Sam Barratt is Chief of the Youth, Education and Advocacy Unit in UNEP’s Ecosystems Division and Co-Chair of the UN Higher Education Sustainability Initiative (HESI). At UNEP, he founded the Playing for the Planet Alliance, a collaboration with the video gaming industry to nudge gamers’ behaviour and for the industry to use cleaner energy, launched Earth School with TED-Ed and oversees the work of UNEP’s Youth and Education Alliance (YEA!) with networks representing over 2,700 universities from around the world. He also manages the non-formal education programme work with the Girl Guides and World Scout Movement which has seen the launch of the Tide Turners Plastic Challenge Badge programme and a new Earth Tribe initiative on environmental education.
Previously, Sam worked as Chief of Public Advocacy for UNEP where he ran all of the global campaigns on the issues of air quality, marine litter and wildlife crime in addition to the global efforts for World Environment Day. Before joining UNEP, Sam was Director of Communications for Avaaz, the global people-powered advocacy group with over 50 million members, for five years and Head of Communications for 1GOAL, where he worked with the former British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, to help get millions of children from Africa into school. He also served as Head of Media for Oxfam where he led their response to the Tsunami, secured global support for an Arms Trade Treaty and led Oxfam's work on the Make Poverty History campaigns which secured billions of new commitments in aid and 0.7% budgetary commitments to reduce poverty.
Sam has a degree in Politics from Liverpool University, is a big Watford FC fan and can be followed on Twitter at @samdbarratt.
