Menu
The first-ever Climate Law and Governance Global Leadership Awards were announced in a special awards ceremony at Climate Law and Governance Day 2019, held at Universidad Autónoma de Madrid Faculty of Law.
The top honours were received by Ms. Marie-Anne Birken, General Counsel at EBRD for her leadership as a general counsel, Dr. Ilona Millar, Senior Partner at Baker McKenzie and Dr. Wendy Miles, QC, Partner at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP and Vice President of the International Chamber of Commerce Court of Arbitration for their leadership as professionals; and HE Tosi Mpanu Mpanu, Chair of the Coalition of Rainforest Nations & Representative, Democratic Republic of Congo, for his leadership as
a climate negotiator over the years. Adv. Magdalena Stryja of the University of Silesia in Katowice, Head of Science and Development Committee of the Katowice Bar Association and Legal Fellow at CISDL, and Prof. Tomasz Pietrzykowski, Professor and Vice-Rector for Domestic & International Cooperation at the University of Silesia won the prize for the top law faculty and university.
Award Winner – General Counsel: Ms. Marie-Anne Birken, General Counsel at EBRD
Marie-Anne Birken was appointed General Counsel at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in June 2014. Ms Birken is a member of the Executive Committee and various other committees of the Bank. Ms Birken joined the EBRD from the Asian Development Bank where she was The Secretary and previously served as Deputy General Counsel and as Assistant General Counsel responsible for private sector operations. Ms Birken has extensive emerging markets experience and lived and worked in Asia from 1995 until 2014. She was previously a partner in two international law firms and held the position of regional general counsel at Barclays Bank where she supported corporate banking activities in Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
Award Winner – Professional Leadership: Dr. Ilona Millar, Senior Partner at Baker McKenzie
Ilona is the head of Baker McKenzie’s Global Climate Change practice. She has worked for the last 20 years on climate law and finance, including the development of law and policy and its implementation by both governments and the private sector. This experience extends to complex multi-jurisdictional transactions as well as the development of innovative responses to climate change and sustainability problems. Ilona has worked extensively on the development of carbon contracts, carbon funds and carbon transactions in both the compliance and voluntary markets. She also has a deep expertise in advising on natural sinks and forest based carbon transactions as well as on geological sequestration and the legal frameworks for carbon capture and storage. More recently she has been leading work exploring the role of hydrogen in transitioning to a low carbon economy. Ilona’s experience also extends to all aspects of environmental law and policy and she has a strong background in all aspects of management, planning and projects. Prior to joining Baker McKenzie, Ilona worked at the Foundation for International Environmental Law and Development (FIELD) in London. She is also a former Principal Solicitor of the Environmental Defender’s Office Ltd (NSW). Ilona currently serves as a board member of the Natural Resources Access Regulator, an independent body which oversees natural resources compliance in NSW. She is also a member of the NSW Independent Planning Commission which reviews and determines state significant development proposals. She is a visiting fellow at the ANU College of Law where she has taught international climate change law at ANU since 2009. Ilona has been ranked in Best Lawyers Australia since 2014 and was awarded Best Lawyer Climate Change in 2017 and 2019.
Award Winner – Professional Leadership: Dr. Wendy Miles, QC, Partner at Debevoise & Plimpton LLP and Vice President of the International Chamber of Commerce Court of Arbitration
Wendy J. Miles, QC is a partner in the firm’s London office and a member of the International Dispute Resolution Group. Her practice focuses on international arbitration and public international law. Ms. Miles is recognised as one of the market’s foremost lawyers in the fields of arbitration and public international law. With over twenty years of experience, Ms. Miles has conducted arbitrations under all the major institutions, as well as ad hoc, and undertaken significant public international law cases. She has advised a wide range of multinationals, sovereign states and state entities. Ms. Miles is a Vice President of the ICC Court of Arbitration and member of the ICC Commission on Arbitration and ADR. She co-chaired the Task Force on Costs Allocation in Arbitration from 2016 to 2017, and the ICC Task Force on Climate Change Related Disputes, which published its report in December 2019. She also remains active on various other professional bodies including the International Bar Association, Stockholm Arbitration Association and the Foundation for International Advocacy in Arbitration, which she will chair from 2020 to 2022. She is immediate past Co-Chair of the gender diversity initiative Equal Representation in Arbitration Pledge. Ms. Miles regularly teaches on arbitration, advocacy, climate change law and public and private international law.
Award winner – climate negotiator: HE Tosi Mpanu Mpanu, Chair of the Coalition of Rainforest Nations & Representative, Democratic Republic of Congo
An economist by training, Ambassador Tosi Mpanu-Mpanu holds an MBA in Finance and Investments from The George Washington University, as well as a Master’s degree in European Studies and International Relations from Université de Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne. He has twenty years of experience in the areas of finance, climate change, economic development, carbon markets, renewable energy, environment and diplomacy. He sits on the Governing Board of the African Risk Capacity (ARC) Agency, a specialized agency of the African Union. As a delegate of the Democratic Republic of Congo in the negotiation process under the UN Climate Convention, he has participated to most UN climate conferences since 2007. Elected President of the Group of African Negotiators at the Copenhagen Conference in December 2009, he held this position until the Durban Conference in December 2011. Following his chairmanship of the Least Developed Countries Group (LDCs) in the climate negotiations process from January to December 2016, he served as Chair of the Coalition for Rainforest Nations (CfRN), from 2017 to 2019. From 2014 to 2015, Amb. Mpanu Mpanu served as a member of the Executive Board of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), which supervises the operation and evaluation of market-based mechanisms under the Kyoto Protocol’s clean development mechanism. In December 2019, Amb. Mpanu Mpanu was elected Chair of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA).
Award winner – Top University and Law Faculty: Adv. Magdalena Stryja of the University of Silesia in Katowice, Head of Science and Development Committee of the Katowice Bar Association and Legal Fellow at CISDL
Adv. Magdalena Stryja performs the function of the Head for Organisation at the Faculty of Law and Administration, University of Silesia in Katowice. She also performs the function of the Chair of the Science and Development Committee with the District Bar Association in Katowice. She is a member of the interdisciplinary Polish Research Team Just Transition, which aims at developing and implementing the concept of fair transformation in view of the necessity of transforming economy, lifestyle, culture and social values in the region in the face of climate change. She is a member of the University of Silesia-based bioethics research team dealing with legal and bioethical aspects of medicine and animal protection as well as environmental and climate protection. She acts as the Spokesperson for the Faculty of Law and Administration University of Silesia in Katowice and is a member of a research team within the project financed by the European Commission entitled “Train Your Language.” Adv. Stryja delivers lectures on labour law and social policy, teaches copyright law with a focus on employee-generated content and works, and also deals with legal aspects of climate change, including the social aspects of retraining employees.
Award winner – Top University and Law Faculty: Prof. Tomasz Pietrzykowski, Professor and Vice-Rector for Domestic & International Cooperation at the University of Silesia
Tomasz Pietrzykowski is professor of legal theory and philosophy of law at the University of Silesia in Katowice and the Head of the Research Center for Public Policy and Regulatory Governance. He is the author of numerous books and articles on philosophical, scientific and legal aspects of personhood, animal rights, bioethics, legal methodology and problems of interpretation and application of the law. He is also practicing lawyer and former head of governmental administration in the Polish region of Silesia. Currently, he is the chairman of the advisory council of the Silesian Metropolitan Area composed of 41 municipalities around the city of Katowice, as well as the chairman of the Polish National Committee on Ethics in Animal Experimentation. Since 2015 he is vice-rector of the University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland. In late 2019 he established the interdisciplinary ‘Just Transition Research Group’ that is to pursue systematic research on socially just and viable policies of effective energy, economy and lifestyle transformation of regions still deeply involved in carbon intensive industries, such as Upper Silesia.
Congratulations again to all award winners. Learn more about Climate Law & Governance Day 2019 here, or email us at climatelawgovernance@cisdl.org.
