Maryke van Staden
Director of ICLEI's carbonn Climate Center
Maryke directs the global zero emission strategy at ICLEI and is the Director of the carbonn Center.
Rohit Sen
Head of Sustainable Energy
Rohit, a senior energy expert, heads ICLEI’s Sustainable Energy program. With over 13 years of expertise in renewables, energy management, and project finance, he leads ICLEI’s flagship effort in transitioning Cities & Regions to 100% Renewables. His portfolio encompasses ICLEI’s vision for global energy transformation toward a resilient, net-zero emission future. Rohit offers policy and technical assistance, along with distilled knowledge, supporting subnational governments worldwide in their commitment to sustainability. With an engineering background in renewables and energy management, he fluently communicates in English and Hindi and possesses professional proficiency in German.
Our carbonn Team
Our Experts
Meet the experts of the carbonn Climate Center
Pourya Salehi
Head, Urban Research, Innovation, and Development
Pourya coordinates the research activities at the World Secretariat. He manages, supervises, and coordinates research projects for ICLEI, Chief among them the IFWEN project. Pourya is also the coordinator of ICLEI Global Research. Graduated from the Technical University of Munich and with more than 8 years of professional experience, Pourya represents ICLEI in research-related spaces and is a member of GCoM’s Research & Innovation Technical Working Group.
Evgenia Wulf
Senior Officer, Climate Action
Evgenia is a climate resilience expert leading ICLEI’s engagement in facilitating integrated climate action planning worldwide through coordinating flagship projects and initiatives, such as the GCC and UrbanShift. She has experience consolidating strategic partnerships and managing large-scale events, including program development, team and project cost management. She has an MA in International Humanitarian Action.
Karishma Asarpota
Senior Officer, Climate Action
Karishma Asarpota is an urbanist experienced in working on integrated spatial planning, sustainable urban energy transition, and youth engagement in climate policy. She coordinates the UrbanShift project and ICLEI’s engagement with youth. She has academic experience in India, the Netherlands, and the United States and professional work experience in the Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, and Germany.
Bongiwe Matsoha
Officer, Climate Action
Bongiwe joins ICLEI in the low-emissions development pathway program, to aid cities in achieving their net-zero targets by 2050 and enhancing their climate resiliency. She has over 7 years of work experience in the Sustainability Sector. Prior to joining ICLEI, Bongiwe worked as a researcher and energy policy analyst, dedicating herself to realizing an equitable and just transition for all. Additionally, she has experience in carbon footprints, carbon tax, and carbon markets. She has an MPhil in Environment Management from the School of Public Leadership, at Stellenbosch University, South Africa.
Nida Bilgen
Junior Officer, Innovative Finance and Resilience
Nida supports the management of the Transformative Action Program project pipeline, assists in coordination and project activities.
André Almeida da Vila
Officer, Innovative Finance
André is an Officer in the Innovative Finance Team at the ICLEI World Secretariat.
Jaume Marques Colom
Senior Officer, Innovative Finance
Jaume supports the management of the Transformative Actions Program (TAP) and ICLEI’s work and engagement in global initiatives in Europe, Africa, Middle East, and Asia.
Natalia Salazar
Head, Innovative Finance
The goal of the Innovative Finance team is to catalyze and improve capital flows to cities, towns, and regions and strengthen their capacity to access climate finance and attract investment for their climate resilient and low-emission development.
Sumbal Tasawwar
Junior Officer, Climate Action
Sumbal leads the coordination for the CDP-ICLEI Track in the Climate Action team. Her work in Carbonn Centre utilizes data to visualize its impact. She works cross-functionally with GCoM, GCC, Just Transition, UrbanShift, Race to Zero, and other teams & ROs within the ICLEI network. Sumbal has a Masters in Environmental Engineering from TU Hamburg. She has 4 yrs of experience in sustainability, data analysis, fundraising, corporate frameworks reporting, stakeholder and project management, Net-Zero and GHGe, acquired through an Agri-Tech start up and Scientific Research on Reg. Agriculture.
Kanak Gokarn
Officer, Sustainable Energy
Kanak supports ICLEI’s work in the 100% Renewables Regions and Cities Roadmaps project under the International Climate Initiative (IKI), as well as the 100% Renewables Network. Her background is in energy policy and international relations, and she has previously worked in various public policy institutions and international organizations in France and India.
Alyssa Chenault
Operations Manager, Climate Action
Alyssa leads the Climate Action team through strategy, program management, stakeholder relations, advocacy and fundraising to support projects
Yunus Arikan
Director of Global Advocacy
Yunus directs the global advocacy and policy team at ICLEI
Rohit Sen
Head of Sustainable Energy
Rohit leads the Sustainable Energy Team. He coordinates and manages all activities and projects that support local and regional governments worldwide to drive the energy transition in their communities.