Former Colombian Environmental Minister Conducts SEAS Webinar


May 28, 2021

Juan Pablo and Prof. Deason at Juan's Doctoral Graduation in 2000

Juan Pablo and Prof. Deason at Juan's Doctoral Graduation in 2000

On January 11, 2021, two-time EEM graduate Dr. Juan Pablo Bonilla conducted a virtual webinar for students, faculty, and prospective students at the School of Engineering and Applied Science. Juan Pablo presently is a top-level manager at the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington, D.C. as the Managing Director of the Climate Change and Sustainable Development programs. In that capacity, Dr. Bonilla has one of the largest impacts of any single individual in the world on global climate change, which is the most important problem presently facing our planet.

 

In his present capacity, Juan Pablo not only has a direct impact on the climate change programs of 26 countries in the Latin America and the Caribbean region (Argentina, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, and Venezuela), but also influences the program so 21 the world’s largest nations that support the Bank (Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the United States). Overall, the Inter-American Development Bank is the world’s largest source of development financing for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Before moving to the IADB, Juan Pablo was a member of the of the United nations Clean Development Mechanism Execute Board and also served in the past as Executive Director of the Foundation for the Development of the Caribbean Region of Columbia, and Environmental Manager of the National Industry Association of Colombia before serving as Colombia’s environmental minister.

Juan Pablo first graduated from GW with his Master of Science degree in 1995, then received his Doctor of Science degree in Environmental and Energy Management in 2000. He previously obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in 1991 from the Universidad Javeriana in Bogota, Colombia,

In his January webinar, Juan Pablo discussed how his graduate education at GW  was instrumental in his career success to date.