The Proposed 90-Minute Panel Discussion on Green Islamic Finance

  Key  Discussion Points:

Brief introduction–Moderato rand Panelists

The moderator shall   The Proposed 90-Minute Panel Discussion on Green Islamic Finance

Key Discussion Points:

Brief introduction – Moderator and Panelists
The moderator shall make a short presentation on the Green Sukuk Standards Project currently underway at Dubai International Financial Centre – Dubai in collaboration with Climate Bonds Initiative – London.

The Moderator shall ask each panelist to brief the audience about what has been their latest achievement in the field of green/sustainable finance in general and green Islamic finance in particular.

The Moderator shall thereafter have 2 rounds of questions from each Panelist. The questions shall be developed in consultation with each Panelist closer to COP29 opening keeping in view the latest development in sustainable finance.

During the Panel, the Moderator shall give the floor to the audience twice. First in the middle
i.e. in the 45th minute and the other in the 60th minute.

The Panel shall end on time upon completion of the 60

th minute.

Speakers Profile

Sohail Zubairi

Zubairi is currently heading the Green Sukuk Standards project initiated by him in collaboration with the Climate Bonds Initiative-UK and Dubai Intl Financial Centre.

Sohail Zubairi until recently served as the Senior Advisor with the Department of Economy & Tourism, Govt. of Dubai. Before that, he was associated with Dubai Islamic Economy Development Centre (DIEDC), Govt. of Dubai where he managed all advisory matters related to Islamic banking, capital market, asset management, insurance, and Islamic trust (Waqf) in addition to hosting roundtables, attending conferences and conducting the training workshops based on his strong expertise and considerable contribution to the industry spanning over 2 decades. Zubairi also successfully mentored many Islamic fintech start-ups for Fintech Hive- DIFC.

Zubairi is the former Founding CEO of the internationally acclaimed and award-winning ‘Dar Al Sharia Islamic Finance Consultancy’, established by him in 2007 as a subsidiary of Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB). Subsequently, he also established Dar Al Sharia Limited at Dubai Intl Financial Centre in 2013.

Under Zubairi’s leadership, Dar Al Sharia group won over 2-dozen international awards for being the best Islamic finance consultancy and advisory firm - notably the most coveted Dubai Global Islamic Economy Summit Award 2016 and Dubai Chamber’s first Mohammed Bin Rashid Innovation Award 2016 besides twin IFN Malaysia Awards for the best consultancy and advisory firm for 8 years in a row (2009-2016).

Zubairi holds over 4 decades of rare combined conventional and Islamic banking stints at senior executive and CEO positions in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). He holds professional qualifications and a strong practical command in both conventional and Islamic banking products and services which include a Banking Diploma from the Institute of Bankers, Certified Sharia Advisor and Auditor from AAOIFI, and Certified Islamic Arbitrator and Expert from IICRA
.
Zubairi has a passion for Islamic finance and is currently authoring a weekly article in IFN’s e- journal titled “Back to Basic”. He has so far written over 400 educative articles on the subject with a balanced combination of theory and practice in various print and electronic media outlets.

Zubairi regularly participates in Islamic finance conferences and seminars as a panelist and moderator besides conducting capacity-building workshops for government officials, bankers, university students, and others within and outside UAE on the basic to advanced level content developed by him on all facets of Islamic finance.

Zubairi has also prepared and delivered the syllabus, course handouts, class presentations, quizzes, and mid-term and final examination papers for introducing the Islamic Finance semester at the University of Dubai, Cass Business School (City University London), and British University in Dubai.

Sean Kidney

Sean is the CEO of the Climate Bonds Initiative (CBI), an international NGO working to mobilize global capital for climate action.

Sean co-founded CBI in 2009, and has served as CEO ever since. He has led CBI to become the gold standard verifier of sustainable bonds worldwide and develop a market for sustainable
investments. CBI’s work and global advocacy has resulted in billions of dollars being directed to create a more sustainable real estate industry.

As CEO of CBI, Sean works at the intersection of capital investment and the task of addressing climate change. Over the past 10 years the CBI has been instrumental in growing a global green bonds market from US$10 billion of issuance a year to US$1 trillion of issuance a year, along with various collateral benefits arising, from pro-active regulator and central bank action to support green issuance, to government green finance programmes that feed into burgeoning sovereign green bond issuance. It has done this with the support of an investor partnership programme that now represents US$43 trillion of assets under management.

As part of his work Sean has served in a variety of roles including Consultant on green bonds to the United Nations Secretary General, Member of the European Union’s Platform on Sustainable Finance, Member of the Peoples Bank of China’s Green Finance Task Force, Member of the
Monetary Authority of Singapore’s Sustainable Finance Advisory Panel, Member of the European Advisory Board of the SMARTER Finance for Families (energy efficiency) initiative, and Member of the Energy Efficient Mortgages Initiative of the European Mortgage Federation.

Sean’s expertise on driving capital markets and the global network of property sector green bond investors he engages with, will provide valuable sustainable finance and investment insights to WorldGBC, bringing additional credibility and the opportunity to influence the sector.

Vijay Bains

Vijay Bains is the first-ever Group Head of Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) at Emirates NBD Bank, Head Office, Dubai, U.A.E.

Prior to joining ENBD, Vijay was at KPMG in the UK where he has worked across Sustainability, advising client on Sustainable Finance, ESG Strategy, ESG Regulations. He has held roles across other leading organizations like Ernst and Young, Lloyds Banking Group and the European Bank of Reconstruction & Development.

Vijay has extensive experience building and implementing ESG strategies and teams. He has designed and marketed sustainability loans and green bonds, while advising on sustainability for IPOs, as well as designing and building ESG finance products such as mortgages, loans, and insurances.

Vijay brings over 15+ years of sustainability experience to the role across the Middle East, UK, Europe, and North America. Vijay is responsible for the end-to-end ESG strategy including the introduction of more sustainable practices, policies, and outcomes across Emirates NBD Group.

He is not only responsible to increase the Bank’s sustainable finance offerings, investments, provide customers with greater advisory services to support their net-zero transition but also be responsible for the Corporate Governance requirements too. Vijay will significantly increase
Emirates NBD Bank’s sustainability investments across the organization.

Lastly but not the least, Vijay plays a vital role in the Group’s journey to embed environmental, social and governance principles across the growing organization and business strategy. This is mission-critical for Emirates NBD Bank in delivering the vision and purpose in a sustainable way.

Mughees Shaukat

Mughees currently serves as the Senior Manager-Capacity Building Programs at AAOIFI-Bahrain.

He is the pioneer Head of Islamic/Halal Finance in the College of Banking & Financial Studies, Muscat, Oman Entity, under the Central Bank of Oman. He specializes in Islamic Economics, Banking and Finance and is a global leader, public speaker and a PhD scholar in the same.

He is a Fintech specialist from MIT, USA, member of AAOIFI Education Board- Bahrain; Member, of Society of Advancement of Socio-Economics (SASE), France; Member of The Western Economic Association International (WEAI), USA, Member, High-level level International, select, Expert Panel, the Central Bank of Bahrain, For creating Islamic Profit Rate Bench Mark, Bahrain, Member of the BLOCKCHAIN Society, Oman and Certified Shariah Advisor and Auditor, AAOIFI, among other.

His focus includes Halal Industry, China Pakistan Economic Corridor-CEPC, Macro Economic Policies, FinTech and Islamic/Halal Finance, the History of Economic Thought, Shariah Governance, SMEs, Venture Capital, & Takaful/Halal Insurance among others. He has worked as an Assistant Researcher in Islamic banking and finance in INCEIF & ISRA alongside Distinguished Scholars and IsDB Award winners

Claire Dorrian