WASHINGTON (May 6, 2009) -- Former senior U.S. Climate Negotiator Nigel Purvis has joined the German Marshall Fund of the United States as a Senior Fellow working on climate and energy policy. 

Purvis joins GMF as an established climate policy expert with extensive experience working on environment, climate, and energy policy issues. Currently, he serves as President of Climate Advisers, a strategic consulting firm specializing in U.S. climate change policy, international climate change cooperation, global carbon markets, and climate-related forest conservation.  He will continue leading Climate Advisers during his appointment at GMF.

"Nigel's experience on climate issues both in and out of government will solidify GMF's work on climate and energy issues, especially as we look toward the December UN climate negotiations in Copenhagen," said GMF President Craig Kennedy.

Previously, Purvis directed U.S. environmental diplomacy, including most recently as deputy assistant secretary of State for oceans, environment, and science. In that capacity, he oversaw U.S. environmental diplomacy on climate change, biodiversity conservation, forests, international trade, toxic substances, and ozone depletion. He was a senior international negotiator on climate change from 1998 to 2002, ending his tenure as the deputy head of the U.S. negotiating team.

From 2005-2007, Purvis served as vice president for policy and external affairs at The Nature Conservancy. From 2002-2005, he was a senior scholar in the foreign policy program of The Brookings Institution, where he directed the environment and development project. During this period, Purvis also served as an international affairs fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. His essays and interviews on climate change, environmental diplomacy, international assistance, and foreign affairs have appeared in leading news outlets and academic journals around the world.

Early in his career, Purvis worked as an international lawyer at the U.S. State Department, as a securities attorney at the law firm of Sullivan & Cromwell, and as a lecturer at Georgetown University. He is a graduate of Harvard Law School.

The German Marshall Fund of the United States is a nonpartisan American public policy and grantmaking institution dedicated to promoting greater cooperation and understanding between North America and Europe. GMF does this by supporting individuals and institutions working on transatlantic issues, by convening leaders to discuss the most pressing transatlantic themes, and by examining ways in which transatlantic cooperation can address a variety of global policy challenges. In addition, GMF supports a number of initiatives to strengthen democracies. Founded in 1972 through a gift from Germany on the 25th anniversary of the Marshall Plan as a permanent memorial to Marshall Plan assistance, GMF maintains a strong presence on both sides of the Atlantic. In addition to its headquarters in Washington, DC, GMF has seven offices in Europe: Berlin, Bratislava, Paris, Brussels, Belgrade, Ankara, and Bucharest.