When Dr Rebekah Shirley first set foot in Nairobi, Kenya, it reminded her of Trinidad, where she was raised, and Jamaica, where her roots run deep.
Now living in Kenya, US-born Shirley’s life’s work in sustainability, energy, and climate justice has found fertile ground.
“I translate science into policy into action—alongside community,” she says simply. But her path has been anything but simple.
From a curious teenager cleaning beaches with her school’s UNESCO club in Port-of-Spain to becoming Deputy Director for Africa at the World Resources Institute, Shirley has built a career in research, justice, and transformation.
With over 15 years of experience across Asia, the Caribbean, and Africa, she has emerged as one of the most dynamic Caribbean minds leading global sustainability work today.
Shirley’s journey into environmental leadership began not in a grand lecture hall or international summit but in the halls of St Joseph’s Convent Port-of-Spain. Shirley and a few friends had wandered into a UNESCO club meeting, which she recounts as a pivotal moment, even now.
“That was where my spark started,” she reflects, “it became a great space. We did beach clean-ups and outdoor excursions and learnt to connect and care for our natural environment.”
As she became more invested in the purpose of these activities, she assumed the presidency of the school’s UNESCO club and knew since then she would follow the path to pursue the study of Environmental Science.
Raised by a Jamaican father and a Trinidadian mother, Shirley’s roots were always steeped in Caribbean consciousness, but when her studies took her to McGill University in Canada, her perspectives became global.
She followed her passion for environmental science and obtained a first-class honours Bachelor of Arts and Science in Environment from McGill. Aside from her academic achievements, it was the vibrant and diverse community of Caribbean and African students at McGill that “reinforced the notion that my work and contributions could spread far beyond the Caribbean region”.
In 2008, Shirley returned home to Trinidad and Tobago to work at the Environmental Management Authority (EMA) against the backdrop of a global financial crisis. The contrast between Trinidad’s relative oil-backed stability during this crisis versus the relatively greater economic crisis of other islands, which were more import-dependent, stood out to her.
She had a moment of consciousness, realising “in this big world of Environmental Science, I wanted to hone in on the study of energy and energy security”.
Shirley began to research the best programmes she could pursue toward that career and ended up at the University of California, Berkeley, which is home to one of the world’s oldest energy resources programmes.
At Berkeley, Shirley completed an MSc in Energy Resources and an MSc in Civil Engineering and went on to do a PhD in Energy Resources between 2010 and 2015, a time when climate change conversations hit a fever pitch with COP15 in Paris.
“You couldn’t escape it,” she says, “Berkeley was a place of critical thinking, and I was drawn deeply into the intersection of climate, energy, and justice.”
Keenly interested in clean energy technologies and their application to industry, mobility, agriculture, and climate resilience, Shirley soon realised that the tools she had built throughout her studies could translate in a variety of practical international contexts.
Her doctoral research took her to Borneo in Southeast Asia, where she explored the integration of socio-cultural, ecological, and resource management perspectives into power system planning tools. Developing an integrated optimisation modelling approach, she identified high-investment renewable energy opportunities for Borneo.
Working with local civil society, her results contributed to shifting local policy away from further large-scale dam development. Her work offered alternative energy models that respected local culture and ecosystems. The research findings sparked viral community campaigns and eventually influenced policy at the state level, leading to the creation of the Baram Peace Park.
For Shirley, it made clear her passion, which she describes as “the trifecta—research, community action, and an understanding of policy and political processes that drive change. That experience showed me that research alone isn’t enough”.
That case study propelled Shirley into her career, which is applying research to drive impact and essentially replicating the success in Borneo in various international contexts. She was invited to replicate her model in Thailand and Vietnam and completed a postdoc that took her to Nigeria and Kenya.
Her first visit to Africa was more than professional—it was personal. “There was an immediate connection. I felt a cultural and emotional link. People lacked access to energy, and I had the tools to help. I thought that working in these contexts was a way to leverage my research skills to contribute to problem-solving in a place I felt culturally connected to.”
Today, Shirley works with the World Resources Institute (WRI), where she leads research on landscape restoration and food system transformation. For her work turning actionable research insights into solutions and influencing the global dialogue on energy and sustainability, she has received many accolades, including being named an ESI Africa Elite Energy Industry Leader and an Energy Institute Energy Leader, Africa Utility Week’s Outstanding Young Leader in Energy, a GWEC Revolutionary, and most recently, the World Energy Justice Young Scholar 2023.
Shirley is also a sought-after public speaker on environmental sciences and sustainability solutions and delivered a TED Talk on Africa’s immense potential as a clean energy hub.
Her path hasn’t been without obstacles. As a young Caribbean woman in a male-dominated field, she’s had to navigate scepticism and stereotyping, especially at international climate conferences and global summits. “Climate is about science, finance and policy–all male-dominated fields at their intersection,” she says. She recounted that especially in her early thirties, while taking on senior leadership positions, she was perceived as “too young or too inexperienced, especially walking into a room of men in suits with curly hair and a Trini accent”.
Her strategy? Lean into expertise. “My mechanism for assertion is staying true to my science-based expertise,” she says, “I appreciate and understand the science, I’m well-read on academic publications in my field, and I have facts, figures and data. That’s what earns me respect.”
Shirley also leans heavily into her Caribbean identity. “There’s something natural about how Caribbean women lead—we’re warm but firm, rooted in empathy but demanding excellence of ourselves and others.”
In addition, she believes that coming from a melting pot of cultures helps us, as Caribbean people, resonate with various cultures and communities across the globe. This ability to forge cross-cultural connections and understandings is a cornerstone of her leadership.
Looking to the Caribbean, Shirley muses on the way that the changes we are already seeing in the climate and environment will affect us as a region. She acknowledged that Caribbean voices and small island developing states (SIDS) have already shaped the climate conversation in big ways—from the part SIDS have played in the “1.5 to Stay Alive” campaign to leadership in climate adaptation and community-based solutions.
Although we have missed the 1.5 mark globally, the Caribbean has a part to play in locally driven solutions. According to Shirley, we have a long way to go as a region in terms of public awareness, planning, and policy alignment in a region where urban development still lags behind climate realities.
Rebekah Shirley is a daughter of the soil, blazing trails across the world and asserting herself in leadership positions at the helm of her field. Her career path, guided by academic parents, a supportive family, and a village of aunties, cheerleaders and mentors, continues to evolve.
Her advice to young changemakers? “Be intentional. Time is short—live with purpose.”
As she has done, she encourages young people to hold themselves to a high standard while still holding onto their humanity. To forge true impact, she calls for us to tap into the spirit of community and continue to find solutions with empathy and connection.