Olivier Mahul

Olivier Mahul is a financial economist and global expert in climate/carbon finance and disaster risk insurance, currently serving as Global Manager of the Climate Finance Mobilization Unit at the World Bank and Visiting Fellow at Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford. He manages a $5 billion portfolio to scale climate finance solutions for developing nations while influencing global policy agendas on financial resilience.

His academic credentials include a PhD in economics from Toulouse School of Economics and post-doctoral training at Wharton Business School and University of California, Berkeley.

Research focuses on systemic resilience through innovative risk finance mechanisms like sovereign catastrophe insurance pools, parametric insurance, and contingent debt instruments. His work bridges climate science, financial engineering, and development policy to protect governments and communities from climate shocks across 60+ countries, with emphasis on mobilizing private capital for carbon markets and biodiversity goals.

Mahul leads World Bank initiatives that have directly shaped national disaster risk financing frameworks, leveraging public-private partnerships to channel climate finance toward adaptation. His team's work addresses the critical gap where developing economies receive only 14% of climate finance despite representing 25% of global GDP.