John Harding
John Harding is the Director of the Climate Risk and Early Warning Systems (CREWS) initiative – a Financial Intermediary Fund (FIF) administered by the World Bank with a Secretariat administered by WMO. In his capacity as Director, John serves as Secretary to the CREWS Steering Committee.
Mr Harding has over 25 years of experience building climate change resilience and developing aid programmes at headquarters, regional and country offices around the world.
He first joined the United Nations in 1998 as part of a small team developing the international systems and frameworks for disaster risk reduction. Prior to joining WMO, Mr Harding+ held leadership and advisory positions within the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, the World Bank in Washington, D.C., and the Office of the UN Special Envoy for Haiti (then President William J. Clinton) in New York. Over his career, he has helped to develop policies related to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the production of Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC) reports, and serves as Team Leader working on innovative financing mechanism at the World Bank's Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR). He has experience managing investments and aid programmes in over 15 developing countries. Mr Harding also served as Advisor to the UN Resident Coordinator in Pakistan and led UNDP's Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction Unit in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
Mr Harding brings to WMO his leadership experience managing complex financing mechanisms, devising and implementing strategic policies and partnerships, and mobilizing resources – all grounded in country-level operational experience. He is strongly committed to global cooperation, inclusive and equitable multilateralism, supported by an effective, coordinated "one" United Nations.
