Catherine MCKENNA

Bio

Catherine McKenna is the founder and principal of Climate and Nature Solutions. She is Chair of the UN Secretary-General’s new High-Level Expert Group on Net-Zero Commitments of Non-State Entities (companies, investors, cities and regions) and is a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Columbia University's Climate School and launched “Women Leading on Climate” at COP26.

Catherine was Canada's Minister of Environment and Climate Change in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government where she was asked by France to be facilitate the negotiations of Article 6 of the Paris Agreement (the market text) at COP 21. She led negotiations of Canada's first national climate plan which included a price on pollution across the country. In this role she helped establish a number of global initiatives including the Powering Past Coal Coalition, the Ministerial on Climate Action and the Nature Champions Summit.

Later, as Minister of Infrastructure and Communities she made historic investments in public transit and green and resilient infrastructure, leveraged private sector investment to get more public infrastructure built through the Canada Infrastructure Bank, and led the development of Canada’s first National Infrastructure Assessment to drive Canada to net-zero emissions by 2050.

Before politics, Catherine practiced trade law in Canada and Indonesia, worked as a legal advisor for the United Nations Transitional Authority in East Timor, and co-founded Canadian Lawyers Abroad. She is a mother to three and spends her free time swimming.