Lily Bermel is a Research Associate working with MIT Innovation Fellow Brian Deese. She works on a range of climate change and industrial policy projects, including the Clean Investment Monitor.
Before joining MIT, Lily served for three years as a policy advisor on the U.S. State Department climate team, led by Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry. There, she negotiated on behalf of the United States under the Paris Agreement, the UNFCCC, and other multilateral fora; led diplomatic and private sector engagement on mitigating nitrous oxide emissions; strengthened climate literacy within the U.S. Foreign Service, including by developing data analytics tools; shaped the first public-private “green trade mission” to Egypt; advanced implementation of the Global Methane Pledge; and coordinated several other efforts to strengthen global climate ambition.
Previously, Lily developed the sustainability department at Cornell Dining, wrote a series of policy proposals for the Kingdom of Tonga, and contributed to climate policy in Massachusetts at the state and local levels. Lily received a B.S. in Environment and Sustainability from Cornell University.