Avinash Persaud is the special advisor for climate change to the president of the Inter-American Development Bank.

A dual national of Barbados and the UK, Persaud has over 30 years of experience in international finance, public policy, and academia.  Between 2018 to 2023 he has been special envoy to the prime minister of Barbados, where he was an architect of the Bridgetown Initiative which was instrumental in boosting investment in climate action at Multilateral Development Banks and the IMF and the spread of Climate Resilient advocating for the role of finance in climate protection. 

He is also a member of the High-Level Expert Group on Climate Finance of the COP28 Presidency, as well as COP26 and COP27 Presidencies. He has served as chairman of the Caribbean Community’s Commission on the Economy (2019–21), member of the World Economic Forum’s Council on the International Monetary System (2012–18), and commissioner of the UN Commission on Financial Reform (2009–10). 

Persaud served previously as a senior executive at several major banks.  He has authored multiple publications, including academic and professional journals, with particular emphasis on international financial flows, financial regulation and climate finance.  

Avinash Persaud holds a bachelor’s degree in international monetary economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science.  He was an executive fellow at the London Business School from 2010–14, a nonresident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, DC from 2014–16 and is emeritus professor of Gresham College, UK.