climate change.
Paul holds a Master of Arts degree in International Affairs from George Washington University, Washington, DC.