Executive Profile

Carol-Anne Blenman
Founder, Managing Director of Violeta Consulting Services

Carol-Anne M. Blenman is a Development Economist and Strategic Advisor specializing in climate resilience, sustainable development, and economic transformation. She leads Violeta Consulting Services, providing high-level advisory support to national governments, multilateral institutions, and regional organizations.

She is a Chevening Scholar with over a decade of experience in consulting, research, and capacity building in Development Economics - with a specialized focus on the multifaceted polycrisis confronting Small Vulnerable Economies. Her work spans the United Kingdom, Europe, North America, Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Pacific.

She is an Expert Member of the UNFCCC Santiago Network on Loss and Damage, contributing to global efforts to strengthen technical assistance and knowledge exchange on climate-induced loss and damage, including both extreme events and slow-onset processes affecting Small Island Developing States and other climate-vulnerable contexts.

She is a Barbadian National who has pursued a Master’s of Science degree in Climate Change and Development at the University of Sussex/Institute of Development Studies having received the International Chevening Scholarship Award for developing future global leaders from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom in 2015. Prior to this, she pursued a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Economics and Management at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus in Barbados.

She provides strategic and technical leadership to high-impact development initiatives at the national, regional, and international levels, advancing sustainability, strengthening institutional capacity, and driving whole-of-society approaches. Her work includes assignments commissioned by the Government of Barbados, the University of the West Indies, the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency, the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre, the United Nations system, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Caribbean Development Bank, the World Bank Group, DFID Caribbean, the Commonwealth Secretariat, and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Thematic Expertise and Professional Scope:

Ms. Blenman’s work spans a broad and interdisciplinary portfolio at the nexus of sustainable development, climate resilience, and economic transformation. Her thematic areas of expertise include the Green Economy, Blue Economy, Bioeconomy, climate change, and sustainable development pathways for Small Island Developing States (SIDS), Least Developed Countries (LDCs), and Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs). Her research and practice further extend to loss and damage, climate finance, trade and environmental policy, nature-based solutions, sustainable consumption and production, disaster risk reduction and management, and integrated food, water, energy, and citizen security systems. She also brings a strong cross-cutting focus on gender, youth, health, poverty reduction, urbanization, education, labour markets, social protection, and financial systems.

Her active engagement across these domains reflects a deep and sustained commitment to advancing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. She works collaboratively with National Designated Authorities, regional institutions, United Nations agencies, multilateral development banks, academia, and civil society organizations to drive inclusive and resilient development outcomes. Through these partnerships, she develops integrated analytical frameworks and generates policy-relevant insights that strengthen evidence-based decision-making and support the effective implementation of global development agendas.

National and Regional Impact:

Ms. Blenman has made an exceptional contribution to advancing disaster risk reduction and climate resilience across the Caribbean. She played a central role in the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) Midterm Review of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015–2030) for Barbados, which was presented at the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting in May 2023. This work directly contributed to global assessments of progress on disaster resilience.

She also supported the implementation of the Comprehensive Disaster and Climate Risk Management (CRM) Programme under the UNDRR Flagship Initiative, strengthening integrated risk management approaches across Caribbean SIDS. Through her collaboration with the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA), she has assisted governments in developing Integrated National Strategies for Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) under the Comprehensive Disaster Management (CDM) Country Work Programme.

In addition, she has co-designed and delivered high-impact regional knowledge products and learning initiatives, including the “Resilience Retooling” segment at the 13th Caribbean Conference on Comprehensive Disaster Management (CDM13), enhancing capacity building and regional knowledge exchange.

International Impact:

At the global level, Ms. Blenman serves as an Expert Member of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Santiago Network on Loss and Damage (SNLD). In this role, she supports the Network’s mandate to catalyze demand-driven technical assistance for countries most vulnerable to climate change impacts. Her work involves responding to official requests for technical support, delivering specialized expertise, and facilitating the development of tools and knowledge products to address climate-related loss and damage. Her assignments include climate risk and loss assessments, the design of risk management and financing frameworks, early warning systems development, and targeted capacity-building programmes for governments and communities. Through this engagement, she plays a critical role in operationalizing global climate frameworks into tangible national and local resilience strategies.

Research and Policy Contributions:

Ms. Blenman has served as a lead author and expert contributor to numerous influential research and policy outputs in collaboration with national governments, regional institutions, United Nations agencies, and multilateral development banks.

Her key contributions include:

The IDB Public Expenditure Review: Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction Module for Barbados
DFID Caribbean: Essential Data on the Development Status of the Caribbean
The World Bank Group: Labour Market Monitoring and Performance Project (P144470)
UNEP: The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) Study: Gap Analysis for Barbados
UNEP/Government of Barbados/UWI: The Barbados Green Economy Scoping Study
UNEP/Government of Barbados/UWI: ILAC Indicators Project – Barbados
The Government of Barbados: Policy Paper on WTO Negotiations on Environmental Goods and Services and Potential Impacts for Barbados

She has also contributed extensively to academic and technical publications through institutions such as the University of the West Indies, including work undertaken through the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies (SALISES), producing country-level diagnostics and regional policy frameworks across multiple Caribbean states. Her research encompasses climate finance architecture, green economy transitions, labour market dynamics, and environmental economics, generating robust analytical frameworks, policy diagnostics, and integrated technical guidance to support macroeconomic planning, public sector decision-making, and the implementation of global development agendas at national, regional, and international levels.

International Engagement and Volunteer Expertise:

Ms. Blenman actively contributes to global climate science and policy processes as an Expert Reviewer for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), supporting multiple flagship reports, including:

The Sixth Assessment Report (AR6)
The Seventh Assessment Report (AR7)
The Special Report on Climate Change and Cities (SR-Cities)
The Special Report on Short-Lived Climate Forcers (SLCF)

She also served as Chevening Team Leader for Caribbean SIDS at the UK Government Climate Change Hackathon during COP26 in Glasgow, demonstrating leadership in innovation-driven climate solutions.

Strategic Engagement and Partnerships

Her ongoing collaborations and areas of engagement span a wide network of global and regional institutions, including:

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
The Green Climate Fund
The Santiago Network for Loss and Damage
The United Nations Climate Change
The United Nations Development Programme - Climate Promise
The United Nations Environment Programme - Blue Economy
The United Nations Environment Programme - Green Economy
The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction
The United Nations Sustainable Development Platform
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity Study
The Climate and Development Knowledge Network
The Commonwealth Climate Finance Access Hub
The Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre
The Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency
The Caribbean Development Bank
The Inter-American Development Bank
The Institute of Development Studies
The Sussex Climate Change Network
The World Bank Group

Thought Leadership and Vision

Ms. Blenman’s work is distinguished by its strategic depth, technical rigor, and policy relevance. Her thought leadership continues to shape climate and development discourse across vulnerable economies, with a strong emphasis on resilience, equity, and environmental justice. She remains committed to bridging global frameworks with local implementation, ensuring that sustainable development pathways are both inclusive and transformative.