Independent adviser on electric mobility advocate and decarbonization strategist, Mónica Araya works toward a world without pipes. She is special adviser to the High-Level Climate Action Champion for COP26 and is Distinguished Fellow at ClimateWorks Foundation where she advises the Drive Electric campaign.
She has lived and worked in Latin America, Europe and the US, engaging leaders in government, business, philanthropies to advocate and guide decarbonization strategies. This means creating and supporting coalitions of diverse stakeholders guided by a shared vision. Her experience includes working with early adopters of electric mobility as well as climate activists, utilities, car dealers, automakers, charging infrastructure providers, and lawmakers.
Mónica Araya co-founded Costa Rica Limpia, a citizen-strategy group devoted to promote renewables and electric mobility (costaricalimpia.org) and launched www.movilidadelectrica.org one of the first electric mobility platforms in Latin America devoted to educate consumers about electric vehicles.
A frequent media commentator on Latin America energy and climate politics, her insights have been mentioned in local, regional and international media including TIME magazine, the Financial Times, National Geographic, El País, Repubblica, and The Guardian.
She is a member of several steering committees, including the 2050 Pathways Platform and the Global Partnership for Informal Transportation, Chile´s Center on Climate Research & Resilience CR2 and Chile´s Electric Mobility Advisory Board.
In 2019, she was named ‘Crusader of the Year’ for her role advancing electric mobility in Costa Rica. BMW and TED appointed her as mentor to “Next Visionaries,” an initiative exploring the future of mobility. In 2014, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs named her “Personality of the Future”. She frequently gives talks on decarbonization leadership, such as her two TED talks have around 3 million views. She was selected to the first all-female expedition to Antarctica, where she reaffirmed her commitment to advance climate solutions.
Monica holds a Master’s degree in Economics from Costa Rica’s National University and a Ph.D. in Environmental Management from Yale University.
