Todd Stern

---

title: "Todd Stern" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1951-births", "20th-century-american-jews", "dartmouth-college-alumni", "harvard-law-school-alumni", "illinois-democrats", "living-people", "activists-from-chicago", "clinton-administration-personnel", "obama-administration-personnel", "american-sustainability-advocates", "united-states-special-envoys", "white-house-staff-secretaries", "21st-century-american-jews"] description: "American lawyer" topic_path: "law" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todd_Stern" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American lawyer ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
name	Todd Stern
image	Todd Stern appointed Special Envoy for Climate Change 1-26-09.jpg
office	United States Special Envoy for Climate Change
president	Barack Obama
term_start	January 26, 2009
term_end	April 1, 2016
predecessor	Position established
successor	Jonathan Pershing
office1	White House Staff Secretary
president1	Bill Clinton
term_start1	June 30, 1995
term_end1	March 11, 1998
predecessor1	John Podesta
successor1	Phillip Caplan
birth_date
birth_place	Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
party	Democratic
education	Dartmouth College (BA)
Harvard University (JD)
spouse	Jennifer L. Klein
::

| name = Todd Stern | image = Todd Stern appointed Special Envoy for Climate Change 1-26-09.jpg | office = United States Special Envoy for Climate Change | president = Barack Obama | term_start = January 26, 2009 | term_end = April 1, 2016 | predecessor = Position established | successor = Jonathan Pershing | office1 = White House Staff Secretary | president1 = Bill Clinton | term_start1 = June 30, 1995 | term_end1 = March 11, 1998 | predecessor1 = John Podesta | successor1 = Phillip Caplan | birth_date = | birth_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = | party = Democratic | education = Dartmouth College (BA) Harvard University (JD) | spouse = Jennifer L. Klein Todd D. Stern (born May 4, 1951) is an American lawyer and diplomat. He served as the United States Special Envoy for Climate Change and was the United States' chief negotiator at the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement.

Education

Stern graduated from Dartmouth College in 1973, and earned a J.D. at Harvard Law School.

Career

Stern served as the United States Special Envoy for Climate Change, leading talks at the United Nations climate change conferences and smaller sessions, appointed by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on January 26, 2009. He was the United States' chief negotiator at the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement.

Stern has proposed the creation of the E-8, a novel international group uniting leading developed nations and developing ones for an annual gathering focused on combating global warming.

Stern previously served under the Bill Clinton administration as Assistant to the President and Staff Secretary in the White House from 1993 to 1998, during which time he also acted as the senior White House negotiator at the Kyoto Protocol and Buenos Aires negotiations.

At the 2011 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP-17) in Durban, Stern was interrupted by Abigail Borah, who accused USA of moving to slowly to tackle climate change.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Special_Envoy_Stern_Delivers_Remarks_on_Climate_and_Clean_Air_Coalition_(8247855564).jpg" caption="Todd Stern at COP18 in Doha, 2012"] ::

Personal life

On 10 September 1995, at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Stern married Jennifer Klein, a policy analyst working for the Domestic Policy Council and office of the First Lady.

References

References

1. (December 12, 2015). "Statement by the President on the Paris Climate Agreement". [[whitehouse.gov]].
2. Kerry, John. (March 21, 2016). "Statement on the Departure of U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change Todd Stern and the Appointment of Jonathan Pershing".
3. Peret, Anya. (2009-01-27). "Stern '73 to be climate-change envoy". [[The Dartmouth]].
4. Romero, Frances. (2009-01-26). "Climate Change Envoy Todd Stern". Time.
5. Franke-Ruta, Garance. (January 26, 2009). "Stern Appointed Climate Change Envoy". [[The Washington Post]].
6. "Stern Appointed Climate Change Envoy". The Washington Post.
7. (January 20, 2022). "National Security and Climate Change: Behind the U.S. Pursuit of Military Exemptions to the Kyoto Protocol". [[National Security Archive]].
8. (April 5, 2021). "The Clinton White House and Climate Change, Part II: Engaging the Oval Office". [[National Security Archive]].
9. Broder, John M.. (2011-12-08). "U.S. Climate Envoy Seems to Shift Stance on Timetable for New Talks". The New York Times.
10. (September 10, 1995). "WEDDINGS; Jennifer L. Klein, Todd D. Stern".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::