Juhern Kim is the Country Representative, Philippines, who is in charge of organization’s technical delivery and operation in the country. His professional focuses are to inject sustainability agenda into policy development, originate investment pipeline of project that is aligned with such policy direction, and bring finance to the pipeline. All of them are anchored in accelerating implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals.
Since 2012, he has been serving numerous roles in emerging economies with GGGI, which includes the Country Representative, a.i., Colombia (‘18) and Vietnam (‘14), Senior Land-use Specialist (‘15–‘17), and Program Manager, Cambodia and Vietnam (‘12–‘14). Among his accomplishments with GGGI, his dedication to establishing Cambodia’s National Council on Green Growth was recognized through the citation of the Environment Minister (‘13), and his analysis on Costa Rica’s payment for environmental services (PSA) and the way forward with impact investing trend was appreciated by and thus presented to the 47th President of Costa Rica (‘16). He was also seconded to the Green Climate Fund (GCF, ‘18) with the task of supporting operationalization of Simplified Approval Process, where he led development of technical guidelines of the new funding window, tailored to several sectors including renewable energy, ecosystem, agriculture, transport, etc.
Prior to joining GGGI, he worked at the UN Environment (‘09-‘10), ASEM SMEs Eco-Innovation Center (‘11-‘12), the Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB), and Corporation 2020 initiative, where he learned both public and private, and policy and industry perspectives on greening economic sectors.
On top of that, he has a particular passion on nurturing entrepreneurs implementing green growth. For example, he has co-founded Greenpreneurs (www.greenpreneurs.co), a global platform designed to support young entrepreneurs to convert their innovative ideas into realistic business plans through coaching, mentoring, and peer competition. He has also been an advisory member of impact investment firm and an expert judge of ENATUS, one of the world’s largest start-up business plan competitions.
He completed the Executive Education of Yale School of Management (Certificate, Accelerated Management Program), graduated from Yonsei Graduate School of International Studies (Master’s Degree, Global Affairs and Policy) and Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (Bachelor’s Dual Degree, English Literature / Business Administration). He also had a stint in Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy (Global Leadership Seminar on International Regimes for Global Warming), and was certified by the Ministry of Environment, Republic of Korea, via the International Environment Expert Training Program.
He is a basketball/baseball player, non-fiction writer, and pescatarian (beginner), married with son and daughter.