President & CEO
International Emissions Trading Association (IETA)

Dirk Forrister is President and CEO of the International Emissions Trading Association (IETA), a non-profit business association dedicated to market-based climate policies. With over 300 member companies, IETA is respected globally as a thought leader on strategies to harness the power of markets to deliver climate protection.

Dirk brings a long history of public and private sector engagement in energy and environmental policy. He spent a decade as Managing Director at Natsource LLC, the manager of carbon funds valued at $1.2 billion. Earlier in his career, Mr. Forrister served as Chairman of the White House Climate Change Task Force in the Clinton Administration, and Assistant U.S. Secretary of Energy for Congressional and Public Affairs. His environmental markets career began when he advised US Congressman Jim Cooper, a leader in crafting the US acid rain trading legislation in 1990.