Mr. Ovais Sarmad served the United Nations Climate Change secretariat (UNFCCC) – COP23 to COP 27. During his tenure, he managed the secretariat operations, advised Executive Secretaries on a range of issues relating to planning and development of the organization. He guided the process-related and operational aspects of five COPs, including through the uncertainties of COVID-19 pandemic, completion of Paris Agreement implementation guidelines, finalization of Article 6 at Glasgow and the establishment of Loss & Damage fund at Sharm-el-Sheikh. He contributed to and spoke at various fora at the global level on climate change, migration and multilateralism and engaged in public policy discourse
and development.

Prior to UNFCCC, he served as Chief of Staff to the Director General at the International Organization for Migration (IOM), where he worked in several management and policy development roles
capacities over a period of 27 years. Prior to IOM, he worked in the private and public sectors in London, where he qualified as a Chartered Management Accountant (ACMA) & Chartered Global Management Accountant (GCMA) in 1988 after having graduated from Osmania University in Hyderabad, India, as a Bachelor of Commerce in 1982.

Current areas of focus include engaging with and supporting activities and organizations around the world (a) that promise to innovate and accelerate sustainable development and growth without damaging the environment; (b) to contribute to public policy discourse and development; (c) to empower youth through quality education at all levels and (d) to advise, mentor and coach individuals and organizations in multilateralism, diplomacy, geopolitical issues on climate change and migration and organizational development.