Transitioning Towards Sustainable Asian Agriculture

Nicolas worked in agronomics research and rural development in South Africa on small irrigation schemes in CIRAD-Tera and as a consultant in Blezat Consulting in the eco-industries division on market opportunities and development strategies. He graduated from ENSAIA, a prominent French “Grande école” in Agriculture and Life Sciences Engineering and pursued his studies in International Management at Laval University, Canada and in Water Management in Pretoria University, South Africa. Nicolas is the CEO and founder of GREE Energy and a specialist in renewable energy with 15 years of experience. He has successfully developed, built and operated several multimillion-dollar biogas and renewable energy projects in Southeast Asia.

Rachel McMonagle is a climate justice and land rights advocate and practitioner with experience advancing climate resilience efforts with a social justice focus through nonprofit and U.S. government initiatives. She has honed a theoretical proficiency in climate mitigation and adaption strategies with a technical expertise in sustainable agriculture and soil science. As Landesa’s climate change and land tenure programmatic lead, Rachel develops capacity to implement land tenure as a climate mitigation and adaptation strategy to advance interventions that yield positive outcomes for communities and the environment alike. Rachel holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Management from Yale School of the Environment and a B.A. from Oberlin College.

With 20+-year experience in the fund management industry with more than 10 years at top ranking investment banking firms (JP Morgan, Citi and Credit Suisse), Cedric has been managing fixed income portfolios and analyzing corporate bonds during the most part of his career, most recently as the Head of Emerging Markets Corporate Credit Research at an independent credit research company. He earned a Business Degree from EM Lyon in France, including a one year exchange program at Waseda University in Tokyo, a Master’s in Finance from the London Business School and he is currently enrolled in the joint Executive MBA program of INSEAD in Singapore and Tsinghua University in Beijing. He is a CFA charter holder and member of the CFA Society in Singapore. Since relocating for the second time to Asia six years ago (Bangkok and Singapore), he has been developing investable projects in the climate finance space in South East Asia. He’s been a consultant for the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia Pacific (including Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines) on Green Finance and is now the ASEAN Program Manager for the Climate Bonds Initiative.

Ada is Deputy Executive Director of BRACE, a Hong Kong registered charity that supports climate change mitigation efforts globally. In her role she oversees agricultural initiatives in Asia that focus on the scalable reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. She is also Director of District Capital, the investment arm of her family office with a mission to invest in solving pressing socio-economic or climate related challenges whilst providing strong returns.

Prior to her current positions, Ada’s career transverse the private and non-profit sectors. She has a proven track-record as an entrepreneur, having founded a market-leading communications firm, which was acquired by a conglomerate agency in 2017. Her personal mission is to drive dialogue and capital towards climate action.