Manuel is an engineer and senior expert with 15 years of professional experience working on climate change & sustainable energy policy development, including: the carbon market reform and the Paris Agreement; climate change mitigation instruments such as Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs), Low Emission/Carbon Development Strategies (LEDS/LCDS), Low Carbon City (LCC) programs, and its linkages with Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs); variable renewable energy, distributed energy, energy efficiency & demand side management schemes; climate change adaptation best practices, frameworks, tools & community-based adaptation; urban & rural resilience & sustainable livelihoods; and related climate finance instruments and sources.

Manuel has a strong track record in the development, management and execution of portfolios of programs and projects, substantive team and process management expertise, and technical familiarity with all areas of mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, the economic assessment of mitigation options, and the development of blended finance for climate mitigation. His professional experiences cover, inter alia:

(i) strategic/programmatic planning and portfolio management for corporates, governments and Civil Society Organizations;

(ii) advisory & project management on the ground (from identification/preparation to implementation, supervision and M&E);

(iii) policy analysis & technical backstopping (studies, reviews, evaluations, vulnerability & socio-economic impact assessments, trend analysis), summarizing findings and lessons learned and providing useful recommendations;

(iv) marketing and management of verbal and written communication for internal & external audiences, and

(v) Technical Assistance, building partnerships, training/mentoring technical teams, advising/supporting government institutions, coordinating/facilitating multi-stakeholder consultation mechanisms.

Since 2007, Manuel has developed a strong track record as a topic expert, experienced project manager & team leader developing, managing and executing project portfolios and programs for International Finance Institutions (IFIs): Development Banks, UN agencies, and other bilateral, regional and multilateral development institutions in relation to the topics above.

Since the end of 2016, Manuel has been a co-founder and partner of Vireo, a Singapore-based start-up focused on green project finance on the blockchain, contributing to shape the company’s offering, business processes, development strategy and the sustainable development and climate change side of green project sourcing, due diligence and validation.
Manuel holds a double MSc degree in Organizational Engineering, a MIBA with focus in International Relations, and a postgraduate degree in Human Development Technologies.

Key areas of competence

Climate Policy: policy development (UNFCCC, Paris Agreements, NDCs), new mitigation mechanisms (sectoral schemes, NAMAs, LEDS/LCDS), mitigation and adaptation finance.
Sustainable Energy: Renewables & Energy Efficiency: policy development, demand and supply management, Public & Private Sector Partnerships (PPP), project finance.
Climate Finance: architecture & governance design, financial management, project finance.
Disaster Risk Management and Climate Risk Management (DRM & CRM): Post Disaster Needs Assessment (DaLA Methodology), vulnerability assessment, adaptation plans, climate-resilient development, climate-proofing.
Urban Environment: Low Carbon Cities (LCCs), Smart Cities, urban resilience to CC.
Rural Environment: water and agricultural adaptation to CC.

Key skills

Analytical: highly skilled and experienced at understanding, managing and solving complex problems, including carrying out quantitative research, policy analysis & technical backstopping. Long track record writing studies, reviews, evaluations, vulnerability & socio economic impact assessments, summarizing findings, lessons learned & recommendations.
Portfolio/Project Management: 15 years of experience with programme/project identification, design, planning; implementation (including horizontal and/or vertical elements of regional and/or sectoral strategies); supervision, monitoring & evaluation, project finance.
Strategic Planning/organizational management: 15 years of experience advising public, private and third sector organizations on policies, processes & procedures.
Communication: excellent communication skills, both written and oral, natural ability to work within diverse teams & cultural backgrounds with total fluency over 4 languages.
Stakeholder Engagement & Capacity Building: stakeholder mapping, needs assessment, development & implementation of capacity building and training programmes for various stakeholder groups, network and partnership development, public participation.
Team Leadership & HR Management: managing global teams of consultants & experts.
Commercial: public procurement tenders, customer relationship & key account management.
Procurement: managing public tendering processes (RfP, EoI) and documentation, consultant selection processes, evaluation criteria, evaluation reporting for selected IFIs.