Trishna Nagrani leads Asian expansion for Climeworks, a global carbon removal company. That focus on capturing and storing carbon dioxide occasionally makes her feel isolated from other efforts to address climate change, she says.
Eager to step outside her carbon-removal bubble, Nagrani applied to the Emerging Climate Leaders Fellowship program at the Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs' International Leadership Center (ILC). The program offers mid-career climate and clean energy practitioners from the Global South (generally comprising developing countries in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia, and Oceania) the chance to broaden their technical skills, expand their professional networks, and exchange views with Yale experts about clean energy and climate change.
"The fellowship offers a rare opportunity to engage deeply with other dimensions of the climate challenge - from the energy transition to the intersection of climate policy, science, and development," said Nagrani, who is from Panama. "I was drawn to the breadth of the fellowship program and the chance to learn from peers and experts tackling climate change from entirely different vantage points."
Nagrani is now a member of the 2026 cohort of Yale Climate Fellows. The five-month program kicked off in February when the 15 fellows gathered at Yale for a week of dialogue, networking, and professional development. While on campus, they participated in public events on a range of climate-related topics and shared their experiences and expertise with Yale faculty and students.
