Nigel Purvis

Speaker: Climate Change & Sustainability

Nigel Purvis is the founder and president of Climate Advisers, a Washington, DC based consultancy specializing in US climate change policy, international climate change cooperation, global carbon markets, and climate related forest conservation. The firm's clients include philanthropic foundations, think tanks, and environmental groups, governments, international organizations, companies, and financial institutions. Nigel directed US environmental diplomacy in the William J. Clinton and George W. Bush administrations, most recently as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans, Environment, and Science. In that capacity he shaped US Foreign policy relating to climate change, biodiversity conservation, forests, toxic substances, ozone depletion, and environmental aspects of international trade. He worked closely with senior officials in the White House, Congress, key federal agencies, and negotiated internationally with ministers and ambassadors from around the world. Currently, Nigel holds climate change and international affairs research appointments at Resources for the Future, the German Marshall Fund of the United States, and the Brookings Institution. From 2005 to 2007, Nigel served as the global vice president for policy and external affairs at the Nature Conservancy. From 2002 to 2005, he was a senior scholar in the foreign policy program of the Brookings Institution and an International affairs fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. He is a prize-winning honors graduate of Harvard Law School.