Lily Riahi

Lily coordinates the Cool Coalition, a new initiative that was an official outcome of the Energy Transition Track of the UN Climate Action Summit in 2019. The Coalition supports governments’ transition to efficient, climate-friendly cooling through a holistic approach to meet the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement, Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, and the Sustainable Development Goals. Lily also oversees the urban energy portfolio at UNEP supporting countries and cities optimize the use of distributed energy at the building and neighborhood level to achieve net-zero buildings and energy transition targets.
 
Over the last fifteen years, Lily has developed public-private partnerships and implemented renewable energy and energy efficiency programmes for UNEP, Global Environment Facility, REN21, the Environmental Defence Fund, ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability and the German parliament- where she participated in the set-up and promotion of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). She is also the report author of several energy publications, including ‘District Energy in Cities: Unlocking the Potential of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy,” a UN Environment publication.