Jonathan Pershing

Jonathan Pershing, who traveled to 21 countries to negotiate an international climate agreement last year as the Biden administration’s No. 2 global climate envoy, is leaving his position February 2022. He formerly headed the Hewlett Foundation’s climate programs in California. He plans to return to the same job. Jonathan Pershing was sworn in as Deputy Special Envoy for Climate Change on March 19, 2009. In this capacity, he will report to Special Envoy Todd Stern and serve as the Department’s senior climate negotiator and Head of Delegation at official level meetings of UN climate change conferences. Dr. Pershing brings more than 20 years of domestic and international experience in climate change science, technology, and policy to his new position as a key advisor on United States international climate policy and strategy. Prior to joining the State Department, Dr. Pershing served as Director of the Climate, Energy and Pollution Program at the World Resources Institute (WRI), a non-partisan environmental think tank in Washington, D.C. He also directed the Environment Program at the International Energy Agency in Paris, and spent nearly a decade in the State Department as a senior climate official in the 1990s. Dr. Pershing is widely recognized for his work on international climate change architecture, including the design of a post-Kyoto Protocol climate change agreement. He has served on multinational advisory boards supporting the development of both U.S. domestic and international climate policy.