Jake Schmidt

Jake Schmidt, Director, International Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), has fourteen years of experience in international climate policy. Jake directs NRDC’s International Program with a team of experts and partners working on climate change, clean energy, biogems, and sustainable development in India, Latin America, Canada, and at the international level. He works closely with NRDC’s China team, as well as helps coordinate NRDC’s international efforts to tackle the challenges of health, oceans, and wildlife. He leads NRDC's policy development and advocacy on international climate change, including through the climate negotiations and direct work with key countries around the world. He led a dialogue of senior climate change negotiators from more than 30 developed and developing countries to discuss options for the future international climate change regime while at the Center for Clean Air Policy. Jake has also worked on the Europe’s strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, European air quality policy, U.S. federal climate change policy, state climate change policy, aviation emissions, and carbon sequestration. Jake holds a B.A. in economics from Muhlenberg College and a M.P.P. in environmental policy, with a certificate in ecological economics from the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland.