Katherine Foster

Systems Innovation Strategist - Foster Impact

Katherine Foster is a former Canadian diplomat specialising in climate, trade and investment, and human security, including as part of Kofi Annan’s Human Security Network. She has over 35 years of international experience leading systems innovation across policy, technology, digital, data, AI and finance, with leadership and advisory roles at the EU’s EIT Climate KIC and EIT Food, the Green Digital Finance Alliance (GDFA), the UN, the World Bank, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the UN Secretary General’s Task Force on Digital Financing of the SDGs, universities, accelerators and award winning startups.

Katherine has spearheaded and co led pilots, initiatives, reports and frameworks spanning climate, nature, water and cities finance, including the BIS Project Genesis Digital Green Bonds report and pilot; the GDFA Digital Bond Framework with HSBC, cities portfolio and impact finance pillars; the World Bank digital climate markets pilot and report; an MIT Solve award winning digital traceability solution; the UNFCCC Global Innovation Hub Finance and Cities Working Groups; the CAMDA Climate Action Data 2.0 Working Group; and the GDFA Digital Impact Bonds discussion paper and related roundtables. She is also an experienced board member, university lecturer, international speaker, author and facilitator of cross-sector collaborations.