Naolo Charles is the founder of the Black Environmental Initiative (BE iNITIATIVE). A social entrepreneur, Naolo also co-founded the Canadian Coalition for Environmental and Climate Justice (CCCEJ) with Ingrid Waldron, a coalition launched to support racialized communities affected by environmental injustices. Holder of master’s degree in environment, Charles delivers a green construction training to the Toronto Community Benefits Network’s Next Gen Builders program participants. He also sits on the Next Gen Builders advisory board. Charles recently offered several anti-racism training sessions to Nature Canada’s Work to Grow program employers and to other environmental organizations like Climate Caucus. He has a lot of experience speaking in conferences and in the media and he was part of the team that launched a mobilization around the first environmental justice bill in Canada.

Naolo was also one of the experts on the Thriving Natural Environment Advisory table brought together by Environment and Climate Change Canada to develop Canada’s first national adaptation strategy.