Jessica Zionts

Jessica Zionts is a research assistant for the Food Program. She works directly with the technical director of the World Resources Report. Projects include developing strategies to implement the Sustainable Food Futures Report in different countries, with the goal of achieving net-zero emissions from agriculture, as well as assessing the impact of the demand of forestry products on carbon loss and greater food systems.

Prior to joining WRI, Jess worked at the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford in the Ecosystem Lab. There, she developed a model to study how energy flows through a tropical forest ecosystem in order to measure the impact of land use change from palm oil plantations in Borneo.

Jess holds a B.S. in Environmental Engineering from Johns Hopkins University and a MSc in Environmental Change and Management from the University of Oxford. Her MSc dissertation explored the policy implications of alternative greenhouse gas accounting mechanisms and the resulting effects on the feasibility of meeting the Paris Agreement goals.

In her spare time, Jess enjoys playing tennis, rock climbing, and bringing omnivores to vegan restaurants.