Sean Kidney is the CEO of the Climate Bonds Initiative, an international NGO working to mobilize global capital for climate action. He has been central to the growth of what is now a USD2 trillion global green bond market. Sean co-founded CBI in 2009 and has served as CEO ever since. 

CBI activities include: 

• Education of investors and prospective bond issuers about opportunities with investments addressing climate change, how to issue green bonds, etc. 

• Developing public standards and ‘green taxonomies’ with the aim of driving the market to Paris-Agreement consistent investments. It’s supervisory board for this work has some USD40 trillion of assets under management represented on it. 

• Working with central banks on how to grow green bonds;  

• Green bond market development programs in all global capital markets. 

• Partnership activities with the world’s largest investors and banks. 

• Developing policies and programmes that will support private sector investment in climate change mitigation and climate resilience projects.  

Sean’s current roles: 

Central bank engagement advisory 

• Monetary Authority of Singapore’s Sustainable Finance Advisory Panel 

• Lecturer on sustainable finance for Banco Centrale do Brasil, Monetary Authority of Singapore, Reserve Bank of India, Bank Negara Malaysia 

Expert committees 

• European Commission's Platform on Sustainable Finance  

• European Commission's Investor Dialogue on Energy 

• International Energy Agency’s Finance Industry Advisory Board 

• UNCTAD Sustainable Investment Advisory Council 

Treasuries / debt management offices advisory committees 

• French government’s Green Sovereign Bond Evaluation Council  

• UK Government’s green gilt advisory committee 

Industry initiatives 

• Steering Committee of the Asia-Pacific Financial Forum’s Sustainable Finance Development Network (APFF SFDN). 

• Mexico Climate Finance Consultative Board 

• Future of Sustainable Data Alliance 

• Moody’s ESG Advisory Board 

Market support initiatives 

• Board of Climate Transition Pathways, an accreditation framework for insurance companies 

• Board of the UNDP-GEF Climate Aggregation Platform  

• Finance Advisory Board, Global Alliance for a Sustainable Planet  

• European Advisory Board of the SMARTER Finance for Families (energy efficiency) initiative 

• Astana International Finance Centre’s Green Advisory Committee 

• Executive Consultation Group, Blue Dot Network, a certification scheme to attract investment into infrastructure, hosted by the OECD Trust in Business initiative, in co-operation with the US,  Australian and Japanese Governments. 

Investment vehicles 

• Advisory Group of the Latin American green bond fund, LAGreen, seeded by KfW 

• Non-executive director of ClimateRock listed renewable energy investment fund  

Thinktanks 

• Advisory Board of the International Sustainable Financial Centre, Prague 

• Sustainability Fellow at the Nordic Institute for Finance, Technology and Sustainability, Oslo. 

• International Advisory Board of the Romanian Sustainable Investment Finance Association (ROSIF) 

Sean is also ‘Professor in Practice’ at SOAS University of London. 

He has previously been a: 

• Consultant on green bonds to the United Nations Secretary General 

• Member of the EU Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance  

• Member of the European Commission's High-Level Expert Group on Sustainable Finance  

• Member of the Peoples Bank of China Green Finance Task Force  

• Member of the Commonwealth Secretariat’s Expert Committee on Climate Finance. 

• Member of the Blended Finance Task Force  

A regular speaker on climate change and finance, Sean has over the past year spoken at conferences and seminars on six continents. 

In 2016 he was named Environmental Finance magazine’s “Personality of the Year” and in 2017 to 2019 was voted GlobalCapital magazine’s “Most Influential Champion” of the sustainable finance market.  

He was previously an award-winning marketing advisor to a number of the largest Australian pension funds and a social marketer and publisher. 

Sean is an Irish national. He has four daughters and lives in London with his partner.