Achala Abeysinghe

Achala, a lawyer by training, brings over 20 years of experience in climate change and sustainable development. Prior to GCF, Achala led the largest regional green growth program at the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) as Director and Head of Programs of Asia and was a member of GGGI’s senior management team. Previously, she was the GGGI Country Director of Papua New Guinea. Before GGGI, she was legal and strategic advisor to the LDC Group in the UNFCCC negotiations while heading the Global Climate Diplomacy program at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED). She was also lead author of the 5th Assessment Report of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). In 2015, Achala was recognised as one of the global female climate champions for her work in negotiating the Paris Agreement. Achala is a qualified ESG sustainability professional and has an LLB (Hons) degree from the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka and holds a Master's degree and a PhD in international law on climate change from the University of Kent, UK.