Environmental Challenges Around the World

Chair, ISO Environmental Management (ISO/TC 207)

Zakiah is the international Chair of the ISO Environmental Management technical committee. She is the President of AirVironment Canada, a second-generation family-owned environmental consulting company and a Senior Associate at the Boxfish Infrastructure Group. She holds a Master of Engineering degree Environmental Engineering, a LL.M. in Environmental and Natural Resources Law, and a M.B.A. specialised in Financial Risk Management and Financial Engineering.

Twinned Chair, ISO Environmental Management (ISO/TC 207)

Daniel Trillos is the Twinned Chair of the ISO Environmental Management Committee and the Standardization Deputy Director at ICONTEC. His responsibilities include leading the standards development team and representing Colombia at international forums and in relationships with other Standards Development Organizations. Daniel was the convener for the development of the ISO Net Zero Guidelines (IWA 42:2022) and is currently the Twinned Convener for the working group responsible for the development of an ISO standard on Net Zero Aligned Organizations. Daniel is a civil engineering professional and holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Management.

Chair, ISO Environmental Performance Evaluation (ISO/TC 207/SC4)

Dr. Phillip Ludvigsen is a Senior Project Director at JS Held. He specializes in litigation support, ESG, and sustainable financing, such as green bond development and verification. He has co-authored expert witness reports, rebuttals and settlement memorandums for mediation, allocation, regulatory oversight, and litigation engagements, including superfund mega-sites, manufactured gas plant (MGP) cleanup programs, insurance claims, and international dispute resolution. He has also consulted on climate-related financial and physical risk-visualization, management, and municipal climate action planning.

Chair, ISO Environmental Management Systems (ISO/TC 207/SC7)

Martin Baxter is Deputy CEO at the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA), working to accelerate the transition to a sustainable future and support people in the development of sustainability skills. He has over 20 years of experience in developing ISO environmental management standards and is Chair of ISO’s Environmental Management subcommittee responsible for ISO 14001, the global environmental management systems standard.

Chair, ISO Climate Change (ISO/TC  207/SC7)

Benoit Desforges is Vice-President of the Energy Directorate at Measurement Canada. With more than 30 years of experience in federal public service, Benoit has held various management positions in different departments including in the environmental field. At Environment and Climate Change Canada, his work spanned the reduction of greenhouse gases, the use of environmental technologies and clean fuels. Benoit is the Chair of the ISO Greenhouse

Medical Officer Intern

Dr. Montella Silla is a medical officer intern from Kenya, a published medical researcher, and founder of Youth in Health Care Against Climate Change (YHACCC). As a member of the ISO Environmental Youth Leadership Group and a fellow at the BeVisioneers Mercedes Benz Fellowship, he has a key focus on health research and its contribution to understanding the intersection between climate change and public health outcomes in Africa.

Emergency Physician (Yellowknives Dene Territory, Clinical Associate Professor (University of Calgary

Dr Courtney Howard is an Emergency Physician in Yellowknives Dene Territory in the Canadian subarctic and a Clinical Associate Professor at the University of Calgary. The Vice-Chair of the Global Climate and Health Alliance, Dr Howard has researched menstrual cups and the health impacts of wildfires and was the first woman president of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment. She has led policy and advocacy work regarding adapting health systems to climate-amplified wildfires, social tipping points and the health sector, ecoanxiety, vaccine equity, active transport, plant-rich diets, fossil fuel divestment, carbon pricing, coal power phase-out, hydraulic fracturing and with regards to Canada’s Oil Sands.

Technical Convener – Management and Sustainability Standardization, IRAM

María Aurora Agulló is the Technical Convenor for Management and Sustainability Standardization at Instituto Argentino de Normalización y Certificación (IRAM) and currently serves as the Convener of the ISO/TC 207 Developing Countries Coordination Group. She holds a Master degree in Eco-Audits and Environmental Business Planning from the Ecological Research Institute in Spain and  Master of Strategy and Geopolitics from Higher War School.

Environmental Scientist

James is an environmental scientist dedicated to sustainable solutions. He is particularly enthusiastic about leveraging digital innovations to address the climate crisis. James holds a B. Sc. In Environmental Science from the Chuka University in Kenya and a M.Sc. In Environmental Science from Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary. He is a member of the ISO Environmental Management Youth Leadership Group.

Civil Engineer

Hasan Alhamwi graduated from McGill’s Civil Engineering program with a minor in Construction Management. He has completed the British Standards ISO 14001 Environmental Management Systems Lead Auditor Program and is also certified as an Envision Sustainability Professional (ENV SP). 

AirVironment Canada Consultant

AirVironment is an environmental management consulting company. Arman focuses on environmental impact, climate solutions using standardized methodologies and modern tools. Arman has been actively engaged in initiatives focused on environmental standards and their role in supporting regulatory frameworks and capacity development for sustainable actions. Arman has experience developing organizations GHG inventories in accordance with ISO 14064-1 and has completed the BSI ISO 14001 Lead Auditor training.

Circular Economy Director at VEOLIA

Catherine focuses on new business models to transition to a circular economy: implementation of local loops to reduce water withdrawals and optimize reuse, to recover organic waste and produce soil compost, to produce renewable energy from wastewater management etc. From 2019 she chairs the ISO technical committee on Circular Economy, international standards that were published in May 2024.

Head of LCA, Ricardo

Sam Hinton is the Head of LCA at Ricardo, a global consultancy that provides specialist technical services at the intersection of transport, energy and environment. Sam has over ten years of experience specializing in LCA. During that time, he has been involved in a wide range of high-profile projects for the transport, chemicals and manufacturing sectors. He regularly advises and trains others in carrying out LCAs and contributes to the development of sector standard LCA methodologies.

Director of Accreditation Services, Standards Council of Canada

Abdel is the Director of Accreditation Services at the Standards Council of Canada, where he oversees accreditation programs and aligns them with Canada’s strategic priorities. With expertise in ISO standards and business intelligence, he drives efficiency, fosters critical thinking, and provides strategic guidance to SCC’s executive team. Abdel actively engages in international standards communities, serving as a Lead Assessor and Peer Evaluator, Co-Convener of the IAF Digital Transformation Working Group, and a contributor to ISO CASCO Working Groups, focusing on integrating new technologies in compliance management.

Senior Researcher, Research Institutes of Sweden

Dr. Raul Carlson is a Senior Researcher at the Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE) within the area of sustainability and traceability. He has over 30 years of experience in research and standards development for sustainable development of industry and ISO. He is currently the Chair of the European Standardization Committee for Circular Economy (CEN/TC 473) and Chair of the Man and the Biosphere programme at East Vättern Scarp Landscape in Sweden.

Account Manager at the Standards Council of Canada

Rita-Helena Hage is an Account Manager at the Standards Council of Canada. Having a background in electrical engineering, extensive experience in university teaching, and two years in accreditation, Rita-Helena has contributed to providing support and guidance on standards and accreditation to several conformity assessment bodies around the world. At COP29, she will share insights on the impact of climate change on different segments of the population and the importance of inclusive and effective adaptation solutions.

National Director of Standardization of the Bolivian Institute of Standardization and Quality (IBNORCA)

Chemical Engineer by profession, specialist in ISO 9001:2015 Oscar has worked in the Strategic Management area and the National Services Directorate of IBNORCA, supporting the management and monitoring of documentary platforms, institutional client information, as well as the monitoring, execution and development of institutional projects with international cooperation, highlighting Cooperation projects with the Swedish embassy in Bolivia and with implementing partners from other National Standardization Organizations such as SIS (Sweden) or BSI (United Kingdom).

With over 20 years in business, finance, biodiversity and sustainable development, Matthieu lead the ISO TC 331 Technical Committee, fostering international standards through complex negotiations among 60 countries. At the French Office for Biodiversity, he advanced biodiversity integration in finance, leveraging expertise in strategic partnerships, project management, and high-stakes negotiation. He also contributed to education, lecturing on sustainable finance and biodiversity policies at AgroParisTech and Sciences Po Rennes”.

Kate Salter is an experienced infrastructure and development lawyer, and is currently Director of Legal services at Metrolinx. She has been recognized as one of Canada’s top 40 lawyers under 40 by the legal magazine Lexpert, and she was a recipient of an Excellence Award in the Female Trailblazer of the Year category at the 2022 Canadian Legal Awards. Kate received her J.D., Law from Queen’s University and holds a Master of Laws in Business Law from York University’s Osgood Hall Law School. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Sociology and Environmental Science from McGill University.

Stephania is an Oceanographic Engineer, has spent the past three years leading projects with Ecuadorian coastal communities, supported by national and international NGOs. She is a passionate advocate for ocean health, climate action, sustainability, and social impact. Stephania is a member of the ISO Environmental Management Youth Leadership Group.

Mariam just finished her MSc at Imperial College London in Environmental Technology, with a speciality in Global Environmental Climate Policy. Prior to that she was doing her BSc at the London School of Economics and Political Science in Social and Public Policy with Politics. She is now a Decarbonization Analyst leveraging her academic experiences to approach decarbonization from both a technical and policy-driven perspective to work towards solutions that are both innovative and sustainable.

Adjunct Professor in the University of Maryland Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Department

Dr. Phil DeCola has more than 30 years of experience on the use of Earth observations and computational models for understanding and responding to climate change and environmental resource management challenges. He served as an advisor on climate change and Earth observations for two administrations in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and as Program Scientist for the NASA Science Mission Directorate. During his NASA career, Phil was Program Scientist for several Earth observing space missions. He served as Lead Scientist on U.S. delegations to IPCC and worked on the second, third and fourth IPCC scientific assessments. He is the founding co-chair of the World Meteorological Organization Integrated Global Greenhouse Gas Information System (IG3IS) initiative to promote observation-based methods that enhance the capacity of nations, provinces, states, cities and industries to target emission reduction opportunities and track the efficacy of these efforts.

CEO and co-founder of NEXQT

He has nearly 25 years of experience in managing businesses offering data-driven low carbon transition strategies, decision-making tools and co-designed decarbonization plans at the international, national, regional and local levels. Fouzi has long track records working with major cities, corporates and finance industry mainly in the EU, north America, south-east Asia and north Africa. Alongside the launch of NEXQT, Fouzi Benkhelifa co-led with RMI (USA) and an alliance of leading research laboratories (LSCE-FR, Tsinghua-CN, UC Irvine-US, NAU-US) the City Climate Intelligence initiative aimed at mainstreaming local decarbonization policies decision-making process with high-resolution data and information.

Founder and Executive Director of DASTAK

Hira Amjad is an award-winning gender, climate and peace leader from Pakistan. She is the Founder and Executive Director of DASTAK Women Rights and Awareness Foundation (DASTAK Foundation) and Cora Weiss Fellow at the Global Network for Women Peacebuilders. Hira is on a mission to decolonise the global human rights movement. Her impactful work in humanitarian relief particularly during the 2022 floods in Pakistan received national and international recognition. Hira’s feminist climate justice advocacy aims to mobilize youth and women in climate action. She emphasizes the integration of gender-lens and grassroots community knowledge in humanitarian efforts and in policy discourse. In 2023, Hira’s DASTAK Foundation won the Gender Just Climate Solutions Award at COP 28 for the development of the Gender-inclusive Climate Action Toolkit advocating for gender-sensitive and inclusive climate policy.

Farangis Ukumatshoeva, a citizen of the Republic of Tajikistan holds a Bachelor's degree in Engineering Protection of Environment from Tajik Technical University, a first Master's degree in Energy Efficiency and Energy Management Technology from the Institute of Water Problems, Ecology and Hydropower of the National Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan, and a second Master's degree in Integrated Water Resources Management from Kazakh-German University. She is currently a PhD student at the Institute of Water Problems, Hydropower, and Ecology of the National Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan. In addition to her academic studies, she has attended training courses on water use efficiency, energy efficiency, disaster risk management in mountainous areas, and watershed management. She is also an official member of the Women in Water Management Network in Central Asia and Afghanistan. She has over eight years of experience in monitoring, administration, management and academia.

Sunungurai Dominica Chingarande is a professor of Sociology who holds a PhD in Sociology,and a Master of Science in Sociology with the University of Zimbabwe.She is the Women’s University in Africa Vice Chancellor since 2021.She is Zimbabwe’s representative on the African Vice Chancellors’ Forum, a member of the International Association of Universities board and a board member for the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE).She is a gender equality expert for the African Group of Negotiators, a think tank of experts and practitioners that provides evidence based technical support to African governments for effective engagement in the international and national climate change policy formulation.