Anil Sookdeo

Anil Bruce Sookdeo (he/him), a national of Trinidad and Tobago, who joined the Global Environment Facility in December 2010, is the GEF’s Coordinator and team lead for chemicals and waste, where he oversees a multi-billion-dollar portfolio and new annual programming of $200 million that finances projects eliminating toxic pollutants and advancing circular economy solutions worldwide. He crafts the GEF’s chemicals and waste strategies for each replenishment cycle and brokers partnerships with UN agencies, multilateral banks, and industry to mobilize co-investment at scale.

A veteran of global treaty processes, Anil led the negotiations that established the GEF as the financial mechanism of the Minamata Convention on Mercury and now represents the GEF in financing discussions under the Stockholm and Minamata Conventions, the Montreal Protocol, and the plastics treaty talks. Some of his innovations include the planetGOLD public-private platform—leveraging $400 million to cut mercury use in artisanal gold mining—and the ISLANDS, FARM, and iCOAST programs that embed chemicals and waste priorities across supply chains in Small Island Developing States, the agriculture sector, and tourism sector.

Previously with the United Nations Development Programme and United Nations Environment Programme in Asia-Pacific, and earlier with Trinidad & Tobago’s Environmental Management Authority, Anil combines policy acumen and on-the-ground experience. He holds an MSc in environmental economics & management from the University of York and a First-Class BSc in chemistry from the University of the West Indies, and has been honored with Cambodia’s Sahak Metrey Medal.