Our Mission
The mission of the Emerging Climate Leaders Fellowship is to create a community of committed clean energy and climate change leaders from emerging and developing countries, enriched by engagement with top Yale faculty and researchers, and leading global authorities in the clean energy transition from the International Energy Agency and beyond.
Who are the Climate Fellows?
Sixteen young practitioners selected each year from multiple career tracks from across Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America/Caribbean. Fellows share a common passion to become future leaders in the clean energy/climate change space, as they exchange findings and experiences with other like-minded professionals from across the Global South.
Yale Climate Fellows model diversity in terms of gender, country of origin, and professional background.
Yale Climate Fellows are drawn from a wide variety of professions, ranging from public servants to entrepreneurs, energy company professionals, financiers, journalists, educators, researchers, civil society representatives, legal advisers, and legislators.
Faculty and Partners
Fellows engage with prominent Yale faculty and a network of top practitioners to explore key issues in the global clean energy and climate change agenda.
Program Leadership
The program is overseen by Paul Simons, a Jackson Senior Fellow and retired U.S. ambassador who has been actively engaged in global energy and climate change policymaking for more than two decades.
Since 2020, Paul has been teaching and mentoring Yale students in the clean energy transition, while participating actively in the COP 26 and 27 processes. From 2015 to 2020, he served as Deputy Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer of the International Energy Agency (IEA), the leading global authority for energy and climate change analysis and policy development, where he led outreach activities with emerging economies and G-20 coordination. Read more
The fellowship is anchored by a group of seasoned professionals from the Jackson School’s International Leadership Center (ILC). Director Emma Sky and her ILC team provide essential policy and administrative support for the Yale Emerging Climate Leaders Fellowship.