Speaker Biographies:
ERIC BETTELHEIM
Eric Bettelheim established and for the last nine years, served as Executive Chairman and General Counsel of Sustainable Forestry Management Limited, a pioneering company in the development of carbon markets. SFM was the first company to develop an integrated private sector approach to climate change and deforestation. During his tenure he negotiated ground-breaking agreements throughout the developing world for forest carbon projects and lead public policy initiatives on carbon market development in Europe, the US, Africa and in the post Kyoto negotiations.
Prior to this Bettelheim established himself as an internationally respected specialist in the law and regulation of financial institutions and financial products. He is particularly well known for his work in the commodities and derivatives products industries. His work has been widely published and most recently he has been in demand as an expert on the emerging markets for environmental services products including greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity and fresh water resources.
CHRISTINE LOH
Christine Loh is the CEO of Civic Exchange and a lawyer by training. She has been the regional managing director of a multi-national commodity trading company, and also a member of the Hong Kong Legislative Council. Since 2000, she has focused on policy research. She is an international adviser to the G8+5 Climate Change Dialogue, Senior Policy Adviser to the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, board member of the Hong Kong Mercantile Exchange, and advises other international institutions. When she was on the board of the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited, she promoted the exchange to develop carbon-trading products. Loh has published extensively on sustainable development and climate change issues.
SUNITA NARAIN
Sunita Narain has been with the Centre for Science and Environment in New Delhi from 1982. She is currently the director of the Centre and the director of the Society for Environmental Communications and publisher of the fortnightly magazine, Down To Earth. In her years at CSE, she has worked at analysing and studying the relationship between environment and development and at creating public consciousness about the need for sustainable development.
From 1989 to 2001 she co-authored and co-edited numerous publications including Global Warming in an Unequal World: A case of environmental colonialism, and Green Politics: Global Environmental Negotiations. Since the Kyoto Protocol, Narain has also worked on a number of articles and papers on issues related to flexibility mechanisms and the need for equity and entitlements in climate negotiations. Narain serves on the boards of various organisations and governmental committees and has spoken at many forums across the world on issues of her concern and expertise.
PROFESSOR GWYN PRINS
Professor Gwyn Prins is a professor at the London School of Economics and the director of the LSE Mackinder Programme for the Study of Long Wave Events. For over twenty years he was a Fellow and the Director of Studies in History at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and a Lecturer in Politics at the University of Cambridge.
Recent collaborative work on climate politics Nature “Time to ditch Kyoto” and a joint essay, The Wrong trousers: radically rethinking climate change explains why the Kyoto Protocol was doomed to fail and what to do instead. This analysis has recently been updated in ‘Time to ditch Kyoto: the Sequel’ published in the Poznań Climate Conference Delegates’ Book December 2008 and “Earthquakes happen: recent developments in climate policy”. The 2007 Nature article was one of the most heavily downloaded and cited Nature articles of recent times.
Most recently he was co-ordinating author for an international multi-institute report (“Getting climate policy back on course”) in which senior academics from Asia, Europe and North America provided the G-8 Meeting in Italy with a concise indication of what sort of climate policies might work, given that the current ones have not worked and will not work.
Moderator Biography:
DEBORAH KAN
Deborah Kan is a presenter for Reuters Television and has been a journalist for more than a decade, previously holding the role of main anchor of Star News Asia, an award-wining newscast reaching over ten million households broadcast on the Star World channel. She was also presenter of Talk with Deborah Kan, a program featuring exclusive interviews with prominent business and world leaders including US Vice President Al Gore, Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Philippine President Joseph Estrada.
Prior to joining Reuters, Kan was a contributing correspondent to the Wall Street Journal and the Fox News Channel. She is one of few international journalists who has been granted an interview with Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen and subsequently reported on Cambodia’s changing economy after decades of conflict. In 2008, Kan was nominated as a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum.
Intelligence Squared Founders:
Intelligence2 was founded in London in 2002 by media entrepreneurs John Gordon and Jeremy O’Grady. Intelligence2 Asia was set up by Yana Peel, Amelie von Wedel and Su-Mei Thompson in 2009.
YANA PEEL, Intelligence2 Asia
Yana Peel is co-founder and director of Outset Contemporary Art Fund, a philanthropic organisation that supports public education, production and display within the arena of contemporary visual art. The charitable foundation engages its private and corporate patrons in a programme of cultural events and lectures that has been lauded as ‘the New Philanthropy’ by Downing Street. Since leaving Goldman Sachs in 2002 as Vice President, Equity Sales, Yana has become an advisor to the Hermitage Museum (St Petersburg), a member of the Tate International Council and a trustee of the third Moscow Biennial .She also serves on the boards of the National Society for the Protection Against Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) and Para/Site Art Space Hong Kong.
AMELIE VON WEDEL, Intelligence2 Asia
Amelie von Wedel is based in London as an art consultant and gallerist where she set up Wedel Fine Art in 2006. She has a strong interest in education and social policies, having been selected as a member by the American council on Germany and having been responsible for the exchange and educational programme at The Red Mansion Foundation for several years. Amelie has been involved in several publications, advising on the recent China Art Book and co-editing the forthcoming India Art Book. She is serving as a director of the charity Give A Future Foundation supporting under-privileged children in Africa.
SU-MEI THOMPSON, Intelligence2 Asia
Su-Mei Thompson is Executive Director of The Women’s Foundation in Hong Kong, an NGO dedicated to improving the lives of women and girls in Hong Kong. She was a senior executive at Christie’s in Asia from 2007 to 2008 and prior to this, served as Managing Director of the Financial Times, Asia Pacific, during which time she oversaw the launch of the FT's Asian edition. She also worked for Disney’s television division in Asia from 1996 to 2000. Su-Mei started her career as a corporate finance lawyer at Linklaters. She is also a Director of Save the Children Hong Kong and a corporate member of The Cheltenham Ladies College.