The Global Youth Climate Network (GYCN), an initiative of the World Bank Group, has appointed Sri Lankan Talal Rafi as a Climate Ambassador for 2021. GYCN is part of the World Bank’s Y2Y Community, a network of young professionals dedicated to inspiring, engaging and empowering young people in global development. The initiative motivates young people to work together to develop and implement innovative programmes alleviating climate change and to inspire, educate and connect with their communities to mitigate climate change.

Talal Rafi is an entrepreneur and consultant who work across multiple fields in developing entrepreneurship. Talal has been an advocate on the topic of climate change through his work in entrepreneurship development; he mentors and advises startups in ensuring that their business models are environmentally sustainable and mitigate climate change. He is consulting as an industry expert at the Moratuwa University Entrepreneurship Centre under the World Bank AHEAD project. Talal was on the Selection Committee of the Asian Development Bank #DigitalAgainstCovid-19 Global Innovation Series.

As an Expert Member at Chatham House London, Talal worked with other industry experts from the World Bank, Goldman Sachs and other organizations on formulating recommendations for the G7 and G20 leaders on gender equality in a post covid world. He is a member of the Forbes Business Council of Forbes Magazine. Talal was nominated as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.

“As Sri Lanka was previously ranked the second most vulnerable country in the world to climate change, there is a real urgency to tackle the issue,” said Talal Rafi. “Being appointed as a World Bank GYCN Climate Ambassador gives me the platform to engage with national stakeholders, entrepreneurs and industry leaders on developing forward-thinking environmentally sustainable businesses.”