Your Official Invitation to the
US Launch of the Yale EPI

Yale University’s Environmental Performance Index (EPI) invites you to the U.S. launch of its flagship report at the United Nation’s Headquarters in New York City. Join Assistant Secretary General Elliot Harris (TBC), Ambassador Janine Coye Felson, EPI Director Dr. Angel Hsu, and co-founder Kim Samuel to discuss how the EPI provides baselines to assess each country’s performance and inform progress on United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Change Agreement.

United Nations Headquarters
Monday, May 9, 2016
1:15 - 2:30 PM, EDT
Conference Room 8

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If you do not have a UN Grounds Pass, you MUST fill out the form above  by Thursday, May 5 at 12pm EDT to secure one. For security reasons, no additions can be made to list beyond this deadline. No exceptions.

Kim Samuel, President of The Samuel Family Foundation and Professor of Practice at the Institute for Studies in International Development at McGill University

Kim Samuel has over two decades of leadership experience in business, philanthropy, development of multi-stakeholder partnerships and academic research. A pioneer in the field of social isolation and connectedness, Ms. Samuel combines academic research, writing and lecturing with direct programmatic and partnership building experience supporting communities across the globe facing diverse challenges. Her work focusing on social isolation as a critical experiential and measurable component of multi-dimensional poverty underscores the importance of social connectedness to human dignity and human rights struggles globally.

Elliott Harris, Assistant Secretary-General, Head of the New York Office of UNEP 

(Attendance TBC) A native of Trinidad and Tobago, Elliot Harris is an expert in international economics, development policy analysis and formulation, and multilateral and inter-agency coordination processes. He served at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from 1988 to 2013 where he worked in the African Department and the Fiscal Affairs Department. In 2002, he became an advisor in the Policy Development and Review Department focusing on aid effectiveness, liaising with the United Nations system on the Millennium Development Goals and the Strategic Partnership with Africa, and later serving as the IMF's special representative to the United Nations and assistant director of the Strategy, Policy, and Review Department of the IMF.

Janine Coye Felson, Ambassador for Belize and Legal Advisor to the President of the General Assembly

Her Excellency Mrs. Janine Coye Felson is a senior diplomat in the foreign service of the Government of Belize with over 15 years of experience in bilateral and multilateral diplomacy. Prior to joining the Office of the President of the General Assembly, she served as Ambassador Deputy Permanent Representative to the Permanent Mission of Belize. As legal advisor to the United Nations General Assembly, she coordinated high level events on the rule of law and development and accountability frameworks for a new sustainable development agenda. More recently, she has served as lead negotiator for the Caribbean Community on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and continues to serve as lead finance coordinator for the Alliance of Small Island States in the multilateral climate change negotiation process.

Angel Hsu, Assistant Professor Yale-NUS College, EPI Principal Investigator

Dr. Hsu's research explores the intersection of science and policy and the use of data-driven approaches to understand environmental sustainability, particularly in the areas of climate change and energy, water, and air quality. Previously, Angel was at the World Resources Institute (WRI), a non-profit environmental thinktank in Washington, D.C., where she developed corporate greenhouse gas accounting and reporting initiatives in developing countries, including China, where she managed and led WRI’s efforts. She has written in and been cited by major media outlets and has provided expert testimony for the U.S. government.

The Environmental Performance Index (EPI) ranks 180 countries on high-priority environmental issues including air quality, climate change, and water resources. Now in its 15th year, the EPI provides a scorecard and baseline to assess each country’s performance and inform progress on United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Change Agreement.

EPI Director Angel Hsu, EPI Co-Founder Kim Samuel, Ambassador  will discuss at the May 9 launch how nations are performing, individually and collectively, on critical environmental issues. What portion of the world breathes unsafe air? How many of the world’s fisheries have collapsed? Are countries protecting forests and biodiversity?

The May 9 event is an opportunity for United Nations staff and country missions working to advance environmental policy and implement the SDGs to learn which environmental issues require the most attention and resources. Country representatives will have a chance to see a breakdown of their EPI scores, allowing them a better understanding of which national environmental policies are working and which are not.