Actionable Climate Science for Equitable Futures
ABOUT DR. CHRISTIAN BRANEON
IMAGINING EQUITABLE FUTURES
“I have spent my career helping stakeholders understand the projected distribution of climate change impacts … in order to develop equitable adaptation strategies that are both scalable and sustainable.”
Dr. Christian V. Braneon serves on the New York City Panel on Climate Change and sits on the Board of Directors of The Trust for Governors Island as well as the Advisory Board of Carbon Direct and Morehouse College's Environmental Justice & Sustainability Program.
Dr. Braneon previously served as Head of Climate Justice at Carbon Direct, Inc as well as as Co-Director of the Environmental Justice and Climate Just Cities Network at Columbia Climate School and Co-Director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s inaugural Environmental Justice Academy for community leaders. With SciSpace LLC, he developed novel applications of satellite data that aim to enhance resilience to urban heat stress.
His work on urban heat islands and environmental justice has been featured in broadcast and print media outlets such as CNN, CNBC, and Science. He was selected as one of four international recipients of the AXA Award for Climate Science in 2021.
Equity is a critical metric for assessing environmental and climate justice.
“Vulnerability of ecosystems and people to climate change differs substantially among and within regions (very high confidence), driven by patterns of intersecting socioeconomic development, unsustainable ocean and land use, inequity, marginalization, historical and ongoing patterns of inequity such as colonialism, and governance (high confidence)”. - IPCC, 2022
CURRENT & PAST PROJECTS
ADVOCATING FOR ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE
Environmental justice addresses the equitable distribution of environmental benefits and harms (i.e. the ways we benefit and the ways we are harmed by our environment). It also addresses the meaningful involvement of all stakeholders in environmental decision-making at local, national, and international levels.
PAST PROJECTS
"The past is never dead. It's not even past.” - William Faulkner
Photo: Measuring land surface temperature in Tel Aviv-Yafo
Chicago Urban Heat Response
SPEAKING & MEDIA
ENGAGING THE CLIMATE COMMUNITY
“We are a long way from true environmental justice and even further from actually addressing the root causes of inequity.”
