Charles McNeill

Charles McNeill is a Senior Fellow at Meridian. Prior to this role, he served as a leader in the United Nations managing UNDP’s work on forests, biodiversity, climate change, sustainable energy, Indigenous Peoples and local community engagement, and public-private partnerships. Subsequently, he served as UNEP’s Senior Advisor on Forests & Climate. 

Charles’ 32-year career with the United Nations began at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. Since then, he has founded and led a range of catalytic global initiatives to address the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss including: the Equator Initiative, the UN-REDD Programme, the NY Declaration on Forests, the Indigenous Peoples Initiative for UNFCCC COP21, and the Interfaith Rainforest Initiative. Much of this work was carried out in partnership with Meridian Institute. Charles earned his Ph.D. in Genetics with a focus on conservation biology from the University of California at Davis. 

As a dual U.S. and Canadian citizen, Charles divides his time between New York City and Bowen Island, off the coast of Vancouver BC, where he enjoys year-round ocean swimming, paddleboarding, plant-based foods, and wine tasting.