Investing in energy transition minerals

Maria – Yassin Jah - Transition Finance Lead at SLR

Maria-Yassin’s professional experience over the past 16 years has been focussed on the intersection between sustainable finance, the energy / commoditiessector and sustainable development. She has held a range of strategically focused in-house commercial roles as well as consulting positions and has in-depth knowledge of the energy and commodities industry (particularly energy commodities, agriculture, metals / minerals) and its financing needs at various points along global supply chains. Maria-Yassin has supported organisations on both sides of investment transactions; helping investees to effectively embed ESG strategies to generate positive socio-economic impact to meet investor, regulatory, market and community expectations as well as investors with ESG due diligence activities.

Maria-Yassin’s work has thus been guided by leading sustainable finance and responsible investment frameworks and policies, such as the UNPRI, the IFC Performance Standards, the Equator Principles and other regional ESG standards and regulatory requirements that directly and indirectly affect the investment community and commodities sector, such as the EU Taxonomy and the OECD Due Diligence Guidelines for Responsible Mineral Supply Chains.

She has extensive experience working and supporting clients in several European, African and Asian countries, including Sweden, Norway, Germany, France, Switzerland, the UK, The Gambia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Namibia, Indonesia, China and Japan.

Njomza Miftari - Project Manager – Responsible Sourcing Advisory

Njomza is a Project Manager in RCS' Responsible Sourcing Advisory Unit - now part of SLR - who has engaged with various clients from both the upstream and downstream on their responsible sourcing journey. She has advised clients on complex issues such as responsible mining standards, traceability, human rights due diligence and sustainable finance. Njomza has a strong background in policy development, human rights, and project coordination. In addition to her practical experience, she holds a Master's degree in Human Rights from Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg

Paul Ekins - Professor of Resources and Environmental Policy, UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources and Green Purposes Company Trustee

Paul Ekins has a Ph.D. in economics from the University of London and is Professor of Resources and Environmental Policy at the UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources at University College London. Paul Ekins’ academic work, published in numerous books, articles and scientific papers, focuses on the conditions and policies for achieving an environmentally sustainable economy. He is a Trustee of the Green Purposes Company. He is also a member of UNEP’s International Resource Panel (IRP), and was a co-author of the IRP’s report on Minerals Governance (2020) and is the lead author of the IRP’s forthcoming report on financing the responsible production of energy transition minerals. In the UK New Year’s Honours List for 2015 he received an OBE for services to environmental policy.