Denise G. Fairchild

Ubuntu Climate Breakthrough Initiative

Founder

Denise G. Fairchild, PhD, is a nationally recognized activist-scholar in sustainable and community development with over 40 years of experience advancing environmental, economic and social justice. She is currently a 2021 Climate Breakthrough awardee, the largest global climate award granted to an individual and the second U.S. awardee. Dr. Fairchild’s work focuses on energy democracy, and co-edited a book by that title, that identifies community-based and cultural solutions to climate change and sustainable development. Dr. Fairchild retired in 2022 as the inaugural president/CEO of Emerald Cities Collaborative (ECC), a national nonprofit organization dedicated to greening cities across the U.S., building resilient local economies, and ensuring equity and inclusion in both the process and the outcomes of a green and healthy economy and now serves in an emerita status. Denise is a proud graduate of an HBCU—Fisk University in Nashville, TN.—and earned an advanced degree and a doctorate in urban planning from the University of Pennsylvania and U.C.L.A., respectively. She currently lives and works in South Los Angeles.

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