CANCELLED: Modi’s India & the Planet: Climate Change

Climate change is one of the century’s defining challenges, and India will be one of the most important countries on the planet in determining how we respond. India has taken several ambitious steps to chart a low-carbon growth path, but these are taking place against a backdrop of rapid economic growth for some, long-standing energy poverty for others, complex political and cultural dynamics, and a rising health toll from local air pollution.

Daniel Rochberg is Chief Strategy Officer of Emory University's Climate@Emory initiative and an Instructor in Emory's Rollins School of Public Health and Department of Environmental Science, where he focuses primarily on climate change and sustainable development and is a founding member of the Georgia Climate Project. He joined Emory in 2010 after ten years working with the U.S. Department of State. He served as Special Assistant to the lead U.S. climate negotiators under both the Bush and Obama Administrations and was a member of the U.S. delegation to the UN climate conferences in Bali, Poznan, and Copenhagen. During that period, he also played an active role in shaping the U.S.-India Partnership to Advance Clean Energy, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s Greening Diplomacy Initiative, and the President’s Global Climate Change Initiative.

He still works with the Department of State as a Strategic Coordinator of Climate Change Initiatives, focusing in particular on the U.S.-India bilateral relationship, a 25-country program to build capacity for low emission development strategies, and the U.S. government’s overall approach to climate change assistance. Daniel entered the State Department as a Presidential Management Fellow in 2000, and helped coordinate U.S. preparations for the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. He took a 5-month leave of absence in 2003 to work as a consultant with the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs and in 2006 served a 3-month tour as the regional environmental officer at the U.S. Embassy in Gaborone, Botswana.

Daniel has received the State Department’s Superior Honor Award and Meritorious Honor Award for his efforts on climate change and sustainable development, and Emory’s Sustainability Innovator Award for his efforts on Climate@Emory initiative. He holds a B.A. in Human Biology with honors in environmental science, technology, and policy and an M.S. in Earth Systems, from Stanford University.