Raul Alfaro-Pelico
Non-Resident fellow
Raul Alfaro-Pelico
HIGHLIGHTS
2025-2026: Senior Advisor on G20 to the African Union, Addis Ababa (Ethiopia); on investment readiness to the Green Climate Fund, Malabo (Equatorial Guinea); as independent expert group lead, Climate Investment Funds, Washington DC (USA).
2024-2025: Division Director, Knowledge, Policy and Finance Centre, International Renewable Energy Agency, Abu Dhabi (UAE)
2022-2023: Senior Director, Africa Energy Program and Energy Transition Academy, Rocky Mountain Institute, Washington DC (USA)
2020-2021: Manager, Sustainability Leadership, Acciona, Madrid (Spain)
2015-2019: Manager, Environment & Natural Resources and Pilot Program for Climate Resilience, The World Bank, Washington DC (USA)
2009-2015: Technical Adviser, Global Environmental Finance, United Nations Development Programme, Panama City (Panama) and Windhoek (Namibia)
2007-2009: Deputy Finance Manager, Noble Energy, Malabo (Equatorial Guinea)
2002-2007: Capital Budget Coordinator, ExxonMobil, Malabo (Equatorial Guinea) and Houston TX (USA)
2007-2009: Project & Structured Finance Analyst, Glencore, London (UK)
Dr. Raul Alfaro-Pelico is a Non-Resident Fellow at ORF America, contributing to the organization by bringing his expertise on energy, climate change, sustainability, infrastructure, and decarbonization with a particular focus on Africa.
Dr. Alfaro-Pelico is also a Senior Fellow of the School of Engineering at Lancaster University, and his work applies sequential decision-making and de-risking models to address barriers of investment in energy and sustainable development using the Lancaster University North-West Hydro Resource Model.
His research draws on decades of sustainability leadership and investment partnership catalyzing finance for low-emission growth, blue and green economy, trade and industry decarbonization, resilient and inclusive infrastructure at multinational companies, multilateral entities, government, academia, and NGOs.
More recently, his advisory assignments include the: (a) African Union Commission, African Development Bank Group and United Unions Economic Commission for Africa Joint Secretariat, where he provides policy advice and technical expertise on African perspectives at G20 working groups (trade, energy abundance, global imbalances, growth and deregulation, innovation), and dialogue facilitation to harmonize Africa’s positions on Finance and Sherpa tracks, including Finance and Central Bank Deputies engagements; (b) Green Climate Fund’s Office of the Chief Investment Officer, where he provides climate finance advice to the Africa Region on investment readiness, technical assistance and capacity building; and, (c) Climate Investment Funds’ Independent Expert Group on industry decarbonization.
He holds a PhD in Engineering (with focus on Energy, Ecology and the Economy) from Lancaster University (UK), an MSc in Economics (with specific reference to Africa) from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London (UK), and a BA (Hons) in Business Administration from London Metropolitan University (UK), and Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (Spain). He speaks English, Spanish, French, Portuguese and Creole, and has lived in the UK, USA, UAE, Spain, Panama, Namibia, and Equatorial Guinea.
