David Potter

Dr. David Potter has been leading ICIMOD’s Strategic Group 3, Regional Action and Global Advocacy, since July 2024.

David joined ICIMOD from UK central government, where he spent 17 years in a range of technical and leadership roles. Most recently, he was Head of the Climate and Environment Profession at the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), where he led that department’s 120 climate and environment experts and provided strategic advice to its senior team.

Over the span of a decade, he held senior technical and leadership positions in the Department for International Development and FCDO, designing and managing portfolios and programmes worth GBP 3 million to GBP 500 million. During this time, he led and implemented the climate and environment strategy for the British High Commission Pakistan’s national engagement on this issue, providing direction to its 400 staff. David also spent two years working in the Ethiopian Ministry of Finance and Economic Development in Addis Ababa, where he was a trusted adviser to environment and finance ministers. He has deep first-hand experience of international systems, with his first UNFCCC COP being COP19 in Warsaw in 2013.

David has a strong understanding of policy, built through work in UK central government departments including the Treasury and Cabinet Office, on financial, budget, and legislative policy. He also has a firm grounding in UK national climate policy, having driven forward energy-efficient housing policy for the Department for Energy and Climate Change.

David is a Fellow of the UK Royal Geographical Society and a Chartered Geographer. He holds a PhD in geography and a master’s degree in environmental management from the University of Nottingham, UK. His studies focused on mountain explorers and the cultural and historical geography of mountains.