Second Nature | Toni Nelson

Toni Nelson, ACUPCC Program Director

Toni is the ACUPCC Program Director at Second Nature. Prior to coming on board at Second Nature, she was the Climate Program Manager for the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) where she managed the implementation-related aspects of the ACUPCC.

Toni has more than 15 years of experience working on climate change-related issues both in the U.S. and abroad. As a Staff Researcher at Worldwatch Institute she published articles on topics such as trends in compact fluorescent bulb sales, urban agriculture, and violence against women. She also implemented EPA and UNDP projects to reduce greenhouse gas and ozone-depleting emissions in Latin America and Asia as a Project Manager at ICF International. Prior to supporting implementation of the ACUPCC at AASHE, Toni worked in the Rio de Janeiro and New York City offices of EcoSecurities developing and managing projects to generate greenhouse gas emissions reductions (CERs and VERs) in the solid waste, mining, and agricultural sectors for trade internationally under the Kyoto Protocol and within the voluntary U.S. market.

Toni graduated from the University of Virginia with a B.A. in Environmental Sciences. She founded the University's first student environmental group dedicated to implementing the first campus recycling program. She also holds an M.S. in Environmental Studies and M.U.P in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Oregon and an M.A. in International Studies with a concentration in Development Geography from the University of Miami.