Paula DiPerna

Policy advisor and author focused on global environmental and philanthropic policy issues; US

Paula DiPerna is an expert in environmental finance, a strategic adviser on environmental and philanthropic policies to public and private organizations around the world, and a widely published author.  She currently serves as Special Advisor to CDP, which operates the world’s only integrated environmental disclosure system; on the Board of Advisors of Global Kids, which offers international education to public school students; the Circle of Advisors of Rachel’s Network, linking women philanthropists who have environmental interests and the Board of Directors of HistoryMakers, a unique oral and video archive of African-American leadership across all sectors.  DiPerna has also served as a juror for the MacArthur Foundation 100andChange grant competition, and the JM Kaplan Fund Innovation Prize. DiPerna has also been a Fellow at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Center, and a Visiting Fellow at Civic Exchange, Hong Kong.

Previously, Ms. DiPerna was President of CCX-International (Chicago Climate Exchange), which operated the world’s first cap-and-trade system to address climate change, pioneering emissions trading worldwide, including launching the first of China’s pilot markets.  She also served as President of the Joyce Foundation, a major US philanthropy focused on policy innovation; and Vice President for International Affairs for the Cousteau Society, whose principal was ocean explorer Jacques-Yves Cousteau. She is a frequent public speaker and media commentator.