Monica Araya

For over 25 years, Monica has worked with leaders in government, business, philanthropy and advocacy on accelerating climate action with a focus on Latin America, Europe and the U.S.

She has worked as strategist of several initiatives, boards and international campaigns. She helped develop Costa Rica’s national decarbonization plan, was a special adviser to the high-level champion for climate action at COP26 in Glasgow and a distinguished fellow at ClimateWorks Foundation. She helped incubate the Drive Electric Campaign, a global campaign powered by philanthropy.

For her work on electrification she was included in the list of “BBC 100 Women.” Her TED talks on climate action have over five million views.

Most recently, Monica was the executive director of the European Climate Foundation's (ECF) international programs and a member of the organization's executive management team. In that capacity, she oversaw work and grant-making on trade, diplomacy, decarbonization plans and global climate politics. 

Previously, Monica worked at the ministry of foreign trade in Costa Rica, Climate Change Capital, the UN negotiations and E3G. She obtained at masters in economic policy at the National University of Costa Rica and masters and Ph.D. degrees in environmental management from Yale University.