May 1, 2020 – Today, the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) welcomes Nikki Reisch as Director of its Climate and Energy Program. Nikki brings more than fifteen years of experience working in the fields of human rights and environmental justice, having devoted her career to advancing the rights of marginalized populations and protecting the planet by challenging governmental and corporate abuses.
Nikki will direct the Climate and Energy Program in its work to transform our energy system and urgently address the political, social, and economic realities of the climate crisis. She will lead a team of dedicated attorneys working to hold those responsible for the climate crisis to account, confront and reverse the financial flows that fuel a deepening climate emergency, and ensure that human rights are at the center of this transition.
“Confronting the intersecting crises of climate change and global plastic pollution demands innovative legal strategies, bold advocacy, and an unflinching commitment to the countries and communities on the front lines of those crises,” says CIEL President Carroll Muffett. “Nikki Reisch brings precisely that commitment, combined with the vision and leadership to deliver on it. I could not be more excited to welcome her to the CIEL team.”
“I am thrilled to join the team at CIEL,” says Nikki. “No cause speaks more strongly to my passion for fighting inequality, defending our shared global environment, and holding powerful actors to account than the climate justice movement. And no time has called more urgently for bold, coordinated action to bring about a more just world than the present moment when we face converging public health, economic, and climate crises. I am eager to build on CIEL’s decades of leadership linking human rights and environmental law, to strengthen our alliances and advance creative legal strategies to challenge the dirty energy economy, and support a people-centered, rights-respecting and equitable transition to a clean-energy future.”
Nikki comes to CIEL from her role as the Legal Director of the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice and as a Supervising Attorney in the Global Justice Clinic at the New York University (NYU) School of Law. There, her work focused on human rights and environmental harms related to a range of domestic and international issues, including open-pit mining, large-scale tax abuse, and surveillance of human rights defenders. Previously, Nikki served as the Africa Program Manager at the Bank Information Center, working to curb development finance for fossil fuels and supporting frontline communities challenging extractive projects. She also served as the Policy Advisor on Forests and Climate Change at Rainforest Foundation UK, where she partnered with forest-dependent communities to mitigate the human rights risks posed by climate change and policy responses to it.
Nikki’s background also includes experience as an Adjunct Professor in the Human Rights and Gender Justice Clinic at CUNY School of Law, and a law clerk on the Ninth and Second Circuit Courts of Appeals. She is a member of the State Bars of California and New York. She holds a J.D. degree from NYU and a B.A. in Ethics, Politics, and Economics from Yale University.
Nikki can be reached at: nreisch(at)ciel.org