The David Gergen Summer Fellowship Program is a highly competitive program that supports trailblazing public service and leadership opportunities, enabling a select number of HKS students to gain meaningful, practical, hands-on experience and develop important networks through summer internships in government or nonprofit service.
By Willow Fortunoff
I am a Master in Public Policy candidate at Harvard Kennedy School, concentrating in International and Global Affairs. During my time as a Gergen Summer Fellow in the UNFCCC Global Climate Action team, I focused on supporting and developing strategies to engage subnational government leaders in the UN Climate Change (UNFCCC) process amid calls for UN-wide reforms.
Historically, local government leaders have had limited or largely performative roles at the annual international climate conferences (COPs). However, Brazil, as the COP 30 President, set the tone by rallying Parties and non-Party stakeholders, including private companies, nonprofits, and local governments, around two connected priorities: the implementation of existing efforts and organizing a “Global Mutirão,” which aims to activate all segments of society around a shared goal. This platform has facilitated greater opportunities for local governments to provide input on COP outcomes and spotlight their experiences in implementing current initiatives. This summer, I contributed to projects advancing subnational engagement at an organizational and technical level.
On the organizational side, I helped plan two closed roundtables with Party representatives and subnational leaders with partners, including city networks and multilateral development banks. The first roundtable took place during the June Climate Meetings (SB 62) in Bonn. During the dialogue, national representatives acknowledged the value of local expertise in shaping Nationally Determined Contributions and discussed calls from mayors and regional officials to improve access to climate finance and climate reporting platforms. The second took place during UNFCCC Climate Week 2 in Ethiopia and dug deeper into proposals for building local capacity and investable project pipelines.
"At a moment when mayors and governors may soon be the primary U.S. government representatives in global climate discussions, this work expanded my view of future U.S. climate diplomacy."
Willow Fortunoff MPP 2026
For the technical aspect, I worked with the Climate Champions Team to implement the COP 30 Global Action Agenda. I served as a UNFCCC focal point for the key objective on ‘’Multi-level Governance,’’ which refers to coordination across national, regional, and local levels to deliver climate goals. In this capacity, I mapped top global initiatives and helped design key performance indicators to track progress. Additionally, I participated in a brainstorming process with the UNFCCC Transparency Division on upgrading the NAZCA portal to make subnational climate action more visible and accessible to both Party negotiators and technical experts.
At a moment when mayors and governors may soon be the primary U.S. government representatives in global climate discussions, this work expanded my view of future U.S. climate diplomacy. I collaborated with phenomenal U.S.-based and global networks mobilizing local governments. While my UNFCCC secretariat role focused on facilitation and research, I saw how these networks drive reforms and rally Party support for deeper engagement with subnational actors. Following graduation, I hope to build on this experience by working directly with a network or enabling partner as part of the next era of practical, whole-of-society global climate action.
In my last year at the Harvard Kennedy School, I will continue engaging with the Center for Public Leadership as a Gergen Fellow. Outside of classes, I will conduct research on city responses to international security challenges and serve as a Teaching Fellow for the graduate-level ‘Global Governance’ course. My Policy Analysis Exercise project will focus on strategies for connecting U.S. cities and states to international institutions. Previously, I was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study city diplomacy and migration in Ecuador. As Assistant Director at the Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center, I helped launch programs on city and state diplomacy and supported partnerships with the U.S. State Department. My work has appeared in The Hague Journal of Diplomacy, The New Atlanticist, and The National Interest. I am a Vermont Truman Scholar and hold a BA in Political Science and International Studies from Macalester College.
David Gergen Summer Fellowship Program
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