Dr. Gary Theseira

Dr. Gary Theseira is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the Asia School of Business (ASB), serves as Chairman of the Climate Governance Malaysia (CGM) Council, and was recently appointed to the Sustainability Committee of the Malaysian Ratings Corporation (MARC) Solutions. He also serves on the REDD Plus Forestry Fund Advisory Committee (RFFAC) of the Malaysia Forest Fund (MFF), sits on the board of the Centre for Environment, Technology and Development Malaysia (CETDEM), and is an advisor to the Malaysian Green Technology and Climate Change Corporation (MGTC).

He is an accomplished communicator on the science of climate change, climate impacts, the history of the international climate governance frameworks, and the implementation of noregrets initiatives in the context of a global just transition to a low-emissions economy. He lectures on Corporate Sustainability, ESG compliance and the SDGs, and facilitates a Global Association of Risk Professionals Certification Course on Climate Risk Management. He is also sought as a speaker for corporate boards and senior executives, government institutions and agencies, academia, students, civil society, and the media.

Following his tenure at the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia (FRIM), where he conducted forest carbon quantification, supported the National Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) programme, and led the development of the biodiversity clearing house mechanism, he was seconded to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (NRE) as Deputy Undersecretary for Climate Change and negotiated for Malaysia at fourteen UN Climate Conferences (COPs). In 2012, the G-77 and China appointed him to coordinate negotiations leading to the 2015 Paris Agreement, and in 2018, he was appointed by the Minister of Energy, Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change as Special Functions Officer on Environment and Climate Change.

He currently assists the Joint Committee on Climate Change (JC3) on the development of the National Climate Data Catalogue and serves on the National Climate Change Advisory Panel and the Selangor State Action Council on Climate Change (IKLIM) as a subject matter expert.

Dr Theseira has B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Agriculture from Southern Illinois University, received his Ph.D. in Agronomy from Mississippi State University, and conducted Post-Doctoral Research on the effects of elevated atmospheric CO2 at the University of Minnesota.