Arief serves as the Manager Diplomacy and Global Affairs. In this strategic role, he is responsible for planning and implementing climate diplomacy activities across Southeast Asia and beyond. Arief possesses a keen interest and extensive experience in navigating international environmental issues, a field he has pioneered and refined since his university days. His leadership is pivotal in strengthening IESR’s position as a strategic partner in driving regional cooperation for a more ambitious energy transition.

Prior to his career at IESR, Arief spent over two years as a Policy and Technical Executive at the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (MoEF) in collaboration with GIZ. During this time, he provided essential technical and substantive support to the Indonesian Secretariat of the National Focal Point to the UNFCCC. His contributions included drafting Indonesia’s position papers for major global summits, from COP-25 in Madrid to COP-26 in Glasgow. His involvement in multilateral and regional processes, such as the ASEAN Working Group on Climate Change (AWGCC), The Cartagena Dialogue, and G-77, has shaped him into a seasoned practitioner of international climate negotiations.

Arief earned both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in International Relations from Padjadjaran University. Before entering the professional field, he served as a Lecturer Assistant at his alma mater for three years and as an advisor to Al-Ghifari University, where he developed capacity-building programs on climate change. Armed with a solid academic foundation and professional training from the ASEAN Climate Resilience Network, Arief bridges the gap between international relations theory and the complexities of field-level climate diplomacy to drive meaningful action globally and regionally.