Renata Koch Alvarenga

 Renata Koch Alvarenga (she/her) is the Founder and Director of EmpoderaClima, which is a Brazil-based, youth-led initiative created to raise awareness of the disproportionate impacts of climate change that girls and women face in the Global South, as well as the need for women’s leadership in climate action.  

Koch Alvarenga is working as a Climate and Sustainable Development Fellow at the UN Office of the Secretary-General’s Envoy on Youth this summer in New York City. She has been engaged in international initiatives for gender and climate justice for the past 7 years. Koch Alvarenga is a G(irls)20/Fora Ambassador of Brazil, National Gender Youth Activist of UN Women, Transform Education Leader, Voices That Inspire Fellow and Gender Co-lead for Youth at UN Climate. She has also worked as a Political Analyst for the British Mission in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.   

Koch Alvarenga holds a Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations from Unisinos (Brazil), having studied for two years at the Seton Hall School of Diplomacy and International Relations (United States). Currently, she is a Master in Public Policy candidate at the Harvard Kennedy School, as a Belfer Young Leader Fellow and Claudio Haddad Brazil Fellow.  

Koch Alvarenga has spoken about her work and the need for youth leadership in climate action at conferences across Europe, Latin America, and Asia, including UN conferences COP25 and COP26, and was the first Brazilian to speak at the opening of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW65), alongside the UN Secretary-General. 

“I want to be a visionary leader that centers young women and girls from Latin America in climate decision-making spaces”