Where Change Comes From: My Time in Politics, the Paris Agreement, and the Future of Climate Action
Featuring Catherine McKenna, Adjunct Senior Research Scholar, Columbia Climate School and former Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Canada
*Please note this event is open to CUID holders only.
Description: Days after being named Canada’s Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, Catherine McKenna, landed in Paris and quickly found herself at the heart of the effort to secure the landmark agreement. Soon after the real battle would begin at home as she fought to deliver Canada’s first serious climate plan including carbon pricing against fierce opposition. After six years in Cabinet, she left politics and was appointed chair of the UN’s High Level Expert Group on Net Zero tasked with setting out the criteria for real net zero and calling out greenwashing. She remains what she calls a “stubborn climate optimist” but she is also a realist. In this lecture, McKenna will reflect on her time in politics, and what she has learned about making change happen — change she believes the world needs now more than ever.
Biography: Catherine McKenna, a distinguished global climate leader, is as an adjunct senior research scholar at the Columbia Climate School, advising on a range of topics, including climate law and finance, and her initiative Women Leading on Climate. McKenna is Canada’s former Minister of Environment and Climate Change as well as Minister of Infrastructure. She chaired the UN Secretary General’s new High-Level Expert Group on Net-Zero Commitments of Non-State Entities released at COP 27 in Egypt in 2022, setting out criteria for net-zero commitments of business, financial institutions, cities and regions. She is the CEO of Climate and Nature Solutions and founder of Women Leading on Climate. She is also an advisor to the climate data steering committee for the Macron/Bloomberg Net Zero Data Public Utility, to Singapore’s International Advisory Panel for Carbon Credits, to the Energy Transition Accelerator, as well as to the University of Ottawa’s Information Integrity Lab.
