People & Partners

Project Team

Holly Kaufman

Co-founder & Director

Climate change, plastics and sustainability expert, recognized thought leader, relationship-builder, policy strategist, and project designer and manager. Holly is a Senior Fellow at World Resources Institute (WRI), a Nominator for Prince William's Earthshot Prize, and a member of the California Senate Bill 54 Implementation Working Group. She managed the climate change & national security portfolio at the U.S. Department of Defense as a President Clinton appointee, and was a strategy expert on the UN climate treaty negotiations team at the State Department, where she received a Superior Team Honor Award.

Dr. Alice (Xia) Zhu

Co-founder & Research Director Emeritus

Environmental analytical scientist specialized in the plastics lifecycle, climate change, marine debris, and oceanography. Alice led the scientific research and was lead author of the Project's peer-reviewed paper published in Frontiers in Environmental Science. She is a Banting Postdoctoral Fellow at Memorial University in Newfoundland studying the fate of microplastics in the Atlantic Ocean, and a member of the UNEP/European Commission's Project on Plastic Pollution Toolkit Working Group.

Pamela Wellner

Communications Strategist

Chief Strategist and founder of Amplify Eco, a communications and program management consulting practice dedicated to advancing climate, sustainability, and human rights initiatives. With over 30 years of experience, she has led integrated communications and campaign strategies for mission-driven organizations including Greenpeace, ClimateWorks, Health Care Without Harm, and the Rainforest Action Network.

Advisory Board

The Plastics & Climate Project benefits from the input of advisory board members who ensure the scientific integrity of the Project's work and provide strategic advice. The Advisory Board also enables people and institutions engaged in complementary issues to add value to each other's work.

Jo Banner

Co-Founder & Co-Director, The Descendants Project

Organization dedicated to preserving and improving the health, land, economy, and lives of the Black descendant community in Louisiana's "Cancer Alley."

Dr. Dan Lashof

Senior Fellow, World Resources Institute (WRI)

Dr. Kara Lavender Law

Research Professor of Oceanography, Sea Education Association

Research areas include ocean circulation, distribution of marine plastic debris, and degradation and fate of plastics in the ocean.

Dr. Karen Raubenheimer

Australian National Centre for Ocean Resources & Security, University of Wollongong

Key architect of the UN global plastics treaty research and proposal; co-author of Climate Impact of Plastics (GRID-Arendal, 2024); contributing author to the Project's report.

Dr. Sarah-Jeanne Royer

Research Scientist, Center for Marine Debris Research, Hawaii Pacific University

One of the first scientists to discover that plastic emits greenhouse gases when exposed to sunlight.

Dr. Leah Stokes

Professor of Environmental Politics, UC Santa Barbara

Research includes climate change, renewable energy, water, and chemicals policy. Named on TIME100 Next and one of Business Insider's top 30 global leaders working toward climate solutions.