Nadia B. Ahmad

Nadia B. Ahmad, JD, LLM, is an educator, writer, and mobilizer with a wealth of expertise in energy, environmental, and sustainable development issues.

As an Associate Professor at Barry University School of Law, she teaches property, business organizations, and environmental law and leads the Environmental and Earth Law Honors Certificate Program. Her groundbreaking research, including the development of the "climate cages" concept, addresses the nexus between climate policy and carcerality, making her a sought-after thought leader in the field.  Professor Ahmad has spent her academic career focusing on frontline communities that are the most vulnerable to energy production. She is a co-author of the casebook, Environmental Justice: Law, Policy & Regulation (Carolina Academic Press, third edition) and has published over 45 scholarly articles and book chapters.

She is an official expert for the International Bamboo and Rattan Organisation (INBAR) Taskforce on Bamboo for Renewable Energy (TFB4RE), promoting sustainable development with bamboo and rattan. Additionally, she is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and a Kerry Fellow at the Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs. She serves as a Council Member of the American Bar Association’s Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice and is a member of the Academic Advisory Group for the International Bar Association's Section of Energy, Environment, Natural Resources, and Infrastructure Law. Previously, she served as a visiting professor at Yale Law School and Pace Haub School of Law.

A frequent media commentator and three-time recipient of the Barbara L. Frye award from the Florida Capitol Press Corps, Professor Ahmad has been featured in numerous outlets, including CBS, PBS, CNN, Washington Post, TIME, The Hill, Politico, The Nation, Common Dreams, and Axios.

Before academia, she served as a Legal Fellow with the Sustainable Development Strategies Group, where she worked on tax policy for natural resources, community development agreements, and mineral leasing rights as a consultant to the World Bank and AusAID. Her work spanned projects in Afghanistan, Mali, and Mozambique, focusing on enhancing sustainable practices in these regions. At the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment at Columbia University, she advised on legal frameworks for offshore drilling laws for Sierra Leone. Professor Ahmad’s earlier experience included working for a multinational oil and gas company in the Denver-Julesburg Basin and in private law practice in Florida in the areas of land use, zoning, asset protection, and bad faith insurance litigation defense.

She earned degrees from UC Berkeley, the University of Florida, and the University of Denver. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Environmental Science at the Yale School of Environment.  A political strategist, she is an elected DNC member and co-founder of the Muslim Delegates and Allies Coalition. A native of Orlando, she is married and has three children.