Speaker 2021

Bio

Dr. Tiangco’s 25-year work experience includes 10 years in ADB leading clean energy projects, such as solar PV, mini-grids and battery energy storage systems in the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Nauru, Tonga, and Tuvalu. She initiated ADB’s solar development programs in Uzbekistan and in Afghanistan, and energy efficiency in Kazakhstan and Pakistan. Cindy spearheaded the regional floating solar initiative to build pilot plants in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, and Kyrgyz Republic. She is currently implementing a floating solar plus program for the 11 small Pacific island countries, with cross-sectoral projects now being developed for Kiribati, Tonga, and Tuvalu. Before ADB, Cindy was a consultant to the ADB, World Bank, AFD, UNDP/GEF and the Philippine Climate Change Commission. Her project involvement includes solar PV and battery storage systems, distributed generation, solar thermal, wind, hydro, geothermal, efficient lighting, landfill gas to power, biodiesel, biomass and other climate change mitigation projects. Cindy holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering, Master of Engineering major in renewable energy sources, and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering (cum laude).

Bio

Clotilde Rossi di Schio is a senior specialist for energy efficiency as well as cooling at SEforALL.

Prior to joining SEforALL, Clotilde has been working in the energy sector for more than 12 years as a member of McKinsey’s German office and at Turboden, a Mitsubishi Heavy Industry group company.

As a research assistant with the SIPA Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, she specialized in decarbonization strategies.

Clotilde has an MBA in Finance from Columbia Business School, an MPA in Energy Policy from Columbia SIPA and a Master of Science in Mechanical/Industrial Engineering from Vienna University of Technology.

Bio

Mr. Colin Chen is the Head of ESG Finance, Asia Pacific, for MUFG Bank. In this newlycreated role, he will build upon MUFG’s ESG finance strategy in the region and deepen its market presence by further establishing the bank as a centre of excellence for green financing.

Mr Chen joined MUFG Bank in 2000 and has been involved in structured finance for over 30 years. Prior to his current appointment, he was MUFG’s Head of the Structured Finance, Asian Investment Banking Division, responsible for the project finance, real estate and asset finance businesses for the bank for the Asia and Oceania region*. Under his leadership, MUFG has consistently been ranked one of the top project finance lenders in APAC and renowned for the inroads it has made in renewables financing in Asia.

Over the course of his career he worked in London, New York and Singapore covering both advisory roles as well as arranging roles. He is currently based in Singapore.

Mr. Chen has a BSC (Hons) in Mechanical Engineering from the University Of Manchester Institute Of Science and Technology and an MBA from the University of Rochester, NY.

Bio

A proven Business Development, Project Management, and Country Management executive leading multidisciplinary teams, Colin has successfully developed a pipeline of over 400MW utility scale PV; contracted over 30MW of utility scale PV; designed, managed and executed the Procurement of Goods for over 10,000 SHS kits; established a Commercial & Industrial Solar PV Rooftop business, and; contracted over 1.8MW in PV C&I projects and counting. Currently, as current CSO of Stratcon, Colin has executed Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) deals with First Climate and is rolling out a regional energy efficiency and analytics business based in the Philippines - having locked in an MSA with a large IPP RES as well as contracts with other regional multinationals. As a Senior Finance Specialist consultant to the ADB, he is originating and facilitating Distributed Energy and Microgrid opportunities in the Philippines and Indonesia. Colin has over 15 years’ experience in the energy, natural resources, and development sectors within private and public spheres, positively leading Admin, Sales, Business Development and Engineering teams. Colin’s career objective is to drive new sustainable business activities and opportunities throughout APAC addressing Climate Change.

Bio

Damilola Ogunbiyi is the CEO of Sustainable Energy for All (SEforALL), Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All and Co-Chair of UN-Energy. She is also a Commissioner for the Global Commission to End Energy Poverty and the Co-Chair of the COP26 Energy Transition Council. She is a global leader and advocate for the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7), which calls for access to reliable, affordable, sustainable and modern energy for all by 2030, in line with the Paris Agreement on climate change.

Prior to joining SEforALL, Mrs. Ogunbiyi was the first female Managing Director of the Nigerian Rural Electrification Agency where she was responsible for successfully negotiating the Nigerian Electrification Project which is a USD 550 million facility (World Bank USD 350m and African Development Bank USD 200m) to rapidly construct solar mini grids and deploy solar home systems across Nigeria to close energy access gaps. She also conceptualised the Energizing Economies Initiative, which provides sustainable and affordable off-grid power solutions to economic clusters, including markets and industrial clusters in Nigeria, that is estimated to impact 1.2 million SMEs.

Mrs. Ogunbiyi previously worked as the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Power and Head of the Advisory Power Team in the Office of the Vice President of Nigeria. She was responsible for the Power Sector Recovery Programme, which is a series of policy, operational, governance and financial interventions to be implemented by the Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN).

Before joining the FGN, Mrs. Ogunbiyi was the first female to be appointed as the General Manager of the Lagos State Electricity Board. Under her leadership, five independent power projects were completed to deliver over 55 megawatts of power to Lagos State hospitals, schools, streetlights, and the Government secretariat. She entered public service as the Senior Special Assistant to the Lagos State Governor on Public Private Partnerships (PPP). Prior to her appointment, she was a consultant for the UK Department for International Development (DfID) on public-private partnerships.

Mrs. Ogunbiyi maintains a keen interest in mentoring and empowering young people through skills acquisitions. She created the Lagos State Energy Academy to build the capacity of young people in renewable energy technology, and the Energizing Education Programme (EEP) which launched a Female STEM Student Internship Programme to provide hands-on practical experience in designing and constructing power systems for 700 female undergraduates.

Mrs. Ogunbiyi is one of the Commissioners for the Global Commission to end energy poverty which is an initiative driven by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and The Rockefeller Foundation. She is the Co-Chair of the COP26 Energy Transition Council aimed at driving action to accelerate the shift to clean energy ahead of COP26 and to bring together leaders in the power sector across politics, finance and technology to speed up the transition from coal to clean renewable energy in developing countries. She is also a member of the Development Advisory Council of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), member of the clean cooking alliance advisory board and a member of the Advisory Board of the University of Oxford – Future of Cooling Programme.

Bio

Dan Millison is the Manager of Transcendergy L.L.C., a private consultancy established in 2008. He has 35+ years professional experience including 20 years working on sustainable infrastructure investment programs. As a consultant and former project officer with Asian Development Bank, he has helped mobilize well over US$ 10 billion of investments --including more than $1 Billion in cofinancing from the Climate Investment Funds and the Green Climate Fund -- in clean energy, sustainable transport, and other climate friendly technology. He is currently supporting ADB's technical assistance program for innovative high impact technology in energy sector operations and ADB's MARES technical assistance program. Mr. Millison has an bachelors degree in geological sciences and a masters degree in civil engineering, both from Northwestern University in the US.

Bio

I worked with different organizations in emerging markets on a variety of programmatic energy infrastructure solutions. These organizations include Chatham House, Suntech, Scatec Solar, Grameen Shakti, International Renewable Energy Agency, and the Asian Development Bank. Throughout my professional career, I became increasingly convinced that our electricity production system can be transformed to clean energy and energy efficiency at an accelerated pace if we provide clarity, predictability, and quality to investors. The focus of my work is to support countries, power utilities and businesses with knowledge, new approaches, and financing that follow the principle of reducing and driving toward net-zero carbon emissions in different end-use sectors. Among others it includes the conceptualization of a viable and financially sustainable digital service model for power utilities that makes efficient cooling an accessible and affordable choice for everyone.

Bio

David leads NAB’s Sustainable Finance team and has been active in sustainable debt markets for over 10 years. He works closely with NAB’s treasury, coverage and capital markets teams servicing customers across Australia, New Zealand, Asia, the UK and USA developing and originating sustainable financing and investment solutions for NAB and its clients.

He joined NAB in 2010 and has over 15 years of financial markets experience across a range of product solutions, origination, structuring and execution roles for banks in Sydney, Hong Kong, London and New York. David has been responsible for all sustainable capital markets transactions NAB has brought to market including a range of innovative green, social and sustainability bonds for both NAB as Issuer and its customers across a range of global markets. These include green bonds in senior unsecured, USPP, RMBS, ABS and project loan fund format, sustainability bonds, social bonds and RMBS, green loans, sustainability-linked loans and bonds plus green deposits.

David is an active member of industry bodies including the Australian Sustainable Finance Initiative, the ICMA Green Bond & Social Bond Principles Advisory Council and Climate Transition Finance WG, the APLMA Green and Sustainability-linked Loans Committee, Climate Bonds Initiative, the Institute of International Finance (IIF) Sustainable Finance WG and several other sustainability initiatives.

NAB has received numerous sustainable finance awards including Climate Bonds Initiative Green Bond Pioneer, KangaNews Australian Sustainability Debt House of the Year, Finance Asia’s Best Sustainable Finance House and numerous deal awards. NAB is also the only Australian financial institution in the Corporate Knights Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations Index announced at the World Economic Forum in January 2021.

David holds an MBA (Finance) from London Business School, a Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance & Investment and a Bachelor of Engineering (Civil).

Bio

Dhruv is an associate at IDinsight - a global advisory, data analytics, and research organization that helps development leaders maximize their social impact.

His research so far has focused on the nexus of energy, climate, and development - especially targeted at low-income communities in India and sub-Saharan Africa. Between 2017 and 2020, Dhruv has worked as a visiting student researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology D-Lab, and as a research assistant in Serbia, Singapore and the Netherlands. He also led research and development for IBIS Power - a renewable energy startup designing carbon-free buildings in Europe.

Dhruv is the co-founder of Candela Energy, a last-mile distribution organization providing rural villages access to life-improving products and has been awarded by ETH Student Project House in Switzerland and EarthTech in Australia.

Bio

Dieter Billen is a Principal at Roland Berger South-East Asia. He has worked in several countries across Southeast Asia, and originally started at the firm's Brussels office in Belgium. He consults on infrastructure development, including setting up public-private partnerships. His infrastructure experience focuses on energy and utilities and especially renewables. He has advised investors and developers on energy transition projects across South-East Asia.

Bio

Dr. Dina Azhgaliyeva is a Research Fellow at the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI). Before joining ADBI in 2019, she worked as a Research Fellow at the Energy Studies Institute, National University of Singapore. She was also a Research Fellow at the University of Reading (UK). She worked as Economics Teaching Fellow at the University College London. She also worked as a leading and chief specialist for the Tax Committee, Ministry of Finance of Kazakhstan. She holds a PhD, Master’s, and Graduate Diploma in economics, all from the University of Essex (UK). She is currently a guest editor for the Applied Energy’s special issue “Integration of Renewable Energy in Energy Systems, Perspectives on Investment, Technology, and Policy”.

Bio

Ms. Divina Chingcuanco is currently the Chief of Party of USAID Energy Secure Philippines Activity, which is being implemented by RTI International. She has 38 years of experience in the energy sector serving in both technical advisory and project management positions across Asia and Africa. Ms. Chingcuanco was a three-term Chief of Party spanning 16 years for three U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded Philippines projects. In these roles, she provided overall leadership management and general technical direction for the programs, ensuring an integrated vision among different components and stakeholders and a focus on achieving evidence‐based, measurable outcomes. She began her career in international development as a regulatory and tariff adviser for World Bank and UK Department for International Development (DFID) in Pakistan and India. Ms. Chingcuanco led capacity building activities on energy policy and utility regulation in response to climate change under an ADB-funded Central Asia Economic Cooperation forum.