Carolina Gomez-Navarro

Carolina serves as Salt Lake City’s Management Analyst for Climate and Co‑Facilitator of the Environmental Justice Resident Committee, where she helps ensure that community voices, especially from low‑income and historically underserved neighborhoods, shape the City’s climate planning. She bridges communication between residents and the City and supports engagement, research, and expert coordination to keep equity at the center of climate strategies.

With more than 15 years of experience advancing community‑centered climate and environmental justice initiatives across the United States and Latin America, Carolina previously led collaborative, nature‑based climate programs in Colombia in partnership with cities, universities, and international organizations. Her academic and applied research on urban heat, ecosystem services, and green infrastructure further strengthens her evidence‑based approach to equitable climate planning.

Across all her work, Carolina is committed to collaborative, science‑informed, and community‑rooted approaches that make cities healthier, more resilient, and more just.

She holds a Ph.D. in Biology from the University of Utah, where her research examined how urban vegetation design and management influence microclimate and water budgets in semi‑arid environments (specifically the Salt Lake Valley), with a focus on the cooling trade‑offs between trees and turfgrass.