Yasin Kasirga
Most organisations have committed to net zero. Far fewer can put a number on what it will cost, or name who inside the business is accountable for delivering it. Decarbonisation stalls less on technology than on getting finance, operations and leadership to agree which trade-offs are worth making.
Yasin Kasirga helps boards turn net zero commitments into decisions their CFOs will fund, drawing on two decades building 11 gigawatts of power and a term advising the COP28 Presidency.
Full Profile
Why organisations work with Yasin Kasirga
- He has built the assets he talks about. With his teams he brought more than 11 GW of gas and renewable capacity and more than 25 wind plants to life across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. His account of what a transition costs, and how long it takes, comes from having delivered it.
- He translates carbon and climate risk into the language a CFO and board already use, framing decarbonisation as a capital allocation decision with commercial risk attached.
- He advised the COP28 Presidency and coordinated and compiled the report behind the global pledge to triple renewable energy by 2030, giving audiences a first-hand account of how energy policy at that level is actually negotiated.
- On the energy cost of AI he argues from the generation side. His book “Megawatts, Not Tokens: AI, Energy and Sustainability” sets out what it takes to power AI, written by someone who has spent two decades building that capacity.
- He briefs finance, strategy and operations leaders in one room, so the cost of a transition plan and the question of who owns it get settled in the same conversation.
Biography highlights
- Founder and CEO of Qasirga Advisory, Dubai, advising across the Middle East, Africa, Türkiye and Europe. Previously built the Carbon Solutions business for the Middle East and Africa at GE Vernova.
- Senior Energy Advisor to the COP28 Presidency, in the Office of the UAE Special Envoy for Climate Change, where he coordinated and compiled “Tripling Renewable Power and Doubling Energy Efficiency by 2030,” issued with IRENA and the Global Renewables Alliance.
- Developed and built over 5 GW of gas-fired power and 6 GW of renewables, including more than 25 wind plants, across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
- Speaker at ADIPEC and bylined author at GE Vernova on carbon capture, hydrogen and decarbonisation in the Middle East and Africa.
- Executive MBA and undergraduate degrees in mechanical engineering and business from Middle East Technical University and Anadolu University. Doctorate of Management in progress at UCAM Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia, on sustainability and net-zero stakeholder impact.
- Author of “Megawatts, Not Tokens: AI, Energy and Sustainability” (2026), published in Kindle, paperback and hardcover.
Biography
In 2023, the COP28 Presidency set out to make the case for tripling the world’s renewable energy capacity by 2030. Yasin Kasirga helped deliver it. Working inside the Office of the UAE Special Envoy for Climate Change, he coordinated and compiled the report the pledge was built on, issued with IRENA and the Global Renewables Alliance.
That advisory role sits on two decades of building what the transition depends on: more than 5 GW of gas-fired power and 6 GW of renewables across Europe, the Middle East and Africa, including over 25 wind plants. He built the Carbon Solutions business for the Middle East and Africa at GE Vernova, working on carbon capture, hydrogen and low-carbon fuels. Today he runs Qasirga Advisory from Dubai.
Kasirga works in two registers. He can take a board through the politics of a COP negotiation and, in the same session, through the economics of the wind plants he has delivered. On most decarbonisation programmes the technology and the capital are already there; what blocks progress is getting people to commit to one plan. That is the problem he was asked to help solve at COP28, and the one he works on now through Qasirga Advisory across the Middle East, Africa, Türkiye and Europe.
His book “Megawatts, Not Tokens: AI, Energy and Sustainability” argues that responsible AI starts with responsible build. It sets out how AI works and what it costs to power. He wrote it from the generation side, after two decades building the plants that put power on the grid AI now draws from.
Key speaking topics
- Energy transition and decarbonisation
- Net zero strategy and the business case for climate action
- Carbon capture, hydrogen and low-carbon fuels
- The energy cost of AI and responsible build
- The energy transition in the Middle East, Africa, Türkiye and Europe
- Climate risk as capital allocation and board risk
- AI in energy operations
- Leadership and culture in decarbonisation programmes
Ideal for
- Boards and executive committees setting or defending a net zero commitment
- CFOs, CSOs and heads of strategy who must fund and sequence decarbonisation
- Energy, utilities and heavy-industry leadership teams across the Middle East, Africa, Türkiye and Europe
- Government and policy teams working on national energy transition plans and COP commitments
Audience outcomes
- A way to describe carbon exposure in the financial terms a CFO and board already use
- A ranked view of which decarbonisation investments to make first, by commercial impact
- An honest read on what is real and what is hype in the energy transition
- Why the Middle East and Africa may be better placed for the transition than Western commentary assumes
- What powering AI actually costs, and where in energy operations it is already cutting emissions instead of budget
Talks
Why decarbonisation programmes stall on culture and leadership rather than on technology or capital, and how to unblock them.
Key takeaways:
- How to tell when culture, not budget, is the real blocker in a decarbonisation programme
- A model for moving an organisation from compliance posture to genuine commitment
- A way to align technical, financial and people decisions inside a single transition plan
How to turn carbon exposure into a board-level business case, using the financial language executives already trust.
Key takeaways:
- How to express carbon exposure in the financial terms a CFO and board already use
- The regulatory and market signals that separate early movers from late, costly followers
- A way to rank decarbonisation investments by commercial impact
A practitioner’s case for why the Gulf’s energy incumbents may be better placed for the transition than Western narratives assume.
Key takeaways:
- Why regional incumbents may be better positioned for transition than Western commentary suggests
- The projects and technologies likely to define Gulf energy leadership toward 2040
- What is real, what is hype, and what decision-makers should act on now
Where AI is already cutting emissions in energy operations today, and how to spot the deployments that pay back inside a year.
Key takeaways:
- Where AI is already delivering measurable emissions reductions in energy operations
- How to separate AI projects that move the needle from those that drain budget and attention
- An implementation path for energy leaders who need results within 12 months
A closing keynote on the human and economic cost of climate delay, built to end on what an organisation can do next.
Key takeaways:
- The human and economic cost of climate delay
- What individuals, organisations and governments can each realistically do
- A short list of actions an organisation can start on the week after the event