Helena Molin Valdes (Head of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) Secretariat at UN Environment (video display))

　　An experienced leader within the UN system, Helena is since 2013 heading up the Secretariat for the Climate and Clean Air Coalition to Reduce Short-lived Climate Pollutants (CCAC), hosted by the UN Environment in Paris. This Coalition is a leading multistakeholder partnership, unique in its kind. It has developed scientific reports on black carbon, methane and hydrofluorocarbons, supported by a Scientific Advisory Panel, and delivers work through eleven partner-driven initiatives.  The Coalition launched the BreatheLife campaign in 2016 with the World Health Organization and UN Environment. She is a former senior executive with the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction and a long-time proponent of sustainable development, climate change mitigation and disaster resilience. She led the global Resilient Cities campaign until 2013 involving over a thousand local governments. She headed the regional office for Latin America and the Caribbean for the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction and worked for the Pan American Organization on hospital mitigation and disaster preparedness. In her early professional life, she practiced as an architect. She led a Swedish NGO, which worked on community-based planning, housing, improved bricks production from traditional kilns and improved cook-stoves to reduce indoor air pollution and increase energy efficiency in Central America. She holds a Masters degree in Architecture from Lund University, Sweden.