By Jeannine Ajello
Ede Ijjasz-Vasquez is a nonresident senior fellow in the Africa Growth Initiative, which is part of the Global Economy and Development program at the Brookings Institution. His work at Brookings focuses on climate change, sustainable development, and infrastructure.
His previous positions at the World Bank included regional director for sustainable development and infrastructure in the sub-Saharan Africa and the Latin America and Caribbean regions, global senior director for the Social, Urban, Rural, and Resilience Global Practice, manager for sustainable development and infrastructure in China, and global manager of the Water and Sanitation Program and global energy program ESMAP. He is currently CEO and founder of Eigen Impact Consulting, a boutique consulting company specialized in sustainability, organizational change, and leadership.
Ijjasz-Vasquez has worked in more than 90 developing and emerging economies in all regions of the world—from fragile and conflict-affected countries to high middle-income countries. At the World Bank, he was responsible for $80 billion of investments and close to 800 policy and advisory reports. He has been featured in, and served as expert source to, several global media outlets such as CNN, The Wall Street Journal, Time, The Economist, LA Times, and CNBC.
He has more than 20 years of teaching experience in environmental science and policy, and sustainable development at Johns Hopkins University, George Washington University, and Tsinghua University in Beijing.
Ijjasz-Vasquez is the co-director of the report series “State and Trends in Climate Adaptation.” The 2020 report had a global coverage and the 2021 edition focused on Africa. He is currently working on two books: “Disruptive Technologies for Sustainable Development,” World Bank, forthcoming (2022), and “Knowledge Management and Organizational Change,” Routledge Ed., forthcoming (2022).
He consults with international organizations such as the Asian Development Bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the Global Center for Adaptation, the World Bank, the World Meteorological Organization, the World Resources Institute, and private sector companies on climate change and sustainability.
