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Nuin-Tara Key

Senior Advisor

Nuin-Tara Key is a Senior Advisor for Resilient Cities Catalyst (RCC), providing strategic guidance on the establishment of the Mediterranean Climate Action Partnership (MCAP), and implementation of the California Resilience Partnership (CRP). She has nearly 20 years of experience in climate adaptation and mitigation policy, climate finance, urban and regional planning, and social and environmental equity. Previously, Nuin-Tara served as Director, North America Public Sector Practice, in the Climate and Resilience Hub (CRH) at WTW, working with public sector clients to better manage climate risks, guide the transition to a net zero economy, and build equitable community resilience in a rapidly changing world. 

From 2016-2022, Nuin-Tara worked in the California Governor’s Office of Planning and Research (OPR), where she served as a gubernatorial appointee under Governors Brown and Newson, including as Deputy Director for Climate Resilience. As part of the executive team, Nuin-Tara built the State’s Integrated Climate Adaptation and Resiliency Program, growing the team from two to over twenty and securing a programmatic budget of nearly $400M. She oversaw development of state adaptation planning and implementation grants, the Fifth California Climate Change Assessment – including building the first of its kind Tribal Climate Research Grant Program – and coordinated integration of physical climate risk into state asset investments. She served as Chair of the ICARP Technical Advisory Council and oversaw the development of the State’s Climate Adaptation Clearinghouse, supporting a community of adaptation practitioners across the state. Nuin-Tara also served as the state lead for long-term Community Planning and Capacity Building, under that California Disaster Recovery Framework.

Prior to joining OPR, Nuin-Tara co-founded an international initiative on community-based climate action, combining documentary film and policy research. She has worked in local and regional government, including building the first Regional Racial Equity Program at Metro, the regional government in Portland, OR. She was the recipient of the 2010 TogetherGreen National Fellowship from Audubon Society and Toyota, and, as MercyCorps’ first Urban Programming Consultant, built an organization-wide Urban Programming strategy across 20-plus countries. She has a Master of Urban and Regional Planning from Portland State University and a BA from Lewis and Clark College.