New Report Launch: Nationally Determined Contributions Across the Americas: A Comparative Hemispheric Analysis

Climate Finance Director for LATAM, IHS Markit

Soffia Alarcon-Diaz

Director, LATAM, Sustainable Finance at IHS Markit where she supports the development of the next generation of ESG solutions to advise corporate and financial institutions on how to disclose and manage ESG and climate-related risks.

Prior to joining IHS Markit, she was Director of Carbon Trust Mexico where she spearheaded the expansion of the activities on green and sustainable bonds, sustainable agriculture and transport, energy efficiency, carbon markets and certification across LATAM. In 2012, she worked for the World Resources Institute and later joined Mexico’s public sector as Director of Climate Change Mitigation Policy to lead the design of the National Emissions Register as well as the implementation of the Climate Change Law for the country. Soffia holds a master’s degree on Public Administration from Columbia University.

She is also Leadership for Environment and Development (LEAD) fellow and is one of the international judges for the Million Cool Roofs Challenge. In the academic world, she taught a course on climate change policy and science and has collaborated in different magazines and television networks across Latin America.

IOA non-resident fellow and former Deputy Secretary for Planning and Energy Transition in Mexico.

​Leonardo Beltran

Was Deputy Secretary for Planning and Energy Transition en the Administration of President Peña Nieto (2012-2018). As part of his responsibilities he was appointed non-executive director of CFE and Pemex. He was the Chief Planning Officer and the Chief Technology Officer in the Mexican Energy Sector. He studied a Master´s in Public Administration in International Development from the Harvard Kennedy School, a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Instituto Tecnologico Autonomo de Mexico, and studied Law in the Faculty of Law of the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México.

In 2005, Mr. Beltran joined Secretaria de Energia (SENER) as Director for International Negotiations, participating in high level meetings of the Energy Working Group of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Mechanism (APEC), the International Energy Agency, the Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum, the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, and in bilateral and multilateral negotiations with the governments of Australia, Canada, Denmark, Iceland, India, New Zealand, Spain, and United States of America.

In 2010, Mr. Beltran was appointed Director-General for Information and Energy Studies at SENER, where he took part in the National System of Science and Technology and collaborated in the Technology and Science Research Information System of the National Science and Technology Council, as well as the Special Program on Science and Technology. He also coordinated the interdepartmental working group on Carbon Capture, Use and Storage, and the working group to develop the Sustainable Building Mexican Voluntary Standard.

Leonardo Beltran has been a consultant for the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank, and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization. He was part of the International Affairs division of the campaign and transition team of President Enrique Peña Nieto.

Leonardo Beltran has been part of the World Economic Forum´s Council of the Future of Electricity (2014-2016), and the Council of the Future of Energy (2016-2018). Currently he is a member of the Advisory Council of the Partnering to Accelerate Sustainable Energy Innovation Project. Since 2017 is a member of the Administrative Board of Sustainable Energy for All (SE4ALL), and in 2018 he joined the Board of Fundacion por Mexico. He is also a consultant to the World Bank.

Manager, Climate Finance at Climate Policy Initiative

Sandra Guzman

Sandra Guzman Luna is a Manager at CPI’s London office. Her work at CPI focuses on the development of tools to mainstream climate change in the financial sector, improving climate finance reporting systems and accelerating the investments on adaptation measures. Her areas of expertise are climate finance tacking, elaboration of national strategies on climate finance and mainstreaming climate change in public finance systems.

Prior to CPI, she gained a rich experience of over sixteen years in Climate Policy and Finance and has been working as a consultant of the Standing Committee on Climate Finance at the UNFCCC, with twelve years of experience in climate negotiations. She is the founder of the Climate Finance Group for Latin America and the Caribbean and the former General Director of Climate Change Policies at the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources of Mexico. She is also the author of the Sustainable Finance Index and has created other methodologies related to climate finance tracking.

Sandra holds a PhD in Politics from the University of York, a Master’s degree in Environment Policy and Regulation from the London School of Economics and Political Sciences, a Diploma on Sustainable Finance from the University of Oxford, and a Degree in International Relations from the National University of Mexico. She was awarded as the Intellectual of the Year 2018 by the Marie Claire Magazine and was also, selected as one of the 34 Global Change-Makers by the Chevening Scholarship of the UK Government.

Director of Policy & Stakeholder Engagement for the Institute of the Americas’ Environment & Climate Change Program

Tania Miranda

Tania Miranda is the Director of Policy & Stakeholder Engagement for the Institute of the Americas’ Environment & Climate Change Program. She has over 6 years of experience with multiple Mexican government agencies at the federal level, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ProMexico, and the Mexican Embassy in Washington D.C. Prior to the Institute, Tania worked as an Investment and Economic Analyst at the Consulate of Mexico in New York,  focusing on the promotion of the U.S. – Mexico – Canada Trade Agreement as well as energy, infrastructure, and tourism-related projects. She also has experience working as an energy liaison for the Kuwaiti government in Mexico. Tania studied a Bachelor of Arts in Economics with a Minor in International Relations at the University of Southern California, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude, and a  Master’s of Science in Energy Policy & Climate from the Johns Hopkins University. She has published an array of research and opinion pieces on the energy sector, and co-authored a published book titled We Are North America.

Director of the GREEN Institute at Guyana University.

Thomas Singh

Currently Director of the University of Guyana’s GREEN Institute and Senior Lecturer of the Dept. of Economics, Singh has worked in academia, the public sector (the Guyana Forestry Commission, Bank of Guyana, and Privatisation Unit) and the private sector (with an environmental and economics consulting company in the United States).  At the University of Guyana, his teaching and research have focused in applied microeconomics and econometrics, with a particular interest in environmental and natural resource economics and management, institutional and behavioural economics, and econometrics.  Most recently, Singh has organised an annual green economy workshop series, and was responsible for the establishment of the GREEN institute at the University of Guyana. He has a PhD in Economics from the University of Kent (UK).