Jessica McQuade

Country of Origin: Wales
Age: 34
Areas of expertise: sustainable development policy, governance and social justice

Jessica’s interest in sustainable development was sparked off during university where she studied politics and philosophy including a module on environmental politics. Jessica has been a British Council Climate Champion for over a year, developing initiatives to support a ‘just’ transition in her community. Jessica believes strongly that climate change should not impact disproportionately on the already disadvantaged in her community and is seeking to make sure that these groups have the opportunity to engage in developing a resilient and sustainable community that addresses their exclusion or poverty. During her project, Cardiff has become the first registered Transition city in Wales, developed a map of all the sustainable development community projects across the city and held over six events on sustainability themes.

As well as being active in her community, Jessica works within the field of sustainable development as a senior policy officer for a national NGO in Wales and is a member of the Climate Change Commission for Wales. Her work includes engaging communities on climate change and sustainable development, representing their issues to government and supporting the government to develop policies. Wales is currently developing a Sustainable Development Bill and an Ecosystems approach so Jessica’s current focus is on governance and delivery of sustainable development, in particular to support communities.