Frances
Colón

Senior Director and Team Leader, International Climate Policy

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Frances Colón

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Frances Colón is the senior director and team leader for International Climate Policy at American Progress, where she leads a program to drive international ambition and action to meet global climate mitigation and adaptation goals. Colón is the former deputy science and technology adviser to the Secretary of State, where she promoted integration of science and technology into foreign policy dialogues, global advancement of women in science, and climate policy for former President Barack Obama’s Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas. Colón earned her Ph.D. in neuroscience in 2004 from Brandeis University and her B.S. in biology in 1997 from the University of Puerto Rico. Colón was a 2019 Open Society Foundations Leadership in Government fellow, a city of Miami Climate Resilience Committee member, and a 2020 Yale-OpEd Project Public Voices on the Climate Crisis fellow. She is a member of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine Roundtable on Science and Technology for Sustainability, and she co-chairs the academies’ Global Science Diplomacy Roundtable.

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Project 2025 Would Jeopardize Global Climate Action Article
U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry arrives on stage to deliver a speech.

Project 2025 Would Jeopardize Global Climate Action

During a critical decade for climate action, Project 2025’s architects call for an end to American climate leadership on the international stage, which would harm Americans and prevent the global community from achieving climate goals necessary to maintain a livable planet.

3 International Climate Priorities for 2024 Report
Photo shows several flags arranged in a circular formation, flying against a grey cloudy sky

3 International Climate Priorities for 2024

As President Joe Biden’s first term draws to a close, his administration must deliver on three international climate policies to catalyze a 21st-century clean energy economy and avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

Anne Christianson, Trevor Sutton, Frances Colón

CAP Leads Letter to Administration Urging Clean Energy Incentive Eligibility for U.S. Territories Article

CAP Leads Letter to Administration Urging Clean Energy Incentive Eligibility for U.S. Territories

The Center for American Progress coordinated a letter from civil society organizations to the administration, urging the Treasury Department to allow territories to fully access direct pay and transferability for clean energy tax credits.

Frances Colón, Rachel Chang

To Tackle Climate Change, the Cycle of Crisis, Debt, and Underinvestment in the Global South Must End Article
Biden against a background with a picture of a forest

To Tackle Climate Change, the Cycle of Crisis, Debt, and Underinvestment in the Global South Must End

The United States must push for transformative reforms to the global financial system to alleviate Global South debt burdens that prevent investments in climate, development, and democratic institutions.

Kate Donald, Frances Colón, Anne Christianson, 2 More Heba Malik, Cassidy Childs

Lula’s Presidential Victory Is an Opportunity To Renew U.S.-Brazil Climate Cooperation Article

Lula’s Presidential Victory Is an Opportunity To Renew U.S.-Brazil Climate Cooperation

Following the election of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to Brazil’s presidency—and the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act marking the largest climate investment in U.S. history—a moment of truth for climate emerges for the most populous countries in the Americas right as leaders gather for COP27 in Egypt.

Ryan Richards, Joel Martinez, Frances Colón

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