Alex Marquardt

  • Climate Defense Project

  • Co-Founded with Kelsey Skaggs

  • 2018 Climate Fellow

Alex Marquardt headshot
  • Climate Defense Project

  • Co-Founded with Kelsey Skaggs

  • 2018 Climate Fellow

bold idea

Remove barriers to nonviolent civil disobedience combating climate change by reducing legal risks and strengthening the global climate movement.

organization overview

Climate Defense Project (CDP) provides legal support to the climate movement, specializing in representation of individuals arrested for nonviolent civil disobedience against fossil fuel infrastructure such as pipelines. CDP provides legal briefing on topics including the necessity defense, expert witness retention, trial preparation, attorney education, and communications consulting. Although one in six Americans are willing to engage in civil disobedience for the climate, legal support is lacking. CDP reduces barriers to participation in climate civil disobedience and amplifies its impact, supporting a just transition to clean energy and a stable climate for current and future generations.

Personal Bio

Alex Marquardt is a staff attorney at Climate Defense Project (CDP), which he co-founded in 2016. CDP is a legal nonprofit that provides advice and support to the climate movement in the United States and internationally. In 2016, Alex graduated from Harvard Law School, where he met CDP co-founders Kelsey Skaggs and Ted Hamilton. While in law school, Alex, Kelsey, and Ted filed, with other students, the first lawsuit seeking to compel a university to divest its endowment of fossil fuel stocks. Alex’s work has been reported on by the Associated Press, ThinkProgress, and The New Yorker.

  • Organization/Fellow Location ?

    Our most recent information as to where the Fellow primarily resides.

    Berkeley, United States

  • Impact Location ?

    Countries or continents that were the primary focus of this Fellow’s work at the time of their Fellowship.

  • Organization Structure ?

    An organization can be structured as a nonprofit, for-profit, or hybrid (a structure that incorporates both nonprofit and for-profit elements).

    Nonprofit

  • Visit website