Open Society Names Yamide Dagnet as Director for Climate Justice
NEW YORK—The Open Society Foundations announced today that Yamide Dagnet will take on the newly created role of director for Climate Justice, leading efforts to strengthen the Foundations’ commitment to climate justice and make it the centerpiece of Open Society’s work.
“Climate justice is mission critical for us,” said Open Society President Mark Malloch-Brown. “The future and resilience of our societies depends on whether we can stop the climate crisis. I am delighted that Yamide will shape a strategy that accelerates political and economic transformations to achieve climate and social justice in strategic low- and middle-income countries.”
Dagnet brings to the job deep, multiregional expertise on climate justice and experience in the private, nonprofit, and public sectors. Prior to joining Open Society, Dagnet served as the director of climate negotiations at the World Resources Institute in Washington, D.C., focusing on the equitable implementation of the Paris Agreement and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). She recently co-founded and launched Allied for Climate Transformation by 2025, a consortium that amplifies the voice and priorities of vulnerable countries and communities and convenes key stakeholders to guide ambitious and just outcomes in UN climate negotiations. Dagnet was also a senior country engagement specialist for the NDC Partnership, providing strategic advice and mobilizing resources from donors and agencies to fast-track the implementation of their climate plans.
“I am excited to join the Open Society at such a defining time,” said Dagnet, “to advance its engagement on climate and environmental justice by deploying resources across its network and collaborating with a wide range of actors at the nexus where the climate challenge intersects with justice, inclusive governance, and human rights. This role offers an incredible opportunity to support global climate efforts to accelerate just, accountable, low-carbon, and resilient transitions, with innovative tools and increased public and private capital flows, especially in the Global South and vulnerable communities.”
Dagnet has more than 18 years of experience in advancing environmental objectives, having worked as UK policy lead and negotiator on the UNFCCC measurement, reporting and verification framework; as UK Deputy Focal Point for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; as a reviewer of countries’ national policies under the UNFCCC; and as France’s focal point for the EU neighborhood policy and twinning program. She was recognized by the Ecologist as one of the 25 Most Influential Women Climate Leaders of 2019.