LocationsBlog about Mateo Salomon, Head of Climate and Sustainable Energy Finance Programmes at UNDP’s Bureau for Policy and Programme Support.
A common thread - Mateo Salomon's story
June 19, 2026
What brought Mateo Salomon to his current role is not a single path, but a range of experiences bound by a common thread: finance. Not finance as commonly practiced in Geneva’s banking sector, but finance as a tool for development, structured, sequenced, and deployed across some of the world’s most challenging investment environments.
A short detour through a Fund of Hedge Funds in a Swiss Private Bank proved unexpectedly formative, equipping him with a new language in asset allocation, risk structuring and return on capital that would stay with him. He recalls a closed-door meeting with former US Vice President Al Gore, at the time partnering with a Swiss bank to launch one of the early ESG private investment vehicles. It was an early signal that finance and climate were converging in ways that would define the next decades of development work.
This path took him far beyond Geneva. In El Salvador, working with the UNDP Country Office, he encountered for the first time how a financial instrument, carbon finance, could reach directly into vulnerable households through a clean cooking programme. In Panama, at the UNDP Regional Hub for Latin America and the Caribbean, the lens widened to regional climate finance policies and opportunities. He then moved to work with Regional Development Banks to deepen his expertise, contributing to some of the first projects approved by the Green Climate Fund, among them climate bonds, green credit lines for local financial institutions, climate resilient infrastructure and energy saving insurances. Eventually, a global role at UNDP headquarters in New York expanded both his geographical scope and his responsibilities. Each move and experience strengthened the conviction that sustainable finance done right can transform lives and economies.
Learning through an interdisciplinary lens
Mateo studied international relations at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (IHEID) in Geneva, where he first became interested in the relationship between finance and environment policy. The interdisciplinary approach, spanning law, economics, and political science, became the backbone of an integrated approach to development.
“I was always interested in the financing side of climate work: how countries can combine and sequence different sources of capital to make projects viable,” he says.
The Real Meaning of ‘Cost of Capital’
One of the central challenges of Mateo’s work is the cost of capital. A solar project in many African markets can cost significantly more to finance than an equivalent project in Switzerland, sometimes doubling the price of electricity, not because the technology is different, but because the perceived risks are higher. Currency volatility, regulatory uncertainty, and limited access to affordable financing all affect whether projects move forward.
This is where development finance institutions often play a role: helping reduce investment risk, strengthen enabling environments, and support financing structures that make projects more viable.
“We want these investments to be viable and attractive for investors,” Mateo explains, “but we operate in contexts where affordability is a major issue. We have to bridge that gap.”
What This Looks Like in Practice
One of the programmes Mateo works on is the Africa Minigrids Program (AMP), which supports the expansion of solar minigrids across sub-Saharan Africa. The work ranges from supporting governments on policy and regulations to helping facilitate projects that expand energy access for households, clinics, farms and small businesses.
In countries where grid expansion remains slow or financially difficult, minigrids can provide a more immediate source of reliable electricity. The impact is often practical and local: refrigeration for vaccines, power for agricultural processing, or energy access for small enterprises that previously relied on diesel or had no electricity at all.
In Somalia, Comoros, Burkina Faso, and Malawi, UNDP supported the development of regulations, licensing regimes and pilots paving the way for investment.
In Nigeria, with funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF), and in partnership with Nigeria’s Rural Electrification Agency, AMP is investing over US$5.9 million across 23 separate sites, demonstrating how solar-powered minigrids can anchor rural economic activity and support small businesses and agricultural enterprises.
A Swiss Perspective in a Global Role
After several years working abroad, Mateo says he has come to appreciate certain aspects of Switzerland differently. Growing up there, it was easy to take certain things for granted: reliable infrastructure, functioning institutions and public services that people can depend on.
It was only after working across developing economies that he realised how exceptional those conditions are. In places where access to electricity, financing or basic services cannot be assumed, the consequences of policy and investment decisions are often immediate and visible.
"In Switzerland, things generally work," he says. "Because they work, you don't always see everything that goes into making them work."
That perspective has stayed with him throughout his career. Behind every functioning system are years of investment, coordination and institution-building. Much of that work goes unnoticed when it succeeds, becoming visible only when it is absent.
What He Would Tell His Younger Self
Mateo is candid about what shaped him most: not the roles that looked most comfortable or predictable, but the ones that felt closest to what genuinely interested him, even when they came with uncertainty.
"There is no single path," he says. "Every experience counts, including the indirect ones. The connections often become clear only in retrospect."
He encourages young professionals to remain curious across sectors and disciplines, while building genuine expertise in at least one area over time. "Interdisciplinarity," he adds, "is what creates real value in a field as complex as climate and development finance."
Why This Matters for Swiss Professionals
Development finance is, in many ways, a long game. Projects take years to structure, partnerships require sustained commitment, and credibility is built slowly, through consistency rather than visibility. It is not a field that rewards impatience.
"Much of what we do is invisible," Mateo says. "We set the foundations on which others build.”
His own career reflects how closely finance and development have become intertwined, particularly in areas like energy access and the energy transition, where technical solutions often depend as much on financing structures as on technology itself.
For Swiss professionals considering a path at UNDP, he invites them to bring their expertise into development. They may find a common thread of their own.
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