Executive Director

Paola Ferreira is an environmental policy and strategy expert with 22 years of international experience in biodiversity conservation, climate change, and energy. As a Biologist and Civil Engineer with degrees from Universidad de Los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia, and an MSc from MIT, she has worked extensively in advising, leading, and implementing transformative environmental policy initiatives with positive outcomes and managing nonprofit organizations.

Paola joined  Climate XChange as Executive Director in March 2022. She will be leading the organization into its next chapter, building upon the recent growth of our State Climate Policy Network (SCPN) and deepening our impact on state-level climate action. She brings a wealth of experience in climate advocacy and nonprofit management. As Executive Director of Tropical Audubon Society, she spearheaded a strategic plan, led conservation efforts to protect important wildlife and bird habitat in Biscayne Bay, the Everglades, and  Miami-Dade County, and grew the organization’s grassroots advocacy efforts. 

She has also held senior policy roles spanning legislative, executive, and judicial environmental advocacy. Her past work includes the co-development of a Florida Energy Regulatory Assessment and leading the Climate and Conservation team at World Wildlife Fund (WWF) – Emirates Wildlife Society in the United Arab Emirates.

Paola’s vision for CXC includes passing impactful climate bills in key states, strengthening the SCPN, and building out the new State Climate Policy Dashboard to include policy analysis, benchmarking, and trends that will empower state and local decision-makers around the country to advance climate policies.