Why Social Sustainability is Critical for the Climate Agenda

Juergen Voegele, PhD assumed the position of Vice President for Sustainable Development at the World Bank on April 1, 2020. In this role, he oversees the work of Global Practices and thematic groups that bring together the best expertise from across the World Bank Group and from partners, to help countries tackle their most complex challenges in the area of sustainable development. The practices and groups under his responsibility include Agriculture and Food; Climate Change; Environment, Natural Resources and Blue Economy; Environmental and Social Framework Implementation Unit; Social Development; Urban, Disaster Risk Management, Resilience and Land; and Water.

Prior to this appointment, Dr. Voegele was Global Director of the World Bank's Climate Change Group and Senior Director of the World Bank's Agriculture and Food Global Practice. Dr. Voegele is chair of the CGIAR System Council Board, which oversees agricultural research programs tackling poverty, food and nutrition security, and improved natural resource management around the world. Since 2016, Dr. Voegele has served as co-chair of the Global Future Councils of the World Economic Forum. He is also a member of the EAT Foundation Advisory Board since May 2017. 

Louise Cord is the Global Director for Social Sustainability and Inclusion in the World Bank’s Sustainable Development Practice Group. Previously, Ms. Cord was the Country Director for Senegal, Cabo Verde, The Gambia, Guinea Bissau, and Mauritania, based in Dakar, Senegal. Prior to her appointment as Country Director, she was Practice Manager in the Poverty Global Practice responsible for Latin America and the Caribbean, where she also covered gender equality. A U.S. national, she joined the Bank in 1991 as a Young Professional in the Bank’s Young Professional Program. She has since held various positions in the World Bank’s poverty reduction and sustainable development departments, working specifically on inclusive growth, poverty reduction, and rural development. She has worked in Africa, Latin America, and Eastern and Central Europe. Ms. Cord holds a Ph.D. in development economics from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. 

Mandy Rambharos is a scientist by training and joined the Environmental Defense Fund after decades at Eskom Holdings where she served as the General Manager of Just Energy Transition. In that role, she led the development of Eskom’s strategy to transition from a coal-dominated utility to a renewables company. She is a former negotiator for South Africa at the United Nations climate talks, and chaired negotiations on carbon markets. She was instrumental to the Just Energy Transition Partnership agreed at COP26 in Glasgow between South Africa and Germany, France, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union.  Ms. Rambharos is an expert on the energy industry, just transition, mitigation, adaptation, carbon markets, and global climate negotiations. She has served on South Africa’s Presidential Climate Commission. 

Ana Patricia Muñoz joined the International Budget Partnership as Executive Director in 2023. Previously, she was the Executive Director of FARO, non-partisan Ecuadorian think tank that generates research and implements initiatives to influence public policy and build a more equitable, just, and sustainable society.  She spent a decade at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, where she rose through the ranks to become Assistant Vice President. She was one of the youngest people— and the second Latina— in this position. During this time, she spearheaded ground-breaking research and produced a seminal report on the racial wealth gap, which has had huge impact. She also played a pivotal role in bringing diverse sectors together—from local housing advocates to private banks—to reduce the number of foreclosures in the city during the 2008 financial crisis. Ana Patricia has written more than 20 research reports, book chapters, and articles published in academic journals. She holds a Master’s degree in Public Affairs from Brown University, a Master’s degree in Economics from the University of Montreal and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador. 

Andrew Steer is the President and CEO of the Bezos Earth Fund, a $10 billion fund to address the pressing issues of climate change and nature in this decisive decade.Dr. Steer joined the Bezos Earth Fund from the World Resources Institute, where he served as President & CEO for over eight years. Prior to this, Andrew served as the World Bank’s Special Envoy for Climate Change from 2010 - 2012. From 2007 to 2010, he served as Director General at the UK Department of International Development. This followed 10 years in East Asia, where he was Head of the World Bank in Vietnam and Indonesia. Dr. Steer is a Global Agenda Trustee for the World Economic Forum, a Commissioner of the Energy Transitions Commission, a member of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED), co-chair of the Greening the Belt and Road Coalition, and member of the Advisory Committees of the Asian Development Bank and Bank of America. Andrew was educated at St Andrews University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Cambridge University. He has a PhD in international economics and finance. 

Mimi Alemayehou is Senior Advisor at the Three Cairns Group. She was previously managing director and a member of the board of directors of Black Rhino Group, an investment platform focused on the development and acquisition of energy and infrastructure assets across Africa. Prior to joining Black Rhino, Ms. Alemayehou was the executive vice president of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the development finance agency of the U.S. government, which provides loans, guarantees, and insurance to catalyze foreign direct investment and private equity into emerging markets. Previously, Ms. Alemayehou was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve as the United States executive director on the board of directors of the African Development Bank (AfDB). In this role, Ms. Alemayehou was the senior U.S. Treasury Department official in Africa, representing the United States on policy and development issues across the continent.    

Stéphane Hallegatte is a Senior Climate Change Adviser at the World Bank. He joined the World Bank in 2012 after 10 years of academic research in environmental economics and climate science for Météo-France, the Centre International de Recherche sur l’Environnement et le Développement, and Stanford University. His research interests include the economics of natural disasters and risk management, climate change adaptation, urban policy and economics, climate change mitigation, and green growth. Mr. Hallegatte was a lead author of the 5th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He is the author of dozens of articles published in international journals in multiple disciplines and of several books, including Green Economy and the Crisis: 30 Proposals for a More Sustainable France, Risk Management: Lessons from the Storm Xynthia, and Natural Disasters and Climate Change: An Economic Perspective.