Belynda Petrie is CEO and co-founder of OneWorld and an internationally recognised expert in climate change, energy and water. Ms Petrie has over 20 years’ of experience in development cooperation, focusing on climate change, renewable energy, water and climate change, and finance. Ms Petrie has over 20 years’ experience in development cooperation, focusing on climate change, renewable energy, water, and climate change, and climate finance. She also has 20 years of institutional and capacity development; facilitating government ownership and adaptive institutions, including developing feasible, overarching strategies for social inclusion.
Ms Petrie is a senior international consultant across the climate and development nexus, with a wide range of project-relevant skills and experience including:
- Leading the City of Cape Town Climate Risk, Vulnerability Hazard Assessment and Adaptation Investment Plan
- Leading a team that provided strategic, technical and logistical support to the Africa Group of Negotiators (AGN), with a specific focus on negotiation aspects of adaptation and climate finance;
- Leading a project for UNDP on assessing climate finance readiness across Africa, based on six African country case studies;
- Development of a vulnerability study on climate change (water and climate component) and an Investment Strategy for building resilience in the Limpopo River Basin for Chemonics/USAID;
- Regularly serves as a policy and technical advisor to African Governments on climate change and finance and has led a range of related capacity building and skills and knowledge transfer initiatives.
- Participatory analysis, with targeted stakeholders is an approach that underpins almost every project that Ms Petrie leads or designs.
- Well versed in climate adaptation strategies and investments in Africa as well as in the UNFCCC climate mechanisms and negotiations. She regularly reviews and analyses the negotiation positions of Parties to the UNFCCC and has also supported the negotiations approach of the AGN for other market- and non-market-based mechanisms.
- 10 years’ experience in green growth including advising continental and global entities (UNECA, OECD) on plausible GG trajectories for Africa;
- 15 years as a senior consultant on numerous climate change programme mid-term reviews, final evaluations, project identification and design and formulation missions in Africa and Asia for various international development partners (DANIDA, DFID, the UN, SIDA).
- 20 years of institutional and capacity development; facilitating government ownership and adaptive institutions, including developing feasible, overarching strategies for social inclusion (including gender).
- Excellent writing skills
Belynda has extensive experience in fostering and working within public-private and broad-based partnerships. She furthermore has a strong track record of being able to disseminate research to a broad audience using several mediums and media channels. Belynda is an author of numerous research papers, policy briefs, reports, strategies, books, and peer-reviewed articles in the fields of water, energy, and climate change/finance. She regularly serves as a policy and technical advisor to African Governments and pan African institutions and has led a range of related capacity building and skills and knowledge transfer initiatives.
