Inspiring Rally Speakers

Colette Pichon Battle

Saturday Plenary

Colette Pichon Battle, Esq.
Partner, Vision & Initiatives
Taproot Earth

Colette Pichon Battle is a generational native of Bayou Liberty, Louisiana. She was the founder of the Gulf Coast Center for Law & Policy and led the development of programming focused on equitable climate disaster recovery, global migration, community economic development and energy democracy for more than 17 years in the Gulf South. Colette now serves as the Partner of Vision & Initiatives at Taproot Earth, a global climate justice organization working for a world where all people can live, rest and thrive in the places they love. She serves on the governance council of the Southern Movement Assembly, co-chairs the national Water Equity and Climate Resilient Caucus with PolicyLink, serves on the steering committee of the Ocean Justice Forum, and anchors the 5-state, multi-issue initiative Gulf South for a Green New Deal. Colette was the lead architect of the 13-state Southern Communities for Green New Deal with the Southeast Climate & Energy Network and the Red, Black & Green New Deal, the national climate initiative with the Movement for Black Lives. 

Colette was named a 2019 Obama Fellow for her work with Black and Native communities, delivered at 2020 TED Talk on climate migration and is a 2022 William O. Douglas Award recipient given by the national Sierra Club recognizing her outstanding use of the legal/judicial process to achieve environmental goals with national significance.

Colette chaired the 2021-22 Equity Advisory Group of the Louisiana Governor’s Climate Initiative Task Force, she currently serves on the Kataly Foundation’s Environmental Justice Resourcing Collective as well as sits on the boards of the US Climate Action Network, Center for Constitutional Rights, Highlander Research Education Center, and Healthy Gulf, sits on the steering committee of the Resilience Roadmap Project project steering committee.