Nilda MESA

Bio :

Nilda Mesa has an extensive career in environment, energy and sustainability and writes and speaks on the subjects of sustainable development and the UN SDGs, climate, energy, equity, resiliency and urban systems relating to them.  She is Director of the Urban Sustainability and Equity Planning Program of the Center for Sustainable Urban Development (CSUD) at Columbia University’s Earth Institute, as well as Adjunct Professor at the School of International and Public Affairs.

She is also Visiting Professor at the Paris School of International Affairs at Sciences Po.  She is a member of the Board of Directors of United Therapeutics (NASDAQ: UTHR), as well as several non-profit organizations. Previously, she served as Director of the NYC Mayor's Office of Sustainability. She directed and was the principal author and editor of OneNYC (2015), the city's long-term sustainability plan, which for the first time for a major US city tied environmental initiatives with economic development, equity and resilience. She developed innovative programs including in climate, energy, sustainability, air quality, waste, green buildings, transportation, and public education. Internationally, she represented New York with the Obama Administration’s U.S.-China Climate Cities Initiative, with C40, and with the Under2 Coalition founded by California Governor Jerry Brown. Under her leadership, New York City received numerous awards for sustainability and climate initiatives. Before joining the Mayor’s Office, she founded Columbia University’s environmental stewardship office, one of the first at a university, and where she pioneered the development of sustainability theory and practice in urban settings,  Mesa also served in senior environmental roles at the White House Council on Environmental Quality, the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the California Attorney General's office. At EPA, she was Counsel to the NAFTA Task Force, serving as lead U.S. attorney in the implementation negotiations for the environmental side agreements, and on the U.S. NAFTA delegation. She also developed policy on international environmental negotiations.

She is a graduate of Harvard Law School and Northwestern University. She studied painting and sculpture at the Maryland Institute College of Art and the Art Students League. Her art may be found in the permanent collection of the 9/11 Memorial Museum, and she exhibited in New York, Canada and France. She was born in Cuba.

Contributions : 

Seminar on October 15, 2019 : Integrating Sustainable Development and Climate Goals in Urban Sustainability Plans.