Susan Biniaz is a Senior Fellow at the Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs and a Lecturer at the Yale School of the Environment. A former Deputy Legal Adviser at the U.S. State Department, she served as the Principal Deputy Special Envoy for Climate for the United States. She was the lead climate lawyer for the U.S. government for more than 25 years and played a central role in all major international climate negotiations – including the Paris Agreement.

As a Deputy Legal Adviser, she also supervised the Treaty Office and issues related to East Asian Affairs, Western Hemisphere Affairs, the environment, law of the sea, human rights and refugees, law enforcement, private international law, and Somali piracy. Earlier in her career, she led the State Department’s legal office for Oceans, Environment, and Science, as well as the legal office for European Affairs.