As the chief sustainability officer for the City of Los Angeles. Lauren Faber O’Connor is driving the implementation of Mayor Garcetti’s landmark LA’s Green New Deal, a global model for local action to confront the climate crisis. L.A.’s Green New Deal is guided by four key principles: uphold the Paris Climate Agreement; deliver environmental justice and equity; ensure an inclusive green economy; and lead by example within City government. To deliver accelerated leadership on sustainability, O’Connor also builds collaboration through Climate Mayors, a coalition chaired by Mayor Garcetti of over 400 US Mayors committed to US leadership on climate change and sets the global agenda through C40, an international network of 96 megacities raising the bar on climate action.

Prior to joining the Garcetti Administration, O’Connor served for four years as the west coast political director for the Environmental Defense Fund in San Francisco. At EDF she worked on building successful strategies and constructive partnerships to win support for protecting and promoting climate, clean energy, land, water and wildlife. In 2010 O’Connor was appointed assistant secretary for climate change programs at the California Environmental Protection Agency, where she was dedicated to the design and implementation of California’s landmark Global Warming Solutions Act, AB 32. Prior to her work at CalEPA, O’Connor served as senior director for Lighthouse Consulting Group in Washington, D.C., where she advised on comprehensive national climate change and energy strategies for domestic and international companies, and NGOs, and in particular, the U.S. Climate Action Partnership. From 2005-2009 O’Connor served at the British Embassy as senior policy advisor for climate change and energy.

O'Connor holds a Bachelor’s degree in Earth Systems and Economics from Stanford University, and Master’s degree in Climate and Society from Columbia University.