Alden Meyer

Alden has more than four decades of experience on environmental and energy issues, most recently as director of strategy and policy for the Union of Concerned Scientists and co-director of its Washington, DC, office, where he provided general oversight and strategic guidance for the organization’s advocacy on climate and energy, transportation, agriculture, scientific integrity, and arms control issues. He also served as the organization’s principal advocate on national and international policy responses to the threat of global climate change.

Alden is an expert on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Paris Agreement, and other aspects of international climate policy.  He has attended the climate negotiations since they first started in 1991 and has served as an informal adviser to numerous UNFCCC Conference of the Parties presidencies; his analysis and advocacy have helped shape both U.S. and UN policies. Since 2014, he has served as the U.S. country lead for the International Climate Politics Hub (and its predecessor, the Climate Briefing Service), and he chairs the ICPH G7 & G20 working group. He has been deeply engaged in the Climate Action Network since its founding in 1989 and was a cofounder and the long-time board chair of the Global Campaign for Climate Action.

Alden also has extensive experience on energy and environmental policy at the state and national levels. He has testified before Congress on global warming and energy issues, and has authored numerous articles on climate change, energy policy, and electric utility and nuclear power issues for environmental and general interest publications. He has also served on several federal advisory panels, including the U.S. Secretary of Energy’s advisory board, and has provided leadership on climate and energy issues in several national coalitions, including the Blue-Green Alliance, the Green Group, and the U.S. Climate Action Network.

Before coming to UCS in 1989 to start up its work on climate, energy, and transportation issues, Alden served as executive director of four national organizations: the League of Conservation Voters, Americans for the Environment, Environmental Action, and the Environmental Action Foundation. Before that, he worked as a policy analyst on electric utility issues and nuclear power economics for the Environmental Action Foundation and as energy issues coordinator for the Connecticut Citizen Action Group.

Alden received his undergraduate degree from Yale in 1975, concentrating in political science and economics. He received a master’s degree in human resource and organization development from American University in 1990.

Alden lives in Takoma Park, MD, with his wife Connie and their puggle Lily. When he’s not working, he enjoys hiking, sailing, singing, and Scrabble. He has appeared on ABC, CBS, CNN, NPR, and NBC, as well as on the Today Show, Al Jazeera, BBC, SkyNews, and other broadcast outlets. He has been quoted in stories on global warming and energy issues in the Associated Press, Bloomberg News, Agence France Presse, Reuters, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, and many other U.S. and international news outlets.