World Bank employee Max Thabiso Edkins was one of the 157 victims on board the Ethiopian Airlines flight that crashed soon after take-off from Addis Ababa to Nairobi.

According to international agency reports, he held dual German-South African nationality.

Connect4Climate confirmed its employee was on board the flight, stating: "On March 10, we lost a dear friend and the world lost a true climate leader."

"Max brought passion and enthusiasm to everything he did, and his commitment to climate action never wavered. Our hearts are with his family and friends," the group said.

Since January 2013 he had worked as a climate communications expert on the Connect4Climate programme of the World Bank Group.

He had been scheduled to attend a week-long conference convened by the UN Environment Programme (Unep) in Kenya from Monday.

Edkins, 35, was born in Lesotho and grew up between Lesotho, Germany and South Africa, according to the World Bank.