Profile
Selam Kidane Abebe is a Senior Research Fellow in Net Zero Law working with the Oxford Net Zero programme, at the University of Oxford. Her research focuses on net-zero pathways and the development of legal frameworks to support the transitions. She has extensive experience in multilateral environmental negotiations, particularly under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). She led negotiations on behalf of the African Group during the Paris Agreement negotiations and continues to serve as a legal adviser to the Group. She also served as a legal adviser to the Environment and Climate Sustainability Working Group (ECSWG) under South Africa’s G20 Presidency in 2025, contributing to the drafting of the ministerial declaration and other negotiated outcomes.
Selam has been appointed to several UN-constituted bodies. Since 2020, she has served as a member of the Paris Agreement Implementation and Compliance Committee, supporting the implementation of Parties’ obligations under the Agreement. She also advises the African constituency’s Board Members of the Green Climate Fund. In 2024, she was appointed as an Alternate Board Member of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage, which supports developing countries particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change in responding to economic and non-economic loss and damage. She is currently a Lead Author for the IPCC Seventh Assessment Report (AR7), Working Group II, on the chapter responding to losses and damages.