Ari is an economist from Finland and he has spent most of his life in development work, first in the field of industrial development and technology/investment promotion and then specializing in environmental and climate financing issues. His experience includes UNDP in Hanoi and Dhaka, UNIDO headquarters in Vienna and Representative in Bangkok, manager for cleaner production financing at UNEP Paris, environmental advisor to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, Team Leader for a KfW environmental credit line in Indonesia, and cluster leader for climate finance at the Environment Department of the World Bank in Washington DC. In May 2012 he joined the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN) in London where he works as Deputy CEO - Policy and Programmes.