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Speaker

Presidential Climate Commission

Dipak Patel

Head Climate finance and Innovation

Dipak joined the South African Presidential Climate Commission (PCC) in June 2021 as Head: Climate Finance and Innovation. He leads the team in its work in the areas of climate finance mapping, financing a just transition and developing a strategy for financing the pathway to a net-zero emissions target for 2050.

The PCC was established, and is chaired by, the South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa. It is mandated to advise on the all aspects of South Africa’s climate change response.

Prior to joining the PCC, Dipak was Special Advisor to the Minister of Public Enterprises, from 2018 to 2020. In this capacity he was an integral part of the Minister’s Office, developing strategic and financial programmes for state owned enterprises. He was also integral to the process of determining a state-wide framework for the financial and governance management of all state owned enterprises.

Dipak is a chemical engineer, and a qualified artisanal brewer, with a MSc in Development Economics (University of London) and a MBA (University of the Witwatersrand)

He worked in various technical, production management and capital development roles at South African Breweries from 1985 to 1993.

Soon after South Africa’s transition from apartheid to democracy in 1994, Dipak chaired the National Taxi Task Team, a Ministerial task team, and was appointed was as Director-General of the National Department of Transport in 1998.

Dipak worked at Standard Bank (2002 – 2012), in various capacities in investment banking, finally becoming global head of Structured and Project Finance, as well as Global Head of transactional products. He served on the group credit and investment committees.

Between 2012 and 2018, Dipak operated his own financial and investment management and trading enterprise, based in New York.

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