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. Eleven gigawatts of gas and renewable capacity and more than 25 wind plants across Europe, the Middle East and Africa mean 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 capital allocation and commercial risk rather than an environmental programme.
- He advised the COP28 Presidency and co-authored 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.
- He is built to brief mixed-function rooms, which means finance, strategy and operations leaders leave able to make the same case to one another instead of talking past each other.
Biography highlights
- Decarbonization Leader for Carbon Solutions across the Middle East and Africa at GE Vernova, within its Gas Power business.
- Senior Energy Advisor to the COP28 Presidency, in the Office of the UAE Special Envoy for Climate Change.
- Co-author of “Tripling Renewable Power and Doubling Energy Efficiency by 2030,” issued by the COP28 Presidency, 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 for 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.
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 write it. Working inside the Office of the UAE Special Envoy for Climate Change, he co-authored the report the pledge was built on, issued with IRENA and the Global Renewables Alliance.
That advisory role sits on two decades of actually building what the transition depends on. Across Europe, the Middle East and Africa he has developed and built more than 5 GW of gas-fired power and 6 GW of renewables, including over 25 wind plants. Today he leads the Carbon Solutions business for the Middle East and Africa at GE Vernova, working on carbon capture, hydrogen and low-carbon fuels.
This mix is unusual. Most people who can speak to climate policy have never built a power plant, and most who have built them cannot translate the economics for a board. Kasirga works in both registers. His sessions are built for the whole leadership team: the finance, strategy and operations leaders who have to agree what a transition costs and who owns it.
His central claim is practical. On most decarbonisation programmes the technology and the capital are already available; 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 at GE Vernova across the Middle East and Africa.
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 transition in the Middle East and Africa
- 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 and Europe
- Government and policy audiences working on energy transition in MENA and Africa
Audience outcomes
- A way to describe carbon exposure in the financial terms a CFO and board already use
- A clearer view of which decarbonisation investments to make first, ranked by commercial impact
- An honest read on what is real versus hype in the energy transition, and what to act on now
- The case for why the Middle East and Africa may be better placed for the transition than Western commentary assumes
- A picture of where AI is already cutting emissions in energy operations, and where it only drains 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 leave an audience with urgency rather than despair.
Key takeaways:
- The human and economic cost of delay, framed to create urgency rather than paralysis
- What individuals, organisations and governments can each realistically do
- A close that moves an audience from overwhelm to action