Jane McDonald is the Managing Director of the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), an independent think tank championing sustainable solutions to 21st century problems.
In this role, she oversees IISD’s global team working to advance sustainable economies, protect freshwater, and accelerate climate solutions.
Jane has over 15 years of Canadian and international experience working with governments, corporate executives, and major think tanks to advance sustainability. She has worked in the financial sector, building new environmental markets at investment bank Cantor Fitzgerald, and led advocacy efforts to secure the inclusion of Canadian renewable electricity in the US Clean Power Plan.
From 2015-2016, Jane served as Policy Director for the Canadian Minister of Environment and Climate Change where she supported the Canadian government’s role in the Paris Agreement, and negotiations with provinces on the ‘pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change’. In 2018 she joined a diverse group of stakeholders on Canada’s Generation Energy Council, producing the first energy vision for Canada consistent with the country’s climate goals.
Jane is currently a board member of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce. She has served on the Steering Committee of Smart Prosperity, the Board of the International Institute for Sustainable Development, as Advisor to Western University’s Network for Business Sustainability, and as a Director of Clean Air Canada Inc. She has been an Adjunct Professor of Environmental Finance at the University of Toronto and is a 2007-2008 Fellow of Action Canada.
She studied economics and literature at McGill University and received an international MBA from York University and the Ecole Supérieur des Sciences Economiques et Commerciales in Paris.
