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Who we are

Vision and mission

At least 31 different countries are represented in our mostly virtual team, who are based all over the world, and as well as National Societies, and many team-members hold additional institutional affiliations including universities, charitable foundations, UN agencies and professional associations.

Visit our Contacts page for email addresses of our regional focal points and also for media contacts.

The mission of the Climate Centre, an IFRC Global Reference Centre hosted by the Netherlands Red Cross in The Hague, is to support the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and its partners in reducing the impacts of climate change and extreme-weather events on vulnerable people.

In recent decades, there has been a sharp increase in weather-related disasters with climate change and there is an urgent need to manage the rising risk of extreme-weather events through better early-warning, disaster relief and risk reduction, and with climate-smart programmes for health and care, water and sanitation, and food security (glossary).

Our approach, working at the intersection of science, policy, and practice, is detailed in our Strategy 2030. A core objective is to make the best global scientific insights operable at local level. Key elements include support for awareness-raising and capacity-building, especially in developing countries whose people are the most vulnerable to climate change. 

The Climate Centre focuses primarily on providing guidance and tools to National Societies and their partners, and fostering the exchange of experience, training and technical back-up for Red Cross Red Crescent volunteers, delegates and managers specializing in the management of disaster risk and health.

In the international arena we facilitate access to climate-related funding and advocate for support to the most vulnerable people in debates on climate policy, especially the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the annual UN climate talks, but also related international discussions on development and humanitarian policy and finance.

Key documents

Climate Centre Strategy 2021−2025
Movement Ambitions to Address the Climate Crisis
Climate Training Kit
IFRC Strategy 2030
The Climate and Environment Charter for Humanitarian Organizations
UN/WMO early warnings for all initiative
When rain turns to dust(ICRC)
The Cost of Doing Nothing report (IFRC)

Board

Debra Roberts

Debra Roberts

Chair

Professor Debra Roberts was co-chair of the IPCC’s Working Group II on impacts, adaptation and vulnerability for its sixth assessment cycle – the first woman from Africa to be elected as an IPCC co-chair. She led on multiple relevant areas in eThekwini, Durban for 30 years, and has been named one of the world’s 100 most influential people in climate.

Xavier Castellanos Mosquera

Xavier Castellanos Mosquera

Member (IFRC Under Secretary General)

Xavier Castellanos Mosquera has more than three decades’ experience in National Society development, resilience building and emergency humanitarian operations at the national, regional and global levels. He has served the Movement in various capacities since 1981, when he started as a volunteer with the National Society of Ecuador.

Harm Goossens

Harm Goossens

Member (General Manager, Netherlands Red Cross)

Harm Goossens is the General Manager of the Netherlands Red Cross, succeeding Marieke van Schaik on the Climate Centre board. A former director at the Unilever company, he studied business administration in Groningen and fulfilled various roles in South Africa, Turkey, Poland, the Netherlands and the UK.

Yasmine Praz Dessimoz

Yasmine Praz Dessimoz

Observer (ICRC Director of Operations)

Yasmine Praz Dessimoz is ICRC Director of Operations and has held multiple roles in challenging or conflict-affected regions, including Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, former Yugoslavia, Iraq and Sudan. She holds a first degree in economic science and an executive master’s in international negotiation and policy-making from the Graduate Institute in Geneva.

Directors

Julie Arrighi

Julie Arrighi

Director of Programmes

Julie is Director of Programmes. Her position is shared with the American Red Cross. She is also a visiting researcher at the University of Twente and has supported the Movement since 2009.

Aditya Bahadur

Aditya Bahadur

Director

Aditya is the director of the Climate Centre. He has nearly two decades of experience in working on climate change and development with governments, international agencies, research institutes and local civil society organizations. He has a MA and PhD in development studies, focusing on resilience, and has completed a post-doctoral programme on urban climate resilience.

Olof van Praat

Olof van Praat

Director of Operations

Based in the Netherlands, Olof leads on core functions such as finance, HR, IT, and contracts and compliance. With a background in financial services and the NGO sector, Olof’s passion for operations stems from their pivotal role in translating vision and strategy into tangible outcomes and, with the Climate Centre, making the best global scientific insights operable at local level.

Programme managers

Irene Amuron

Irene Amuron

Head of Anticipatory Action

Irene leads on anticipatory action and is the focal person for learning, innovation and exchange at the Anticipation Hub. She is a technical expert in the field of disaster risk management, whose expertise includes specialist support to National Societies and partners on FbF.

Meet the team
Meghan Bailey

Meghan Bailey

Head of Social Protection & Head of Health

Meghan leads the portfolios on climate-responsive social protection and the climate-health nexus. They are also an adviser on the design of forecast-based financing systems and supports research efforts across our work. Meghan holds a PhD on climate change adaptation from the University of Oxford.

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Margot Curl

Margot Curl

Head of Programme Integration

Margot is a manager leading work on innovative engagement (online and offline). She also leads the youth portfolio and coordinates the Climate Centre’s internship programme. She is an expert in designing and facilitating learning processes and has over thirteen years’ experience working for the Red Cross Red Crescent.

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Fleur Monasso

Fleur Monasso

Head of Climate & Conflict (interim) / Head of Locally Led Adaptation

Fleur joined the Climate Centre in 2005 and is part of the programme management team. She specialises in the international public sector and studied international relations at the University of Amsterdam. Fleur is the European focal point for the Climate Centre and works on the health and climate agenda.

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Roop Singh

Roop Singh

Head of Urban & Attribution

Roop manages the urban and attribution portfolios, including leading our work on heat. She has worked for over a decade with NGOs, governments and businesses on climate risk and adaptation planning. 

Meet the team

Teams


Operations

Operations