Tracey Osborne

Tracey Osborne is the Founding Director of the University of California Center for Climate Justice. She also serves on the faculty as Associate Professor in the Management of Complex Systems Department at the University of California, Merced. Tracey is an interdisciplinary scholar whose research focuses on the social, ecological and political economic dimensions of climate change mitigation in tropical forests. She is an expert on climate finance, carbon markets, global environmental governance, and climate equity and justice, with particular attention to the role of Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities. She has worked on these issues globally with extensive field experience in Mexico and the Amazon.

Along with her team, she has co-developed a unique high-integrity carbon project with Indigenous partners in the Ecuadorian Amazon based on their knowledge, cosmovision (worldview), and traditional forest governance and land use practices. She is also leading a team in the development of a new certification for high-quality climate/biodiversity projects that are co-developed with and provide significant benefits to Indigenous and local communities.

Tracey is a member of the Global Climate Leadership Council, a body that advises the University of California’s President on the successful implementation of UC’s Carbon Neutrality Initiative. She has published articles in high impact environmental and geography journals and serves on the boards of Amazon Watch and One Earth. She received her PhD from the Energy and Resources Group at the University of California, Berkeley.