Youssef is the Climate Coordinator for Africa and Middle East at UNEP Finance Initiative (UNEP FI). He is responsible for supporting the climate mitigation and net zero journey of financial institutions from Africa and the Middle East in collaboration with local, regional, and international institutions such as the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ).

Youssef started his climate finance career at the Green Climate Fund (GCF) in the Republic of Korea, before joining Attijariwafa bank in Morocco as Climate Finance Manager where he led sustainable finance activities covering 15 African countries. He also supported FSD Africa in the development of green and gender bond activities in the North African region.

Youssef has worked on sustainable financing from various perspectives, such as on climate project financing, access to international climate funding, sub-national financing and supporting the development of internal technical climate capabilities of Financial Institutions.