Dr. Daniela Stevens Appointed Director of Energy, Climate Change and Extractive Industries Program at the Inter-American Dialogue

This post is also available in: Spanish

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 27, 2022
Contact: Inter-American Dialogue
press@thedialogue.org 

Washington, DC – The Inter-American Dialogue is pleased to announce the appointment of Daniela Stevens as director of the Energy, Climate Change & Extractive Industries Program. 

An energy and climate policy expert, Stevens will build upon and expand the program’s robust climate change mitigation and adaptation and energy security agenda. Stevens joins the Dialogue at a crossroads for the region, amidst rising energy demand, mounting inflation, and increased vulnerability to extreme weather events and other climate impacts.  

Before joining the Dialogue, Stevens was assistant professor in the International Relations Division of the Center for Research and Teaching in Economics (CIDE) in Mexico City, where she taught Latin American studies and international relations, coordinated the faculty seminars, served on the Board of Professors, and was an active member of the anti-discrimination committee. Stevens has published widely in environmental and climate journals, such as Global Environmental Politics by MIT Press, and written opinion pieces for Nexos and commentary for El Universal. 

Prior to working at CIDE, Stevens was a research fellow at Yale University, where she performed research on coalition-building in Latin America, energy reform in Mexico, and pension reform in Brazil. Stevens has also taught courses on climate and energy security for the Konrad Adenauer Siftung’s Diploma in International Strategic Analysis and on Latin American climate policy for the Mexican Foreign Service’s Matías Romero Institute.  

A Mexican national, Stevens has experience in the local and federal public administrations. At the Federal Ministry of Public Security, her work as a liaison between the pubic and academic sectors was critical in launching a research center on security, where she served as deputy director.  

Stevens has performed extensive fieldwork in Mexico, Brazil, and Colombia, where she has built strategic relationships with public officials, private sector representatives, and civil society leaders regarding climate and energy policy. For example, Stevens was part of the select academic team that analyzed the pilot program of the Mexican Emissions-Trading System, in an initiative led by the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) and the International Climate Initiative (IKI Alliance), financed by the German Ministry for the Environment. Stevens has been the recipient of competitive grants such as the Tinker Foundation Field Research Grant and is a member of National System of Researchers in Mexico (Candidate Level).   

“Daniela has an ambitious vision to enhance the Dialogue’s position as a convener and thought leader on the region’s most pressing energy and climate policy challenges,” said Dialogue President & CEO Dr. Rebecca Bill Chavez. “We are eager to see her achieve this by leveraging her outstanding academic credentials and profound knowledge of the issues.” 

Stevens holds a master’s degree in Political Science from El Colegio de México and a PhD in Comparative Politics from the School of Public Affairs at American University, where she was also an adjunct professor of Comparative Politics and a guest lecturer of the Climate Policy honors class. As a graduate intern at the Wilson Center’s Mexico Institute, she performed sectoral analyses of the Mexican power sector and examined the environmental implications of the USMCA.  

Stevens will lead the vibrant Energy Program established in 2014.  

####