Alexis McGivern
About
Alexis McGivern is Head of Stakeholder Engagement at Oxford Net Zero, an interdisciplinary research group based at the University of Oxford. She works to translate academic research on net zero into guidance for corporations, civil society, policymakers and the standards community on credible climate action to reach net zero by 2050. She works to strengthen the integrity of net zero targets, including through addressing justice and equity concerns of net zero.
Alexis co-created and runs the Global Youth Climate Training Programme, a collaboration between Oxford and the Global Youth Coalition to train young climate activists on the tracks of the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) negotiations ahead of COPs. This programme has received 10,000 applications two years in a row. She also co-chairs the Race to Zero Professional Services Providers Working Group, convening a diverse group of stakeholders to better define what 'high integrity net zero' looks like for professional services providers like law firms, consultancies and ad agencies.
Alexis previously completed a dual degree as a Pershing Square Scholar at the University of Oxford, undertaking an MPhil at the School of Geography and the Environment. Her MPhil looked at the politics of waste incineration and the communities who are resisting the installation of new incinerators in the UK. She also completed an MBA at the Saïd Business School to understand the language and motivations of businesses to create long-lasting change across the stakeholders needed to address the climate emergency.
She was co-founder of 26,000 Climate Conversations – an Oxford student-led initiative that sought to build support for climate action through interpersonal conversations in the lead up to the United Nations COP26 conference.
Outside of her work, she creates TikToks about climate change research to make academia more accessible at @climatemadecool. She has a background of community organising for refugee rights and asylum seeker integration in Switzerland, where she grew up, and also worked to support low-income households in Oxford during the COVID-19 pandemic through mutual aid work.
The Global Youth Climate Training Programme won the Environmental Sustainability Award, as part of the Vice-Chancellors Awards 2024, for furthering work to support the University’s Environmental Sustainability strategic goals and commitments. Read more at: Celebrating Excellence: Vice-Chancellor’s Awards Honour Outstanding Achievements in SoGE | School of Geography and the Environment
Expertise
- Net zero
- Net zero standards and voluntary initiatives
- Justice and equity in net zero (i.e. justice implications of the net zero frame)
- Understanding climate issues from a business perspective
- Climate education/environmental education
Selected publications
- Governing Net Zero: assessing convergence and gaps in the voluntary standards and guidelines landscape (2024)
- Breaking the climate spiral of silence: lessons from a COP26 climate conversations campaign (2023)
- Can ‘Net Zero’still be an instrument of climate justice? (2023)
- Defining Net Zero for organizations: How do climate criteria align across standards and voluntary initiatives (2022)
- A decision framework for estimating the cost of marine plastic pollution interventions (2022)
- Predicted growth in plastic waste exceeds efforts to mitigate plastic pollution (2020)
Media experience
Alexis McGivern has experience working with the media in print and broadcast, including a recent interview with BBC Radio Oxford. She also has experience blog writing and delivered the TEDx Talk: How to Live a Plastic-Free Life.
See also
Alexis McGivern | This House Has No Faith in Net Zero Before 2035
Net zero for influenced emissions: The role of global professional service providers - ONZ webinar
Recent media work
- Finding Net Zero with Integrity: A Climate Chat with Alexis McGivern (Climate Decoded, 2024)
- Serviced emissions: Placing professional services at the heart of Net Zero (Smith School, 2024)
- COP29 Expert Panel Briefing (2024)
- Want to attend COP28? Here are my five tips to make the most of it (Smith School, 2023)
- Environmental and Climate Justice (interview with Feminist Futures Podcast, 2021)
- Plastic Pollution is outpacing our ability to manage it (The Oxford University Politics Blog, 2020)
- Alexis McGivern: Waste Management & the Recycling Industry (interview with Responsible Business Podcast, 2020)
- Student Spotlight: Alexis McGivern (The Oxford Student, 2020)