Selam Kidane Abebe is a Senior Research Fellow in Net Zero Law at Oxford Net Zero. She is also a member of the Oxford Sustainable Law Programme. Her research focuses on net zero law, including designing legal frameworks for implementing net zero commitments and understanding the multiple layers of net zero governance under domestic and international law.  

Selam has extensive experience working on multilateral environmental agreements. She led the legal and procedural negotiations of the Paris Agreement for the African Group and negotiated the rule book of the Paris Agreement. She continues to serve as the legal advisor to the African Group of Negotiators (AGN) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).   

Selam is a member of the Article 15 Committee of the Paris Agreement that facilitates the implementation and promotes Parties’ compliance with the obligations of the Agreement. She is also an advisor to African constituency Board Members of the Green Climate Fund (GCF). Before that, she worked for the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Forest of Ethiopia as the director of the environmental law and policy department, where she led the development of environmental laws, policies, and climate strategies of the country. Selam has advised governments, international organisations, and UN agencies on climate change laws, policies and financing for the implementation of climate action.  

Selam received her PhD in Law from the University of Reading as a Leverhulme Scholar in climate justice.