Mr Alejandro Guarin, Head of Benchmarks and Insights, WBA
Moderator and closing remarks
| Alejandro is the Head of Benchmarks and Insights at WBA and is responsible for maintaining and developing WBA’s capabilities for benchmarking and benchmark-based insights products, ensuring that WBA insights and data are useful – and used – to assess the contribution of companies towards a fairer and more sustainable world. Alejandro has experience in research, advocacy, and policy engagement at the global level and in countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Europe.
Before joining WBA in 2024, Alejandro led the food systems team at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) in London for 8 years. Before that he was a senior researcher at the German Development Institute in Bonn, and a consultant for FAO. He has a PhD in geography from the University of California, Berkeley, and studied biology at the National University of Colombia.
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Ms Pernilla Bergmark, Head of Institutional Research and Partnerships, WBA
Opening remarks
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Pernilla Bergmark is the Research Lead for the Financial System Benchmark since September 2023. In this role, she is responsible for ensuring the development of high-quality benchmarks and insights covering banks, asset managers, asset owners and insurers. Pernilla is passionate about corporate accountability and finding ways to accelerate the transition to an inclusive society within planetary boundaries. Before joining WBA, Pernilla spent her career in the digital sector, most recently as the principal researcher for ICT sustainability impacts at Ericsson, where she conducted peer-reviewed research and led standardization on topics connected to assessments of sustainability aspects, in particular focusing on climate and other environmental topics.
As a standardizer Pernilla has been very active in bodies such as ITU, ISO, ETSI and led methodology development for LCA, avoided emissions, smart sustainable cities, net zero and decarbonization trajectories. Besides her role in WBA, Pernilla Bergmark is a research fellow at Exponential Roadmap Initiative, member of the SBTi technical advisory group and a board member of academic research programs. She is also an experienced keynote speaker and panelist.
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Ms Rosie McDonald, Climate Change Officer, BDT, ITU
Presentation of report findings
| Dr Rosie McDonald is a Climate Change Officer within the ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau, a UN specialised agency for digital technologies. Her work focuses on climate change, green digital transformation, early warnings, and circular electronics. Her role involves developing and managing projects, conducting research and data analysis, developing tools, and providing capacity building to Member States to address environmental challenges. Under the UN Early Warnings for All (EW4All) Initiative, she is a country manager and leads the coordination efforts for the EW4All AI Group.
Prior to ITU, she worked in the science and technical branch of the Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm (BRS) Conventions, and was also a modeller for the land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF) sector of the UK national greenhouse gas inventory. She holds a PhD in Environment Sciences from the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology and an MSc in Environmental Protection and Management from The University of Edinburgh (UK).
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Ms Ilayda Tenim, Research Analyst, WBA
Presentation of report findings
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Ilayda joined WBA as a Reseaerch Analyst in September 2024.
Prior to joining WBA, Ilayda worked at Global Water Intelligence as a Research Analyst, conducting research on the water industry and collecting data on utilities and companies in the Middle East. During her studies, she interned as a Sustainability Consultant, focusing on ESG data analysis and assessing low-carbon transition strategies of Japanese companies.
Ilayda holds an International Joint Master's degree in Industry Dynamics and Sustainability from University of Glasgow, University of Barcelona, and Kyoto University.
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