COP 21 : 2 Side-events

Dr. Ramanathan discovered the greenhouse effect of Choloro-fluoro-carbons in 1975. He predicted in 1980 that global warming would be detected by 2000. He led the Indian-Ocean-experiment that discovered the widespread Atmospheric Brown Clouds and the large warming effect of black carbon. He has made fundamental work on the atmospheric greenhouse effects of CO₂, water vapor, methane, ozone and HFCs as well as on the feedback effects involving sea ice, tropical clouds, and storm tracks. Using such empirical observations, he showed that mitigation of short-lived climate pollutants will slow down global warming by as much as 50% during the next few decades. In response, the United Nations has formed the Climate and Clean Air Coalition. He is now focusing on the plight of the bottom 3 billion people who will suffer the worst consequences of climate change and developed a new approach called as The Two Worlds Approach to provide clean/renewable energy access to the bottom 3 billion. One example is Project Surya which is mitigating black carbon and other climate warming emissions from solid biomass cooking in India.
 
He is now serving in Pope Francis’ Council for the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. Through numerous meetings and summits he helped organize on behalf of Pope Francis at Vatican, an Alliance between Science, religion and policy is emerging with a potential for a transformative effect on the global efforts to slow down climate change.
 
He was honored as the 2013 Champion of Earth for Science and Innovation by the United Nations and named as the 2014 Global Thinker by the US Foreign Policy. He has been elected to the National Academy of Science, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical society and has won numerous other honors.

During his career in the professional services industry, James Close provided strategic and financial advice to a range of public and private sector clients. He has also undertaken a two-year secondment as head of the Corporate and Private Finance team at the UK's Treasury, where he gained experience with the challenges facing governments in trying to establish a suitable enabling environment for private sector investment. James Close advised the Greater London Authority on its climate change and environment policy. At Ernst and Young, he led the Climate Change and Sustainability Services. Mr Close, a chartered accountant, joined the World Bank Group in 2013 as the program manager for PPIAF, a multi-donor trust fund which enables infrastructure investment.

Gary Crawford is employed by Veolia as Vice President of International Affairs and is based in Paris. He has over 25 years of experience in the waste industry and has held various operational, technical, and managerial positions.
 He is responsible for establishing active partnerships with key global stakeholders and institutions to support the Company’s current activities and developing business. He is focused on emerging growth markets associated with cross-cutting subjects such as the Circular Economy, Climate Change and Smart Cities.
 
He is on the Board of the International Solid Waste Association and is Chair of its WG on Climate Change. Representing ISWA, he is a member of the Steering Group of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition Municipal Solid Waste Initiative.