Diong has experience in development banking, government and insurance against climate disasters in Africa Ibrahima Cheikh Diong speaks at the Global Food Security Summit in London on 20 November 2023 (Photos: Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office ) Governments have chosen veteran Senegalese banker Ibrahima Cheikh Diong to lead the new United Nations’ fund for responding to the loss and damage caused by climate change. The officials who make up the fund’s board selected Diong – who has worked in insurance, private and public banks and government – during a meeting in Azerbaijan’s capital Baku last week. His appointment was announced on Saturday. The board’s co-chair Richard Sherman said the selection “reflects the seriousness of the multilateral resolve to address the urgent impacts of loss and damage in countries that are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change”. Diong said he was “honoured” to take up the role and looked forward to providing “crucial support to low-income developing countries most affected by climate change”. Global push to triple renewables requires responsible mining of minerals Diong’s career spans China, the United States, the UK and much of Africa and the Arab world. He is fluent in English, French, Mandarin and Wolof. He has long experience in raising money for infrastructure projects – including airports and power plants – in Senegal, and has more recently led efforts to expand insurance for climate disasters in Africa and advised governments on how to deal with and prevent them. Globe-trotting career As a young man in the 1980s, Diong studied civil engineering at Hohai University in the Chinese city of Nanjing, writing a thesis on the design of a hydropower dam on the Wuhan river. In 1989, he returned to Senegal to design projects to improve access to drinking water and irrigation in […]
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