2026 Speakers

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced on 15 August 2022 the appointment of Simon Stiell of Grenada as Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).  The appointment has been made after consultation with the Conference of Parties through its Bureau.

He will succeed Patricia Espinosa of Mexico to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for her commitment and dedicated service to the Organization.  The Secretary-General also wishes to extend his appreciation to the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, Ibrahim Thiaw, who will continue to serve as Acting Executive Secretary of UNFCCC until Mr. Stiell assumes this position.

Mr. Stiell, a true champion for formulating creative approaches for our collective global response to the climate crisis, brings to the position a unique skillset developed over a thirty-three year career, coupled with vast experience in bilateral, regional and multilateral affairs.

Mr. Stiell served as senior minister in the Government of Grenada from 2013 through June 2022, holding the portfolio of Minister for Climate Resilience and the Environment for five years.  He previously served as Minister for Education and Human Resource Development, Minister of State with responsibility for human resource development and the environment and as a Parliamentary Secretary within the Ministry of Agriculture, Lands, Forestry and Fisheries.  He also served as a member of Grenada’s Upper House of Parliament, the Senate, where he served as Leader of Government Business.

Prior to joining government, Mr. Stiell’s career spanned some fourteen years within the technology sector, holding senior executive positions in a number of industry leading companies, from Silicon Valley based technology start-ups to major corporations, including Nokia and GEC Plessey Telecommunications.

Mr. Stiell originally trained as an engineer at London Metropolitan University and College of North West London, and holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Westminster in the United Kingdom.

Former Vice President Al Gore is the founder and chairman of The Climate Reality Project, a nonprofit devoted to solving the climate crisis, a founding partner and chairman of Generation Investment Management, and a co-founder of Climate TRACE. He is also a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a member of the World Economic Forum’s board of trustees, and a past member of the board of directors at Apple.

Gore was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1976, 1978, 1980, and 1982 and to the U.S. Senate in 1984 and 1990. He was inaugurated as the 45th vice president of the United States on January 20, 1993, and served eight years.

André Aranha Corrêa do Lago was born in 1959 and holds a degree in Economics from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). He joined the Brazilian foreign service in 1982. As a career diplomat, he has held functions in different areas at headquarters, in Brasília: international organizations, trade promotion, protocol and energy. As adviser at the Office of the President, between 1991 and 1992, he worked in the organization of the Earth Summit (Rio-92). Abroad, he has been posted to the Brazilian Embassies in Madrid, Prague, Washington, Buenos Aires and to the Brazilian Mission to the EU in Brussels. Corrêa do Lago has been engaged in the sustainable development agenda since 2001. He was the director of the Energy Department (2008-2011) and of the Environment Department (2011-2013) at the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was Brazil´s chief negotiator for climate change and for the Rio+20 Conference. He was the Brazilian ambassador to Japan (2013-2018) and to India (2018-2023). In March 2023, he was appointed Vice-Minister for Climate, Energy and Environment at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a position he held until January 2025, when he was designated COP30 President. Corrêa do Lago is the author of several books and articles on sustainable development and climate change, as well as on architecture. He is married and has four children.

Mike Umiker is a seasoned executive and passionate ambassador for energy efficiency, with over 15 years of international leadership experience in the industrial sector. As Managing Director of the Energy Efficiency Movement, co-founded by ABB and Alfa Laval, he leads a global platform driving collaboration, innovation, and C-level engagement to accelerate energy efficiency. His career spans from P&L roles to global strategic roles in marketing, sales, and digital transformation across Switzerland, Germany, and the UAE. Mike is a frequent keynote speaker at global forums including the International Energy Agency or Climate Week NYC. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland, a Certificate of Advanced Studies in Marketing Management from the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland and is currently obtaining a Certificate of Advanced Studies in General Management from the University of Zurich, Switzerland.

Eva Riesenhuber, who joined Siemens in 2012 after working as a finance lawyer in New York and various positions within Siemens ranging from M&A, venture capital to investor relations, currently serves as Global Head of Sustainability, leading the company’s sustainability transformation across businesses and regions. Her unique background combines expertise in law, finance and capital markets with a deep passion for sustainability, which she leverages to integrate sustainability into Siemens’ business activities, technology roadmap, investment decisions, operations, and governance.

Fiona Harvey, environment editor at the Guardian newspaper, is an award-winning journalist who has worked on the environment beat for more than 20 years, reporting from as far afield as the Arctic and the Amazon, and attending 18 UNFCCC Cops. She covers all aspects of the environment, with a special focus on policy, and her interviewees include Antonio Guterres, John Kerry, Sir Keir Starmer and Sir David Attenborough, and her numerous awards and recognitions include the global Society of Environmental Journalists outstanding beat reporting award, a Covering Climate Now award and two Foreign Press Association awards.

Helen is an experienced leader on international climate and humanitarian issues, with over 25 years in government and corporate engagement. Under her leadership, Climate Group has created coalitions of over 650 ambitious companies through initiatives such as RE100, EV100, 24/7 Carbon-Free Coalition, ConcreteZero, and SteelZero, which are crucial in sending demand signals to markets and policy-makers to drive the energy transition, as well as building the Under2 Coalition of state and regional governments, and Climate Week NYC. Helen sits on the board of the We Mean Business Coalition , and the Sustainable Development Capital Energy Efficiency Income Trust. Helen was awarded an OBE in 2022 for services to the climate and was included in The Independent’s Climate 100 List 2025.

Lucy is an award-winning technologist, venture builder and policymaker. She has over twenty years’ experience building, scaling and leading consumer-facing and deeptech ventures in AI, energy, and mobility; and developing tech policy and regulation in the UK and internationally. She is CEO at Centre for Net Zero, Octopus Energy Group’s open energy research institute; UK Govt’s AI Champion for Clean Energy; and chair of the board at Wikimedia UK.

Solitaire is a renowned sustainability expert who works with the world’s most influential organizations to activate positive and optimistic change. Her ‘solutionist’ vision of solving climate change is desperately needed in our gloomy world. She is Co-founder & Chief Solutionist at Futerra (Edie’s 2023 Consultancy of the Year) and Trustee of the Solutions Union charity. In 2023, she was named both a ‘Leader of the Year’ at Adweek’s Sustainability Awards and also UNGC’s ‘Sustainable Development Goals Pioneer’ for the UK. She was also named by Vogue Business as one of their 100 Innovators. Additionally, she sits on the United Nations Committee for Entertainment and Culture in Climate Action. Solitaire holds master’s degrees in both Sustainability and Shakespeare, she lectures at Imperial College and the Cambridge University Institute for Sustainability Leadership. She has a popular mainstage TED talk (with 1.8 million views), Forbes column, and an award winning book – The Solutionists: How Businesses Can Fix the Future.

Peter Bakker is a distinguished business leader, who since 2012, has led the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) as the President & CEO. WBCSD is the premier global, CEO-led community of over 240 of the world’s leading sustainable businesses working collectively to accelerate the system transformations needed for a net zero, nature-positive, and equitable future. Prior to WBCSD, Peter was the CEO of TNT NV, the global transport, postal and logistics company.

TIME Magazine recently named Peter as one of the Top 100 Climate Leaders in Business. He was also a recipient of the Clinton Global Citizen Award (2009), the Sustainability Leadership Award (2010) and the Prix Voltaire International (2023). He received the royal order Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau in 2018 in recognition of his long-lasting commitment to engaging business in tackling global sustainability issues.

Peter holds several corporate sustainability advisory board positions, including as Co-Chair of the Business Commission to Tackle Inequality, Board Member of GenZero, Advisory Board Member for Integrity and Sustainability at Mercedes-Benz Group, Supervisory Board Member for the Capitals Coalition and High-Level Advisory Board Member for the United Nations Food Systems Summit (UN FSS+4).