ABOUT THE SPEAKERS 

Bekele A. Shiferaw is a senior Environmental Economist at the World Bank’s Environment, Natural Resources and Blue Economy Global Practice working on the economics of natural capital and ecosystems services. He is currently the Program Manager for the Global Program on Sustainability (GPS). GPS is the World Bank’s Group umbrella program and Multi-Donor Trust Fund. Its objective is ‘to strengthen the production and use of quality data (economic and financial) on natural capital and ecosystem services to inform government and financial market decisions’. GPS builds on achievements of the Wealth Accounting and the Valuation of Ecosystem Services (WAVES) program (2012 – 2019).  GPS has been hosting the Global Policy Forum on Natural Capital on various timely topics with interest to trigger dialogue on key global challenges including nature loss, degradation of natural resources, climate change and pollution issues for green and resilient development. Bekele has worked in global development with interest in economics of natural resources, agrifood systems, environment, and climate change issues for over 25 years, including in research, program evaluation, policy analysis and engagement.

Rong Zhang leads the World Bank Group–supported Sustainable Banking and Finance Network (SBFN), a public private capacity building platform that convenes 103 financial regulators and industry associations from 74 emerging markets committed to advancing the sustainable finance agenda. Rong has been instrumental in establishing the Taxonomy Roadmap Initiative, a voluntary, multi partner implementation platform designed to make sustainable finance taxonomies interoperable and comparable across markets. The initiative addresses a critical gap in coordinating international support for taxonomy development, implementation, and use, and amplifies global efforts by aligning technical work, sharing tools and evidence, and supporting market adoption—particularly in EMDEs, where effective taxonomy uptake can significantly accelerate credible cross‑border capital flows at scale.

Ornsaran Pomme Manuamorn is Senior Financial Sector Specialist at the World Bank, based in Thailand. Her work program supports sustainable finance and financial sector development in Thailand and regionally. Previously, she was senior consultant to the Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI), working on sustainable finance and climate transition in ASEAN. She played an active role in supporting the Thailand Taxonomy Working Group in delivering the country’s first green taxonomy in 2023, and is currently working closely with the IFC to support taxonomy implementation. Between 2018-2021, she also advised World Bank lending operations in Indonesia, Timor Leste and SAR on climate finance. She holds a PhD. in Governance and Policy Analysis (Climate Change Adaptation Finance) from Maastricht University.

Rustam Tahirov is the Director of the Financial Sector Sustainable Development Department at the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBAR). A specialist in climate finance and sustainable financial regulation, he leads CBAR’s efforts in integrating ESG risk management and climate-related financial risks into the national supervisory framework. Beyond his national mandate, Rustam plays a key role in international policy alignment. He serves as the Head of the Secretariat for the Taxonomy Roadmap Initiative and Co-Chairs the Sustainable Finance Instruments Working Group under the Sustainable Banking and Finance Network (SBFN). His work is focused on the practical execution of green taxonomies and transition finance frameworks, with a particular emphasis on fostering taxonomy interoperability and enhancing financial stability.

Louise Gardiner is a Senior Operations Officer at IFC Financial Institutions Group and Climate & Sustainable Finance Advisory Lead for Eastern and Southern Africa. Based in Tanzania, Louise is responsible for advancing IFC’s advisory support on sustainable finance for financial institutions, stock exchanges, and financial sector regulators in Eastern and Southern Africa. Louise has been a sustainable finance and disclosure specialist with IFC, part of the World Bank Group, since 2005. In this time, she has worked closely with a wide variety of companies, banks, banking associations, and financial sector regulators to create markets for sustainable finance. From 2012 to 2024 she was Africa coordinator in the Secretariat of the IFC-facilitated Sustainable Banking and Finance Network (SBFN), a voluntary learning platform for financial sector regulators and banking associations from over 70 emerging markets; where, among other things, she was lead author of the 2024 "SBFN Toolkit on Sustainable Finance Taxonomies" and contributed to the development of the Taxonomy Roadmap Initiative.

GianLeo Frisari is a Senior Financial Sector Specialist at World Bank Group’s Financial Services Sector department, focusing on climate finance instruments and development of sustainable capital markets, including sustainability-linked structures for climate and nature goals. He joined the World Bank in 2024 from the Inter-American Development Bank where he developed climate finance solutions and sustainable financial instruments for the public sector, such as sovereign governments in Latin America and the Caribbean. GianLeo holds a Ph.D. in “Science and Management of Climate Change” from Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, graduated in Economics from Bocconi University in Milan and is a Chartered Alternative Investments Analyst (CAIA).