Ovais Sarmad  

Vice Chair – Green House Gas Protocol (GHG-P) Steering Committee Former Deputy Executive Secretary / ASG at UNFCCC Former IOM Chief of Staff & Director of Cabinet 

Mr. Ovais Sarmad served the United Nations Climate Change secretariat (UNFCCC) – COP23 to COP 27. During his tenure, he managed the UNFCCC secretariat operations, advised Executive Secretaries on a range of issues relating to the strategic operations planning and development of the organization. He guided the process-related and operational aspects of five COPs, including through the uncertainties of COVID-19 pandemic, completion of Paris Agreement implementation guidelines including Article 6 at Glasgow and the establishment of Loss & Damage fund at Sharm-el-Sheikh. He initiated a secretariat-wide structure review/implementation and a new budget process through a consultative process with all stakeholders. He finalized the first ever comprehensive strategic framework and initiated the first ever annual report for United Nations Climate Change. He established a successful Resources Mobilization & Partnership function to enhance fund-raising and public/private sector partnerships and undertook a secretariat-wide restructuring process to make the organization fit-for-purpose and to move to the implementation era of the Paris Agreement.  

He contributed to and spoke at various fora at the global level on climate change, migration and multilateralism and engaged in public policy discourse and development. 

Prior to UNFCCC, he served as Director of Cabinet & Chief of Staff to the Director General at the International Organization for Migration (IOM). He worked in several management and policy development capacities in IOM over a period of 27 years. He initiated Organizational change management processes; established offices to deal with emergency operations; led a diverse and multi-cultural team; Introduced and pioneered the projectization & delocalization process including establishment of back-office Administrative centers in Manila and Panama.

He initiated and successfully completed IOM’s affiliation to the United Nations’ Joint Staff Pension Fund following a complex negotiation process. He was a key team member in negotiating IOM-UN relationship agreement that was signed on 19 September 2016. Prior to the IOM, he worked in the private and public sectors in London, where he qualified as a Chartered Management Accountant (ACMA) & Chartered Global Management Accountant (GCMA) in 1988 after having graduated from Osmania University in Hyderabad, India, as a Bachelor of Commerce in 1982.  

Currently, he serves as the Vice Chair of GHG-Protocol Steering Committee and his other areas of focus include engaging with and supporting activities and organizations around the world (a) that promise to innovate and accelerate sustainable development and growth without damaging the environment; (b) to contribute to public policy discourse and development; (c) to empower youth through quality education at all levels and (d) to advise, mentor and coach individuals and organizations in multilateralism, diplomacy, geopolitical issues on climate change and migration and organizational change and development.