The Trust Fund Committee of the Climate Investment Funds (CIF) announced, on November 27, the appointment of Tariye Gbadegesin as Chief Executive Officer, effective March 2024. She replaces Mafalda Duarte, who left in July 2023 to lead the Green Climate Fund.
A US and Nigerian national, Tariye Gbadegesin was selected following a highly competitive international recruitment process featuring outstanding global climate leaders. She will lead one of the world’s largest multilateral climate funds with over $11Bn pledged, pioneering clean energy transitions, nature-based solutions and resilience in over 70 developing countries.
The Climate Investment Funds (CIF) is an enabler of pioneering climate-smart planning and climate action in low and middle-income economies, many of which are the least prepared yet the most prone to the challenges of climate change. CIF responds to the worldwide climate crisis with large-scale, low-cost, and long-term financial solutions to support countries achieve their climate objectives.
Tariye Gbadegesin holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Amherst College and an MBA from Harvard Business School. 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.
A seasoned climate finance executive
Tariye Gbadegesin is a seasoned climate finance executive with over 20 years of experience investing in emerging markets and developing economies, including significant experience in mobilizing private capital for climate action and supporting policy design for energy transition finance and implementation. In her recent career, she has structured and delivered over $3bn in large-scale energy, infrastructure and industrial investments and has designed and structured multiple complex blended finance funds, platforms, and syndications, mobilizing capital from the private sector, multilateral development banks and concessional windows.
Previously, she worked at the International Monetary Fund, the Boston Consulting Group, Price Waterhouse Coopers, and the Africa Finance Corporation.
Tariye Gbadegesin has served as an advisor on multiple climate and economic development organizations including as member of the Climate Policy Initiative’s (CPI) Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance; the Infrastructure Advisory Committee for the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investing (PRI); the African Advisory Board of the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ); and the Advisory Council of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).
Tariye Gbadegesin said: “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. 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.”
