Funding the world's most critical climate projects

Amelia VanderLaan

Principal

Adaptation Match was founded by Amelia VanderLaan, a former U.S. diplomat with over a decade of service in the State Department. As a core member of the Department's permanent climate negotiations office, the Office of Global Change, she led U.S. adaptation policy globally. She was the first climate officer for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs, advising Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry on climate issues in Asia. She managed more than $60 million in federal funds, including over $50 million for climate programs.

At COP29 she was the State Department lead for the United States Pavilion, delivering 61 live-streamed events with 261 speakers featuring Cabinet officials, Members of Congress, and CEOs. She received a Superior Honor Award for this work and was selected as an inaugural Garber Economic Fellow.

She is currently an Executive Fellow at Harvard Business School working on climate finance mobilization ahead of COP32 and a Senior Advisor to the Africa Adaptation Initiative. At the Harvard Kennedy School, she was on the teaching team for Professor Wentworth's Climate Leadership class.

Originally from Santa Fe, New Mexico, she served overseas in Cyprus, Canada, and Poland. She holds a master's degree from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government and the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, as well as a BA from Smith College. She speaks some Turkish, Greek, and Spanish. Amelia was previously a visiting scholar at the University of Oxford and a Fulbright Fellow in Türkiye.