Catherine M. McKenna

Adjunct Senior Research Scholar, Columbia Climate School

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. She periodically holds office hours for Climate School students.

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.