Tariye Gbadegesin Named CEO of Climate Investment Funds, Becomes First Appointed African
Climate Investment Funds (CIF) has named Tariye Gbadegesin, a Nigerian-US citizen, as its chief executive officer (CEO), making her the first African to hold this position.
More than $64 billion in additional funding has been sourced by the Climate Investment Fund (CIF) since its establishment in 2008 to support large-scale, low-carbon, climate-resilient development.
According to a Monday statement from the agency, Gbadegesin will start her position in March 2024. She is currently the chief executive of ARM Harith Infrastructure Investments, a pan-African infrastructure firm. She will be spearheading sustainable energy transitions, solutions based on nature, and resilience in more than 70 developing nations, drawing on her twenty years of expertise investing in developing economies. The fund is one of the biggest multilateral climate funds in the world, with over $11 billion pledged.
“The Trust Fund Committee of the Climate Investment Funds (CIF) announced today the appointment of Tariye Gbadegesin as Chief Executive Officer, effective March 2024,” the statement reads. “She joins CIF after holding leadership positions in infrastructure and climate finance as the CEO of ARM-Harith Infrastructure Investments, a leading Pan-African infrastructure fund investing in energy transition and climate resilient infrastructure, and as the Co-Chair of the Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative (VCMI), an international organization enabling high-integrity voluntary carbon markets for climate action.”
Gbadegesin expressed her profound gratitude and pledged to do her part to increase climate funding for underdeveloped nations in her response.
“I am deeply honored to join the Climate Investment Funds to accelerate collective climate action. Developing countries are at the forefront of the climate crisis, and we will only meet this decisive moment by working together to scale climate finance where it is needed most,” Gbadegesin said. “This is an exciting time for the global community, as we seek to build a multilateral system fit for purpose to keep 1.5C alive while lifting millions out of poverty. With six multilateral development bank partners and 15 years of experience delivering pioneering climate finance, CIF is uniquely placed to deliver in this new era.”
Gbadegesin was chosen after a rigorous worldwide search that included exceptional world climate leaders, according to Bob Natifu and Edward Webber, co-chairs of the CIF Trust Fund committee. Webber and Natifu both agreed that she will be the catalyst for the change in global climate policy that is desperately required.
“Tariye is a trailblazer, a strategic thinker and relationship-builder with deep expertise, knowledge and experience in climate finance. We have no time to lose, and she brings the drive and vision needed to deliver now for our planet,” they said.
Mafalda Duarte exited CIF in July to take the helm of the Green Climate Fund; Gbadegesin succeeds her. Luis Tineo, interim CEO, will lead CIF until March, 2024.