• Email: begonia.gutierrez@un.org
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Begonia Gutierrez Figueroa is no longer employed with the UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre or UNEP DTU Partnership since 2023

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Begonia joined UNEP DTU Partnership (now UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre) as a Project Associate, in December 2019. She graduated with a MSc. in Environmental and Natural Resources Economics from the University of Copenhagen. Begonia is strongly interested in foreign languages and masters Spanish, French, English, and Danish.

Previously, Begonia has worked in the private sector, both in big corporations and start-ups. Last year, she represented PurCity, a Danish clean-tech start-up, selected for the Global event C40 World Mayors Summit (2019) in Copenhagen. Begonia supported PurCity in its first Pilot implementation in India, working mainly on Funding applications and Business Strategies.

She also has experience in Environmental and Economic Analysis, as well as project management skills gained through her experience in Sweco Denmark, where she was involved in the development of international projects in developing countries, financed by diverse international donors such as the EU and EBRD. Working with projects within the fields of climate change and the environment. While working at Sweco Denmark, Begonia had the opportunity to travel to Kyrgyzstan where she helped in the Economic Analysis section for a Feasibility Study Report, of a Water Supply Improvement project, funded by EBRD.

At UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre, Begonia assists with the development of the NDC Action project and the CBIT Platform, as well as working at the Copenhagen Centre on Energy Efficiency, where she researches into the best energy efficiency practices of cities and provides support with the creation of webinars, workshops and conferences.

• Email: samsan@dtu.dk
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Santiago Martinez Santaclara is no longer employed with UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre or UNEP DTU Partnership since 2021

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Santiago is energy engineer with focus on thermal energy technology. Passionate about applied thermodynamics, heat transfer and energy systems, he decided to pursue a MSc. in Sustainable Energy – Thermal Energy at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU).  He specialized on thermal energy, focusing on heat pump analysis, design and optimization for Copenhagen’s District Heating System, before joining UNEP DTU Partnership.

He currently works as Programme Associate working on analysis of best practices in the energy sector to study their standardization and replicability, implementation of feasible energy-efficient solutions, integration of renewable energies and smart solutions in both energy generation, distribution and buildings to help reduce the energy consumption and the related emissions.

Some examples of current projects that he is involved are the Water-Energy Nexus in water supply systems, District Heating and District Cooling Networks and Energy Efficiency in buildings.

• Email: xianli.zhu@un.org
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Xianli Zhu is no longer employed with UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre or UNEP DTU Partnership since 2025

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Xianli’s work focuses on analysing and designing enabling policies and programmes for energy efficiency improvement and climate change mitigation.

Her work focus has shifted to energy efficiency since 2015, and currently, she works on improving the transparency of climate actions in China, the monitoring, reporting and verification of district energy projects, as well as efficient cooling.

She has coordinated the preparation of multiple reports and publications on best practices for energy efficiency improvement in different sectors and countries, high-impact opportunities for energy efficiency, as well as policies and potential for energy efficiency improvement in Africa.

She has long-standing experience working on climate change mitigation, especially market mechanism and technology needs assessment. She has been involved in the implementation of multiple international technical assistance projects on energy efficiency, low-carbon development, technology needs assessment, and the Clean Development Mechanism as regional and national coordinator. In addition, she has in-country working experience (research, consultancy, project implementation) in China, Vietnam, Mongolia, Sri Lanka, Malawi, as well as Fiji, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, and Samoa.

Xianli holds a PhD in Economics and she has been working at UNEP DTU Partnership (now UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre) since 2006, first as an economist and then as a senior researcher.