Vice President for Global Climate, Environmental Defense Fund
Kelley Kizzier is Vice President for Global Climate at Environmental Defense Fund, where she leads EDF’s work to promote more ambitious and effective global climate policy and company action with a focus on multilateral climate agreements and global cooperation through carbon markets. She has extensive experience advocating for ambitious climate policy, and deep expertise in the design, performance, accounting and transparency of international carbon markets.
Prior to joining EDF, Kelley worked on European Union and international climate issues for many years as a senior official at the European Commission’s Directorate for Climate Action (DG CLIMA) in Brussels, and at the Irish Environmental Protection Agency in Dublin. Kelley was the lead markets negotiator for the EU in the climate negotiations for 15 years, negotiating issues related to international cooperation through carbon markets, transparency and accounting for the Framework Convention, the Kyoto Protocol and ultimately, the Paris Agreement. She served for three years as the UNFCCC co-chair for the UN climate negotiations under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement.
Kelley is a Founding Sponsor Board member of the governance body for the voluntary carbon markets, whose mission is to establish a threshold standard for high-integrity carbon credits and ensure they are traded in robust, transparent and equitable markets. She is an honorary fellow at the International Emissions Trading Association and serves on the Board of Directors for Verra.