Ira Feldman

Ira Feldman is a US-based sustainability leader with an interdisciplinary skill set and a global reach. He is Founder & Board Chair of the not-for-profit Adaptation Leader and is positioned at the leading edge of the convergence of sustainability, climate adaptation, and ecosystem services. With cross-cutting experience as an attorney, management consultant, policymaker, regulator, standards developer, and political advisor, Ira has focused on environmental regulatory innovation (e.g., alternatives to “command and control” regulation), strategic environmental management, sustainable business practices, and corporate social responsibility. In academia, he has taught these topics as adjunct professor at the City University of New York, George Mason University, Fordham University, the University of Pennsylvania, Vermont Law School, and Washington College of Law. To advance sustainability in higher education, he founded the not-for-profit Sustainability Curriculum Consortium (SCC).

In the 1990s, as Special Counsel at US EPA headquarters, he pioneered new enforcement settlement approaches; developed the EPA audit and self-disclosure policy; and was the architect of EPA’s first corporate voluntary excellence program. Since then, as team leader or in partnership with other consultancies and law firms, Ira has assisted governmental entities, multilateral organizations, think tanks, corporate trade associations, and SMEs, on a wide range of implementation, policy development, and training activities. He led in the development of corporate voluntary excellence programs, environmental performance tools and strategies, and international voluntary standards (ISO 14000 series, ISO 26000 and GRI).

Ongoing interests as a researcher and practitioner include: the role of ESG (environment-social-governance) factors in the financial sector, including corporate strategies for climate adaptation; the implications of “soft law” or “private law” for business and government; the use of public–private partnerships (PPP) to advance sustainable development; and the role of blockchain technology in addressing climate adaptation and resilience. Ira is committed to advancing sustainability thinking in the U.S. through policy initiatives and electoral politics; assisting universities with faculty and curriculum development for sustainability in higher education; and remaining an active contributor to the substantive sustainability and climate dialogue.

Ira Feldman

---