Adaptation Finance: Opportunities and Challenges

Dr. Jyotsna (Jo) Puri

Director, Policy and Programmes

UNEP

Dr. Jyotsna (Jo) Puri is the Director, Policy and Programmes, UNEP. Jo holds a PhD and an MSc in Agriculture and Resource Economics from the University of Maryland, USA, and an MA in Development Economics from the Delhi School of Economics, India. She is an expert in international development, climate finance and impact evaluation, with close to 29 years of experience in the multilateral/development sector.

In her role, she leads the United Nations Environment Programme's (UNEP) strategic and programmatic direction, ensuring coherence across the organization and alignment with global environmental priorities and oversees quality assurance, organizational strategy and prioritization, resource allocation and programmatic coherence across UNEP’s more than US$ 3 Bn portfolio. She also manages the global climate and environment funds and oversees the translation of UNEP’s vision into measurable impacts, driving meaningful environmental change at both global and national levels.

Jo is also an adjunct associate professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), where she teaches development effectiveness. She is also a senior fellow at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, DC. She has played an instrumental role in conceptualizing resilience credits that provide a model for incentivizing financing for climate adaptation. She has contributed to several high-level policy groups within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the United Nations Environment Programme. She has also authored numerous academic articles and reports on climate resilience, impact evaluation, and innovation. She was the co-chair of the International Land Coalition (2022–2024) and was on the board of Innovations for Policy Action (unpaid). She is also (unpaid) distinguished visiting Perry World House Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania and the Center for Strategic and International Initiatives.

Jo was the Associate Vice President of Strategy and Knowledge at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) until August 2024. In this role, she spearheaded work on the technical quality of IFAD operations and investments at both the national and international levels. Subsequently as Strategic Advisor to the President of IFAD, she led the development of IFAD’s strategy (2025–2031) and its flagship Rural Development Report, which focused on financing for transforming rural areas. Between 2017 and 2020, Jo was the inaugural head of the Independent Evaluation Office of the Green Climate Fund (GCF). She oversaw the First Performance Review of the GCF, which provided the blueprint for the GCF’s new strategy. She also initiated the data and behavioural science labs at the GCF Independent Evaluation Unit. She advocated for evidence-driven policies and programmes at the International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie), where she was the deputy executive director and head of evaluation.

https://www.unep.org/people/jyotsna-jo-puri