Alexander David Nash

Alexander Nash is a chartered chemical engineer specialized in water management and urban development. He has more than 20 years of professional experience gained in Australia, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, working with utilities, multilateral financing institutions and governments on water, sanitation, and irrigation infrastructure projects. Alex is currently Project Officer for three ADB loans in Cambodia and Vietnam, which includes implementing new approaches in nature-based infrastructure, smart city initiatives, and disaster risk financing.

Stefano Marta

Stefano Marta works for the Cities, Urban Policies and Sustainable Development Division in the Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities at the OECD. Stefano is currently coordinating the Programme “A Territorial Approach to the Sustainable Development Goals,” which support cities and regions in implementing the SDGs in various OECD and partner countries. Stefano also coordinated the OECD project on “Reshaping Decentralised Development Cooperation.”

Joy Amor Bailey

Joy Amor Bailey is an Urban Climate Change Resilience Specialist with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) - administered Urban Climate Change Resilience Trust Fund (UCCRTF) which supports cities in eight countries by improving urban planning, designing climate-resilient infrastructure, and investing in projects and people.

Helena Hulsman

Helena Hulsman is a specialist in the field of Nature Based Solutions at Deltares, working on developing, implementing and evaluating Nature Based Solutions to contribute to (urban) climate resilience. With a background in Biology and Environment & Resources Management, and extensive experience in both integrated water resources management and infrastructure development projects in Europe and Asia, Helena aims to co-develop sustainable, cost-effective and technically sound solutions, optimally embedded in the local urban context.

Michael Wegener

Dr. Michael Wegener is a retired Professor and the former Director of the Institute of spatial Planning at the Faculty of Spatial Planning of the University of Dortmund, Germany. He is also a partner in Spiekermann and Wegener, Urban and Regional Research (S&W), since 2001. His main research fields are urban and regional development, European urban systems and transport networks. In particular, his research covers the land-use transport interface in cities and regions and the regional impacts of European transport infrastructure.

Strengthening Co-Benefits of Health, Climate Change and Air Quality Improvement in Energy Investments in Asian Cities

Asia and the Pacific have the highest number of air pollution deaths in the world. The health effects were estimated to cost US$ 1.7 trillion in 2016, equivalent to 10% of the regions. Air pollution creates a massive economic burden for governments causing a loss of productive labor, thereby reducing output and incomes, and increased health care and welfare costs. The energy sector is a major source of pollution and therefore a target for efforts to improve air quality.

Verena Streitferdt

Verena has over 10 years of work and research experience in the field of policy advisory/project development especially on the topics of energy efficiency: policy & finance, energy/climate policy and urban governance in the South East Asian context. In her PhD research, she explored how far the public sector can assist to optimize energy efficiency finance initiatives by analyzing in-depth two energy efficiency finance programs, one focused on ESCOs and one on banks.

Robert Guild

Robert is the Team Leader for the Pacific Region Infrastructure Facility. Prior to joining PRIF, Robert held a number of senior roles with the Asian Development Bank. He also spent four years as the Economic Infrastructure Adviser at the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat in Fiji and served two years as a volunteer in the Solomon Islands.

Sangay. Penjor

Sangay Penjor, Former Director of the East Asia Urban and Social Sectors Division (EASS), former research officer for the central bank of Bhutan, and the Royal Monetary Authority. He had been with ADB for 27 years. 

​He left his position in ADB in October 2021.