Eileen Claussen, president of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, to give talk on "Climate Change and the Business Challenge" April 14

MIDDLEBURY, Vt.-Eileen Claussen, president of the Arlington, Va.-based Pew Center on Global Climate Change, will give a lecture titled “Climate Change and the Business Challenge” on Thursday, April 14, at 4:30 p.m. Her talk, the 2005 Scott Margolin Lecture in Environmental Affairs, will take place in Room 216 of McCardell Bicentennial Hall on Bicentennial Way off College Street (Route 125). The event is free and open to the public.

Claussen is the former assistant secretary of state for oceans and international environmental and scientific affairs, with responsibility for developing and implementing policies for climate change, ozone depletion, chemicals, forests, biodiversity, fisheries and wildlife conservation. She also served for three years as a special assistant to the president and senior director for global environmental affairs at the National Security Council.

From 1987 to 1993, Claussen was director of atmospheric programs at the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). There, she directed international and domestic activities related to the depletion of the ozone layer; developed the acid rain program under Title IV of the Clean Air Act; negotiated the Clean Air Accord with Canada; and directed the development of the EPA’s energy efficiency programs, including the Green Lights program and the Energy Star program. Claussen also served from 1990 to 1991 as the deputy assistant administrator for the office of air and radiation. Between 1972 and 1987, she directed various programs at the EPA, including those dealing with the land disposal of hazardous waste.

Claussen is the recipient of the Department of State’s Career Achievement Award, the Meritorious Executive Award for Sustained Superior Accomplishment, the Distinguished Executive Award for Sustained Extraordinary Accomplishment, and the Fitzhugh Green Award for Outstanding Contributions to International Environmental Protection. At the conclusion of her government career, she served as the Timothy Atkeson Scholar in Residence at Yale University.

She is a member of the board of directors of the Environmental Law Institute; the Council on Foreign Relations; and the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development.

Claussen is the executive editor of Climate Change: Science, Strategies and Solutions, and the author of numerous publications on the environment and development.

The Pew Center on Global Climate Change is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization. The Pew Center publishes reports on domestic and international policy, environmental impacts, and solutions relating to global climate change. The Pew Center’s Business Environmental Leadership Council is a group of 38 leading companies that establish and meet emission reduction objectives; invest in new, more efficient products, practices and technologies; and support action to achieve cost-effective emission reductions.

In 1998, the Middlebury College Lecture in Environmental Affairs was renamed in memory of Scott Margolin, a member of the college’s class of 1999, and is sponsored by the Middlebury College Office of Environmental Affairs and Program in Environmental Studies.

For more information, contact Janet Wiseman of the Middlebury College Environmental Studies Program at jwiseman@middlebury.edu or 802-443-5710.

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