Sebastiaan Surie

Head of Green Hydrogen at Climate Fund Managers

Keynote

Sebastiaan Surie is the Head of Green Hydrogen responsible for CFM’s Green Hydrogen Funds, which were launched in 2023. Sebastiaan joined CFM in 2015, where he played a key role in setting up the fund manager as well as developing the African investment strategy. As Regional Head of Africa, Sebastiaan was responsible for the origination and execution of transactions in the renewable energy, water and sanitation sectors, managing in excess of US$ 500mln in investments.

CFM is a leading climate-centric blended finance fund manager that designs and deploys climate finance funds at scale and pace, in partnership to develop climate-resilient solutions. CFM currently manages two emerging market infrastructure funds focused on climate change mitigation and adaptation: Climate Investor One, a c. USD 1 billion fund focused on renewable energy, and Climate Investor Two, a c. USD 1 billion fund focused on water, sanitation and oceans infrastructure. CFM is currently implementing further blended finance initiatives in the green hydrogen, power transmission and cities sectors focused on development, equity, debt and guarantee financial instruments. Established in 2015, CFM is a joint venture between the Dutch development bank, FMO, and Sanlam InfraWorks, part of the Sanlam Group of South Africa with offices in The Hague, Cape Town, Singapore and Bogota.

Prior to CFM, Sebastiaan spent around 7 years living in Nairobi, Kenya, working as private equity professional for TBL Mirror Fund, Jacana Partners, FSD Africa and the Gatsby Charitable Foundation. Before this, Sebastian worked for DIF, a global infrastructure fund focused on transport and social infrastructure as well as renewable energy. Sebastian started his career at ING Bank where he worked in the Natural Resources/Structured Finance department. Sebastian holds an MSc in Systems Engineering, Policy Analysis and Management from the Delft University of Technology.