Lily Odarno
Senior Director, Growth Regions
About
Lily Odarno is the Senior Director for Growth Regions at Clean Air Task Force (CATF). She leads CATF’s regional engagement across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. Working at the critical intersection of climate, development, and energy sector transformation, Lily drives climate and energy solutions within the world’s fastest-growing economies—regions whose rapid growth, energy demand, and investment choices will decisively shape global climate progress. She oversees a multidisciplinary team of economists, engineers, and policy experts.
Previously, Lily led CATF’s Africa program, executing a strategy focused on pragmatic, development-centric solutions through a robust network of policymakers, industry leaders, power utilities, and civil society partners. She is the architect of the Africa Utilities Roundtable, a premier engagement platform dedicated to enhancing power utility performance and expanding clean energy uptake across the continent.
Lily joined CATF from the World Resources Institute (WRI), where she spearheaded the establishment of WRI’s East Africa energy access program. Her earlier career includes tenure as a research associate at the Center for Energy and Environmental Policy and a researcher at the UNEP Copenhagen Climate Center.
A recognized global expert, Lily serves on the Editorial Board of the Climate Policy journal and contributed to the scoping of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Seventh Assessment Report (AR7). Her thought leadership has been featured in prominent media outlets, including the Financial Times, Voice of America, BBC World, and African Arguments.
Lily holds a Ph.D. in Energy and Environmental Policy from the University of Delaware, an M.Sc. (Eng) in Environmental Management from Aalborg University, and a B.Sc. in Biological Sciences from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.
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