UK Climate and Trade Commission

Faten Aggad is the Senior Advisor on Climate Diplomacy and Geopolitics at the African Climate Foundation (ACF). Prior to joining the ACF in February 2022, Faten served as the Senior Advisor to the African Union High Representative on future relations with the European Union.

James Bacchus is the Distinguished University Professor of Global Affairs and Director of the Center for Global Economic and Environmental Opportunity at the University of Central Florida. He was a founding judge and was twice the Chairman of the Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization and is a former Member of the United States Congress.

Rob Davies is an Honorary Professor at the University of Cape Town’s Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance and a member of the Advisory Council on Trade and Industrial Development appointed by the Secretary General of the African Continental Free Trade Area. Between 2009 and 2019 he served as South Africa’s Minister of Trade and Industry.

James Harrison is a Professor in the School of Law at the University of Warwick. He is Co-Director of the Centre for Human Rights in Practice. He teaches and researches on issues of international economic law and the transnational regulation of corporate activity. He has worked with a wide range of governments, intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations on issues of trade and sustainability.

David Henig is Director of the UK Trade Policy Project at the European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE). In 2017 he co-founded the UK Trade Forum, which brings together UK trade policy experts to debate and analyse post-Brexit trade issues. He joined ECIPE in 2018 having worked on trade and investment issues for the UK Government for a number of years.

Jude Kirton-Darling is Deputy General Secretary of IndustriALL Europe, representing manufacturing, mining and energy workers from 38 European countries. She was formerly a Labour Member of the European Parliament for the North East of England (2014-20) and was a member of the Parliament’s International Trade Committee.

Richard Kozul-Wright is the Director of UNCTAD’s globalisation and development strategies division. He has worked at the UN in both New York and Geneva and published widely on economic issues. He has co-written books including The Resistible Rise of Market Fundamentalism with Paul Rayment and co-edited Transforming Economies: Making Industrial Policy Work for Growth, Jobs and Development with the International Labour Organisation.

Emily Lydgate is specialist in international trade law and Deputy Director of the UK Trade Policy Observatory, a partnership between University of Sussex and Chatham House. Her research focuses at the intersection of environmental regulation and economic integration, and the interrelation between trade, agricultural and climate policies in the EU and UK. She is a Specialist Advisor to the UK parliament’s Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee.

Marley Morris is Associate Director for Migration, Trade and Communities at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR). His research includes studies on the UK’s points-based immigration system, the distributional effects of Brexit, and public attitudes to immigration and trade. Marley regularly provides expert analysis for the national and international press and for broadcast media, including appearances on BBC News, LBC, Sky News, CNBC and Newsnight.

Shaun Spiers is Executive Director of Green Alliance, an independent think tank and charity focused on ambitious leadership for the environment. Shaun also chairs the Board of Greener UK, a coalition of 10 major environmental organisations, with a combined public membership of over 8 million. Prior to this he was chief executive of the Campaign to Protect Rural England and from 1994 to 1999, he was an MEP for the South East.

Tom Thackray is Programme Director for Decarbonisation at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). The decarbonisation team aims to improve business connectivity and ensure the UK maintains a secure, affordable and low-carbon supply of energy. Tom has also led the CBI’s Innovation and Enterprise teams. He is an experienced advisor to the government and has contributed to Ministerial groups on research and innovation, cybersecurity and small business.

Nick von Westenholz is Director of Trade and Business Strategy for the National Farmers Union (NFU). He previously served as Chief Executive of the Crop Protection Association (CPA) representing the UK plant science industry and promoting the development and manufacture of a wide range of plant science technologies.

Kate Young is Public Affairs Principal for the Aldersgate Group, an alliance of leaders from business, politics and civil society that drives action for a sustainable economy. Its members include some of the largest businesses in the UK with a collective global turnover of over £400bn. Kate previously led the Brexit campaign at the environmental NGO CHEM Trust advocating to keep the UK aligned to EU environmental laws.

Vicente Paolo B. Yu III works as an independent consultant and is also currently a Senior Legal Adviser with the Third World Network, Visiting Research Fellow at the UN Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), Knowledge Expert with Veritas Global, and a founding partner of the Clean Energy Innovations Partnership. Previously, he served as the Deputy Executive Director of the South Centre.