Tasneem Essop is currently the Executive Director of Climate Action Network. She is an expert on climate, energy, poverty and social justice issues and is the Founding Director of the Energy Democracy Initiative.  Essop served as a former Provincial Minister of Environment, Planning and Economic Development in the Western Cape and the Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning and the Department of Economic Development. She was a global climate policy and strategy leader for WWF International and served as the Head of Delegation for the organisation at the UNFCCC including at the Paris COP.