Climate change is a crisis that will impact all people, but its effects are being shaped by pervasive and entrenched inequalities. The poorest countries, communities of color, small island states, and indigenous peoples are impacted earlier & disproportionately, although they are least responsible for emissions. Gender inequalities are further exacerbated by climate change, as women and girls continue to lack equal rights, power, of access to capital. Low Income Countries lack the same access to inexpensive energy and investment in technology and skills that industrialized nations took advantage of over the last century. Finally, there is a deep injustice to nature itself, in the loss of biodiversity & the rapid extinction of so many species. Children and young people have been left with an uncertain—and likely unsafe—future.
Governments, corporations, investors, cities & communities will need to harness the ambition necessary to meet this moment. As usual, women are leading the way.
This session was curated in partnership with Pat Mitchell.
Gina McCarthy is the first National Climate Advisor—the president's chief advisor on domestic climate policy—and leads the White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy focused on mobilizing a whole-of-government approach to tackling the climate crisis, creating good-paying, union jobs, and securing environmental justice. Previously, she served as 13th Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and then as President and CEO of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). One of the nation’s most trusted and accomplished voices on climate issues, she has been at the forefront of environmental and public health progress in a variety of leading roles for over three decades.
In her time leading the EPA, McCarthy oversaw successful efforts to reduce greenhouse gases, mitigate air pollution, conserve critical water sources, and safeguard vulnerable communities from chemical hazards. She spearheaded the Obama-Biden Administration’s Clean Power Plan, which set America’s first-ever national standards for lowering carbon emissions from power plants, and helped pave the way for the Paris Climate Agreement. Prior to her role with the NRDC, McCarthy was a professor at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and currently serves as chair of the board of directors of the Harvard Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment.
Throughout her career, McCarthy has advised five administrations of both Democratic and Republican Massachusetts governors on environmental matters, and she served as Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection prior to being appointed by President Obama to head up the EPA’s Air Office. As EPA administrator, she pursued innovative global collaborations with the United Nations and the World Health Organization, and on global efforts to address pollution. Born and raised in Boston, McCarthy graduated from the University of Massachusetts Boston and earned a master of science at Tufts University.
Xiye Bastida is a teenage climate activist based in New York City and one of the lead organizers of the Fridays For Future youth climate strike movement.
For the first climate strike in March, 2019, she mobilized 600 students from her school and has taken a citywide leadership role in organizing climate strikes and speaking out about climate justice issues in rallies and town halls.
Bastida was born and raised in Mexico as part of the Otomi-Toltec indigenous peoples. She sits on the administration committee of the Peoples Climate Movement, where she brings the voice of youth to existing grassroots and climate organizations.
Bastida launched a youth activism training program to expand the climate justice movement and is a member of Sunrise Movement and Extinction Rebellion. In 2018, she was invited to the 9th United Nations World Urban Forum to speak about indigenous cosmology. She received the “Spirit of the UN” award in 2018.
Described as one of the country’s most exciting “next generation” political leaders, Gloria Walton is committed to creating equitable climate solutions that center the people closest to the problem. Gloria is an award-winning organizer, writer, and the President and CEO of The Solutions Project. Gloria joins The Solutions Project from Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education (SCOPE), a South LA-based community organization, where she was President & CEO for 10 years. SCOPE has been a grantee of The Solutions Project since 2015 and Gloria joined the board in 2017 to help create a vision that is radically-inclusive and culture-led.
Gloria is a Fellow of the 2020 class of the Civil Society Fellowship, a Partnership of ADL and The Aspen Institute, a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network, and has won half dozen awards for her leadership, including NAACP-LA’s Empowerment Award and the LA League of Conservation Voters Environmental Justice Champion Award. She is a gubernatorial appointee to the California Climate Adaptation and Resiliency Program Technical Advisory Council, and LA County Board of Supervisor appointee to Central Santa Monica Bay Watershed Area Steering Committee. Additionally, she serves on the board of directors of Rockwood Leadership Institute, and is a founding Coordinating Committee member of the Los Angeles Black Worker Center, and Founding Advisory Board member of the national collaborative, BOLD (Black Organizing for Leadership & Dignity).
In addition to her leadership and community organizing work, Gloria is also a writer, commentator, and public speaker. Her work and words have appeared at The Nation, Huffington Post, The Center for American Progress, and others, writing about topics ranging from environmental racism and clean energy jobs, to voter engagement and racial justice. She also speaks nationally, and has shared words on stage with luminaries like former EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer, and actor Don Cheadle.
Vice President and Regional Director for Africa, World Resources Institute
Wanjira Mathai is the Vice President and Regional Director for Africa at WRI.
She formerly served as Co-chair of WRI’s Global Restoration Council and a Senior Advisor to the Global Restoration Initiative. She is the current Chair of the Wangari Maathai Foundation and the former Chair of the Green Belt Movement in Kenya.
An inspiring leader, Wanjira has over 20 years of experience advocating for social and environmental change on both local and international platforms. Over the years, Wanjira has also served important strategic and advocacy roles raising the prominence and visibility of global issues such as climate change, youth leadership, sustainable energy, and landscape restoration, at Women Entrepreneurs in Renewables (wPOWER), the Wangari Maathai Foundation (WMF), and the Green Belt Movement (GBM) the organization her mother, Wangari Maathai (2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate) founded in 1977.
Wanjira currently serves on the Board of the World Agroforestry Center (ICRAF) and as a Leadership Council member of the Clean Cooking Alliance. Wanjira is one of a few Six Seconds EQ Practitioners in Kenya and was named one of the 100 Most Influential African Women in 2018 and 2020.
Mary Robinson is Adjunct Professor for Climate Justice in Trinity College Dublin and Chair of The Elders. She served as President of Ireland from 1990-1997 and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights from 1997-2002. She is a member of the Club of Madrid and the recipient of numerous honours and awards including the Presidential Medal of Freedom from the President of the United States Barack Obama. Between 2013 and 2016 Mary served as the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy in three roles; first for the Great Lakes region of Africa, then on Climate Change leading up to the Paris Agreement and in 2016 as his Special Envoy on El Niño and Climate. Her Foundation, the Mary Robinson Foundation – Climate Justice, established in 2010, came to a planned end in April 2019.
A former President of the International Commission of Jurists and former chair of the Council of Women World Leaders she was President and founder of Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative from 2002-2010 and served as Honorary President of Oxfam International from 2002-2012. She was Chancellor of the University of Dublin from 1998 to 2019.
Mary Robinson serves as Patron of the International Science Council and Patron of the Board of the Institute of Human Rights and Business, is an Ambassador for The B Team, in addition to being a board member of several organisations including the Mo Ibrahim Foundation and the Aurora Foundation. Recently she became joint Honorary President of the Africa Europe Foundation. Mary’s memoir, ‘Everybody Matters’ was published in September 2012 and her book, ‘Climate Justice - Hope, Resilience and the Fight for a Sustainable Future’ was published in September 2018. She is also co-host of a podcast on the climate crisis, called ‘Mothers of Invention’.
