List of women climate scientists and activists

Introduction

Afghanistan

• Zuhal Atmar, pioneering environmentalist who ran a recycling plant
• Faiza Darkhani, environmentalist, climate change scholar, and women's rights activist

Argentina

• Inés Camilloni, climatologist studying climate change in South America

Australia

• Nerilie Abram, researcher in climate change and paleoclimatology
• Tracy Ainsworth, marine biologist working on coral reefs
• Lisa Alexander, international expert on heatwaves
• Julie Arblaster, climate change researcher, contributor to Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
• Sue Barrell, meteorologist active in climate monitoring and ocean-earth observations
• Kirsten Benkendorff, marine scientist working on molluscs
• Wendy Bowman, environmental activist
• Wendy Craik, scientist working for the Climate Change Authority
• Adriana Dutkiewicz, sedimentologist at the University of Sydney
• Ann Henderson-Sellers, climate change risk evaluation
• Taryn Lane, renewable energy expert
• Judith Lean, Australian-American solar and climate scientist
• India Logan-Riley, Māori climate activist
• Janice Lough, climate scientist researching coral reefs
• Amanda Lynch, Professor of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences at Brown University and the founding director of the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society. She is an expert in polar climate system modelling, indigenous environmental knowledge and climate policy analysis. She is a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society, the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering and the Norwegian Scientific Academy for Polar Research.
• Cara Augustenborg, Slovene-American artist and environmental activist
• Ann Henderson-Sellers, earth systems scientist focusing on climatic impacts
• Jane McAdam, legal expert on climate change and refugees
• Helen McGregor, geologist and climate change researcher, Research School of Earth Sciences at the Australian National University
• Amanda McKenzie, commentator on climate change
• Jessica Melbourne-Thomas, marine ecologist and ecosystem modeller
• Sam Mostyn, businesswoman active in climate change
• Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick, heatwave research
• Anjali Sharma, child climate activist
• Kate Trinajstic, paleontologist and evolutionary biologist
• Jo Vallentine, anti-nuclear activist
• Carden Wallace, marine biologist and museum director, expert on corals
• Shemara Wikramanayake, businesswoman striving for low carbon emissions and renewable energy production
• Penny Whetton, regional climate change projections for Australia
• Katherine Woodthorpe, executive involved in bushfire and natural hazards

Belgium

• Margaretha Guidone, activist campaigning against global warming

Bolivia

• Ximena Vélez Liendo, biologist focusing on the ecology of the Andean bear

Brazil

• Rosaly Lopes, geologist specializing in volcanology
• Antônia Melo, environmentalist and human rights activist

Cameroon

• Sevidzem Ernestine Leikeki, climate activist

Canada

• Eriel Deranger, indigenous rights activist intent on climate action
• Marie-Josée Fortin, spatial ecology researcher
• Natalya Gomez, climate-ice sheet-solid earth modeler, professor at McGill University
• Katharine Hayhoe, atmospheric science, global climate models
• Nasrin Husseini, Afghan-born refugee, food activist working on improved productivity through breeding
• Naomi Klein, author, filmmaker and environmental activist
• Melina Laboucan-Massimo, climate justice and Indigenous rights activist
• Corinne Le Quéré, Royal Society research professor, University of East Anglia
• Deborah Martin-Downs, aquatic biologist, ecologist
• Line Rochefort, ecologist specializing in peatland restoration
• Marie Sanderson, geographer and climatologist

Chad

• Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, environmental activist and geographer

Chile

• Adriana Hoffmann, environmentalist involved in the sustainable management of Chilean forests
• Sara Larraín, politician and environmental activist
• Veronica Vallejos, marine biologist and Antarctic researcher

China

• Chai Jing, journalist and environmental activist producing a documentary, later banned, on pollution and environmental policy
• Howey Ou, young activist inspired by Greta Thunberg

Colombia

• Xiomara Acevedo, climate change activist coordinating government policy
• Paola Arias, climate change researcher
• Martha Peralta Epieyú, politician and lawyer specializing in environmental law
• Aída Quilcué, environmentalist and politician
• Diana Marcela Bolaños Rodriguez, marine biologist studying flat worms and stem cell regeneration

Costa Rica

• Christiana Figueres, diplomat specializing in international climate change negotiations
• Sofía Hernández Salazar, youth human rights and environmental activist

Denmark

• Inger Andersen, economist and environmentalist working with international organizations
• Lone Drøscher Nielsen, wildlife conservationist active in Borneo
• Inge Lehmann, seismologist and geophysicist
• Signe Normand, biologist researching vegetation in the arctic tundra

Dominican Republic

• Idelisa Bonnelly, marine biologist who created first sanctuary in the North Atlantic for humpback whales

Ecuador

• Anita Rivas, lawyer and conservationist

El Salvador

• Johanna Segovia, marine ecologist

Fiji

• Kavita Naidu, lawyer working on international climate change law

Finland

• Hanna Kokko, evolutionary ecologist

France

• Hélène Bergès, director of the Plant Genomic Resources Center, plant geneticist investigating ocean-atmospheric coupling
• Pascale Braconnot, climate scientist
• Valérie Cabanes, lawyer and environmentalist
• Anny Cazenave, geodesist researching sea level rise caused by global warming
• Françoise Gasse, paleobiologist specializing in lacustrine sediments
• Amaelle Landais-Israël, climatologist researching Greenland ice and the North Atlantic
• Marguerite Augusta Marie Löwenhielm, mycologist studying the effectiveness of American grapevine against harmful insect pest
• Valerie Masson-Delmotte, focus on paleoclimatology at the Climate and Environment Sciences Laboratory
• Anaïs Orsi, climate scientist studying global warming through changes in polar ice
• Catherine Ritz, Antarctic researcher working on ice sheets and rise in sea level
• Françoise Vimeux, climatologist, research director at the Institut de recherche pour le développement, works at the Laboratoire des sciences du climat et de l'environnement and the Laboratoire HydroSciences Montpellier

The Gambia

• Fatou Jeng, internationally recognized Gambian climate activist

Germany

• Silvia Bender, Green party politician
• Nancy Bertler, Antarctic researcher investigating climate history
• Lina Eichler, climate activist
• Sabine Fuss, climate scientist focusing on sustainable resource management
• Ulrike Lohmann, climate researcher focusing on aerosol particles in clouds
• Katrin Meissner, German and Australian physical oceanographer and climate scientist, director of the Climate Change Research Centre at University of New South Wales
• Friederike Otto, German climatologist, associate director of the Environmental Change Institute
• Ricarda Winkelmann, climatologist researching interdependencies between climate, land ice and the ocean
• Kirsten Zickfeld, climate physicist now based in Canada

Ghana

• Nana Klutse, climate scientist

Guatemala

• Nicole Hernandez Hammer, Guatemalan-American climate scientist studying sea level rise

Guinea-Bissau

• Augusta Henriques, conservationist

Honduras

• Berta Cáceres, environmental activist and indigenous leader

Iceland

• Sigríður Tómasdóttir, environmentalist active in saving the Gullfoss waterfalls from industrialization

India

• Sulochana Gadgil, meteorologist studying monsoons
• Paramjit Khurana, biologist specializing in plant biotechnology
• Sunita Narain, environmentalist, clean energy advocate and political activist
• Medha Patkar, politician, rights activist and environmentalist
• Disha Ravi, youth climate activist

Indonesia

• Yuyun Ismawati, environmental engineering involved in safe waste management involved in protecting reefs from plastic waste pollution
• Salsabila Khairunnisa, youth climate activist
• Mia Krisna Pratiwi, environmental engineer
• Swietenia Puspa Lestari, environmental engineer

Ireland

• Cara Augustenborg, environmental scientist, also has US citizenship
• Karin Dubsky, German-born marine ecologist and environmental activist
• Anna Kernahan, climate activist, founder of Fridays For Future Northern Ireland
• Tara Shine, environmental scientist, policy advisor and science communicator

Italy

• Simona Bordoni, climatologist studying atmospheric dynamics in California
• Nicola Scafetta, astronomer and climate scientist

Kenya

• Wangari Maathai, environmental activist, Nobel Peace Prize winner

Laos

• Niane Sivongxay, zoologist specializing in zooplankton and amphibians

Madagascar

• Marie Christina Kolo, climate activist
• Julie Hanta Razafimanahaka, conservation biologist

Marshall Islands

• Kathy Jetn̄il-Kijiner, poet and climate change activist
• Selina Leem, climate change activist and spoken word performer

Mexico

• María Elena Caso, biologist pioneering the study if starfish and other echinoderms
• Enriqueta Legorreta, two-time winner of the Aguascalientes state prize for Environmental Merit
• Enriqueta Medellín, winner of Mexico's highest Ecological award, the Premio al Mérito Ecológico in 2012

Netherlands

• Elisabeth Gottschalk, investigated storm surges and river floods
• Saskia Ozinga, environmental and social activist involved in forest conservation

New Zealand

• Rosemary Askin, geologist, Antarctic researcher
• Helen Plume, ministerial climate change expert
• Gillian Wratt,, botanist and Antarctic researcher

Niger

• Mariama Mamane, environmentalist focusing on the ecology of rivers

Nigeria

• Francisca Oboh Ikuenobe, geologist specializing in palynology and sedimentology
• Eucharia Oluchi Nwaichi, environmental biochemist
• Margaret Adebisi Sowunmi, botanist and environmental archaeologist

Norway

• Ane Hansdatter Kismul, politician and environmentalist
• Ingrid Skjoldvær, environmentalist active in the Nature and Youth organization
• Gunhild Stordalen, physician and environmental advocate, founder of a climate change foundation
• Ragnhild Sundby, zoologist involved in environmental issues

Papua New Guinea

• Mazzella Maniwavie, mangrove conservationist and climate change activist

Peru

• Liz Chicaje, rain forest conservationist

Philippines

• Joan Carling, human rights activist and environmentalist
• Mitzi Jonelle Tan, climate justice activist
• Gemma Narisma, climate scientist focusing on assessment

Poland

• Zofia Kielan-Jaworowska, paleobiologist, expeditions to the Gobi Desert
• Teresa Maryańska, paleontologist specializing in dinosaurs

Russia

• Maria Klenova, pioneering Russian marine scientist
• Olga Zolina, climatologist, modeling of extreme precipitation

Rwanda

• Rose Mukankomeje, politician and environmental activist addressing forest conservation

South Africa

• Frances Gamble, climatologist and speleologist

South Korea

• June-Yi Lee, atmospheric scientist investigating future climate scenarios

Spain

• Paca Blanco, environmentalist and women's rights activist
• Aida Fernández Ríos, climate scientist and marine biologist

Sri Lanka

• Michelle Dilhara, actress and environmental activist
• Sevvandi Jayakody, conservationist and echinodermologist

Sudan

• Nisreen Elsaim, youth climate activist and climate negotiator
• Balgis Osman-Elasha, climate scientist studying climate change in Africa

Sweden

• Isabelle Axelsson, young climate activist
• Inger Holmlund, environmentalist active in tree-planting and craft projects for women in Kenya
• Greta Thunberg, climate change activist beginning school climate strikes in 2018

Switzerland

• Martine Rebetez, climatologist working on the consequences of climate change in Switzerland
• Sonja Wipf, plant ecologist studying climate change
• Anita Studer, conservationist and ecologist

Thailand

• Kotchakorn Voraakhom, landscape architect contributing to projects addressing climate change

Trinidad and Tobago

• Rahanna Alicia Juman, environmental researcher

Uganda

• Evelyn Acham, climate justice activist and coordinator of the Rise Up movement
• Hilda Flavia Nakabuye, youth climate and environmental rights activist, founder of Fridays for Future Uganda movement
• Vanessa Nakate, youth climate justice activist and founder of the Rise Up movement
• Leah Namugerwa, youth climate activist

United Kingdom

• Helen ApSimon, air pollution scientist
• Sarah Martha Baker, botanist and ecologist
• Brenda Boardman, domestic energy efficiency and fuel poverty researcher and campaigner
• Judith Bunbury, geoarchaeologist
• Tamsin Edwards, climate scientist, popular communicator
• Hayley Fowler, research focused on climate change and variability on hydrological and water resource systems
• Katharine Giles, climate scientist researching sea ice cover, ocean circulation and wind patterns
• Jean Grove, glaciologist; the Little Ice Age
• Joanna Haigh, atmospheric physicist, Co-Director of Grantham Institute at Imperial College London, solar variability
• Gabriele C. Hegerl, Professor of Climate System Science at the University of Edinburgh School of GeoSciences
• Helene Hewitt, Met Office researcher on ocean modeling
• Ellie Highwood, Professor of Climate Physics at the University of Reading
• Joanne Johnson, geologist, Antarctic scientist
• Caroline King-Okumu, researcher focusing on dryland ecosystems, environmental assessment and climate change
• Rachel Kyte, international strategist on sustainable energy
• Sonya Legg, oceanographer studying ocean circulation processes
• Diana Liverman, climate impacts, vulnerability and policy
• Georgina Mace, ecologist and conservation scientist
• Barbara Maher, environmental scientist researching magnetic particles and pollution
• Stephanie Peay, ecologist and crayfish researcher
• Vicky Pope, Head of the Climate Prediction Programme at the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research
• Paula Reimer, radiocarbon and archaeological scientist at the 14Chrono Centre for Climate
• Emily Shuckburgh, climate scientist, mathematician and science communicator
• Liz Thomas, paleoclimatologist, ice cores, British Antarctic Survey

United States

• Lydia Adams-Williams, writer focusing on conservation and deforestation
• Alice Alldredge, oceanographer and researcher of marine snow and demersal zooplankton
• Tanya Atwater, marine geologist
• Thelma Babbitt, civil rights and environmental activist
• Sallie Baliunas, retired astrophysicist active in global warming and climate research
• Lisa Beal, British-born oceanographer investigating the Agulhas current
• Barbara Bell, astronomer contributing to climate history
• Abigail Borah, environmental activist
• Florence Elfelt Bramhall, forest conservationist
• Emma Lucy Braun, botanist, ecologist and academic
• Margaret Bryan Davis, paleoecologist studying plant pollen
• Molly Burhans, cartographer and environmental activist
• Elizabeth Canuel, chemical oceanographer investigating organic carbon cycling
• Rachel Carson, marine biologist and conservationist
• Jeannine Cavender-Bares, evolutionary biologist
• Danielle Claar, marine scientist studying effect of climate on coral symbionts and parasites
• Amy C. Clement, atmospheric and marine scientist modelling climate change
• Kim Cobb, climate scientist studying oceanography
• Lisa Goddard, climate scientist focused on weather forecasting
• Emma Cole, botanist
• Maureen Conte, biogeochemist studying long-term cycling of chemical compounds in seawater
• Allison Crimmins, head of the National Climate Assessment
• Heidi Cullen, meteorologist, chief scientist for Climate Central
• Judith Curry, climatologist and former chair of the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology
• Rosanne D'Arrigo, climate researcher using dendrochronology
• Kendra Daly, oceanographer specializing in zooplankton
• Violet Dandridge, Smithsonian scientific illustrator
• Lesley-Ann L. Dupigny-Giroux, Trinidad-born geographer and climate researcher, now in Vermont
• Sylvia Earle, marine biologist
• Erika Edwards, researcher focusing on the evolution of plants
• Jane Fonda, actress, feminist and environmentalist
• Eunice Newton Foote, scientist who discovered the effect of carbon dioxide on climate
• Grace Voss Frederick, actress later focusing on natural environmental preservation
• Daphne Frias, activist focusing on gun control, climate change and environmental and disability justice
• Inez Fung, climate modeling, biogeochemical cycles, and climate change
• Niria Alicia Garcia, environmental activist
• Pat Gozemba, LGBT activist focusing on the environment
• Marika Holland, scientist working on sea ice modelling
• Alice Clary Earle Hyde, botanical artist and conservationist
• Deborah Jacobvitz, ecologist
• Frances James, ecologist and ornithologist
• Gretchen Keppel-Aleks, climate scientist researching greenhouse gases
• Caroline Ella Heminway Kierstead, geologist and micropaleontologist
• Bronwen Konecky, climatologist focusing on climate change in the tropics
• Winona LaDuke, economist and environmentalist
• Estella Leopold, paleobotanist and conservationist
• Beate G. Liepert, research scientist focusing on climate variability
• Lorraine Lisiecki, paleoclimatologist studying the history of climate change
• Hunter Lovins, environmentalist and sustainable proponent
• Jane Lubchenco, environmentalist and marine biologist
• Cherilla Storrs Lowrey, founder of The Outdoor Circle, Hawaii's oldest environmental organization
• Kate Marvel, climate scientist, popular communicator
• Galen McKinley, carbon cycle researcher, studying the interface between the ocean and the atmosphere
• Marcia McNutt, geophysicist, president of the National Academy of Sciences
• Linda Mearns, geologist and climate scientist specializing in climate change assessment
• Susanne Menden-Deuer, ecologist and oceanographer
• Jill Mikucki, microbiologist, Antarctic researcher
• Twila Moon, scientist researching the Greenland ice sheet
• Marianne V. Moore, aquatic ecologist
• Sue Moore, Arctic oceanographer studying whales
• Ann Haven Morgan, zoologist and ecologist
• Margaret Mulholland, oceanographer studying nutrients in marine environments
• Alison Murray, biochemist, Antarctic researcher
• Margaret Nygard, British-born educator and conservationist
• Karen Oberhauser, conservation biologist working with monarch butterflies
• Kittie Fenley Parker, botanical researcher and illustrator
• Mary Peltola, indigenous politician and environmentalist
• Elsie Quarterman, plant ecologist
• Marilyn Raphael, Trinidad-born climate change scientist working on polar research
• Cicely Ridley, British-born mathematician focused on climate modelling
• Edith A. Roberts, pioneering plant ecologist
• Gabrielle Rocap, marine biologist investigating marine bacteria and phytoplankton
• Joan Roughgarden, ecologist and evolutionary biologist
• Cynthia E. Rosenzweig, climatologist, pioneered the study of climate change and agriculture
• Joellen Louise Russell, oceanographer and climate scientist
• Tatiana Rynearson, oceanographer studying plankton diversity
• Eva Saulitis, marine biologist and writer
• Susan Seacrest, environmental activist and founder of the Groundwater Foundation
• Sybil P. Seitzinger, oceanographer and climate scientist researching climate change and elemental cycling, especially nitrogen biogeochemistry
• Susan Solomon, research in chlorofluorocarbons and ozone depletion
• Margaret Sordahl, ornithologist at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
• Lynne Talley, oceanographer and climate scientist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography
• Elizabeth Teter Lunn, biologist and ecologist
• Ellen Thomas, Dutch-born environmental scientist specializing in marine micropaleontology and paleoceanography
• Anne M. Thompson, specialist in atmospheric chemistry and climate change
• LuAnne Thompson, oceanographer modeling movement of heat and chemical via ocean currents
• Vivian Thomson, environmental policy academic
• Maya Tolstoy, marine geophysicist investigating earthquakes in the deep sea
• Susan Trumbore, earth systems scientist focusing on the carbon cycle and its effects on climate
• Monica Turner, ecologist specializing in forest fires
• Julienne Stroeve, polar climate scientist working on the remote sensing of ice and snow
• Carol Van Strum, environmentalist fighting against the use of pesticides
• Catherine Colello Walker, glaciologist working at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute
• Betsy Weatherhead, former head of the National Climate Assessment
• Rebecca Woodgate, oceanographer working on ocean circulation in polar regions
• Elizabeth Yeampierre, attorney and environmental activist
• Kakani Katija Young, bioengineer focusing on marine organisms
• Linda Zall, environmental scientist specializing in satellite data
• Joy Zedler, restoration and wetland ecologist

Uruguay

• Lucrecia Covelo, entomologist and conservationist

Vanuatu

• Litiana Kalsrap, climate activist

Vietnam

• Hoang Thi Than, geological engineer and archaeologist