Dana Shukirbayeva

Dana Shukirbayeva is ESG Professional and Impact Entrepreneur, Founder of Climate Action Initiative Central Asia NGO, Climate Adviser and Sustainability Consultant. Dana is Forbes 30 under 30, UN Youth Advisory Board Member and the winner of COP28 Women Climate Entrepreneurs Pitch Competition, she is the alumna of Cartier Women's Initiative Academy 2023, WiSER (Masdar Initiative) Pioneer 2024 and Curator of Global Shapers Hub in Astana, Kazakhstan (World Economic Forum Initiative). She has graduated Lomonosov Moscow State University’s Faculty of Geography with a degree in Ecology & Environmental Management in Moscow and has a Master’s Degree in Urban Development and Spatial Planning from National Research University Higher School of Economics. In addition to the core education process, she also took courses of Sustainable Urban Development from Delft University of Technology, Management of Urban Infrastructures from Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, etc. and took executive education course of Sustainable Capitalism and ESG from Berkeley Law Executive, The University of California. She is GRI Certified Sustainability Professional and also completed courses on Climate Law & Governance Specialization at the University of Dubai and University of Cambridge. From 2016 she regularly leads private and public research projects for city authorities, developers, international organisations, industrial companies, universities. Since 2021, Dana started to develop her business in Kazakhstan and founded consulting bureau ESG KZ, which provides services in the field of ESG, reporting and sustainable development of territories. In 2023 she founded the first Central Asian ClimateTech startup FOREST HERO, AI-based Platform for Responsible Forest Management and UrbanTech startup QALA AI, building products for resilient urban development. In 2023 she founded Climate Action Initiative Central Asia NGO and presented it at COP28 in Dubai. Outside of work Dana enjoys studying Arabic language, Middle Eastern and Japanese culture, she is passionate about design, art, Sufi and Buddhist philosophy, the game of Go.