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Sujatha Jahagirdar Bergen

Occupation:

Director, Global Energy Transition, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
Location:

Washington, D.C.

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Sujatha Jahagirdar Bergen is a left-of-center environmentalist operative and policy professional who has worked to oppose fossil fuel subsidies and promote restrictions on chemicals such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Bergen has worked in various advocacy roles at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a left-of-center environmental litigation and lobbying organization, since 2015. She has also worked for other left-of-center groups, including the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG). 1 2

Bergen has authored reports criticizing fuel-energy industry subsidies and the use of PFAS in consumer products. She has also supported Democratic-led efforts to eliminate federal subsidies for oil and gas production. 2 3 4

Background

Sujatha Jahagirdar Bergen received a bachelor’s degree in biology and history from Yale University in 1998 and a master’s degree in public health from George Washington University in 2020. Earlier in her career, she was a political director for Student Public Interest Research Groups (Student PIRGs) from 2010 to 2014. 1

Career and Work

Bergen joined the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) after working as national program director for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG) antibiotics campaign, which sought to restrict antibiotic use in agriculture. At NRDC, she first worked as a policy specialist for the food and agriculture program from 2015 to 2018. From 2018 to 2024, she was the NRDC’s health campaigns director, where she worked to “Develop and implement campaigns to win environmental and public health protections in the corporate sector. Issue areas include plant-forward menus and toxic products in the retail sector.” Since July 2024, she has worked as the director of global energy transition, as described on her LinkedIn profile, leading “a team of researchers, advocates and organizers to accelerate a global just energy transition.” 1

Bergen co-authored a 2024 NRDC report on oil and gas subsidies, which argued for eliminating such subsidies to reduce fuel production and supported a proposal from then-President Joe Biden to eliminate some subsidies, which mainly were tax deductions, for the oil and gas industry. The report supported Democratic-led legislation in Congress to further hamper the industry, including then-Representative Earl Blumenauer’s (D-OR) End Oil and Gas Tax Subsidies Act of 2023. 4 5

She also co-authored a 2022 NRDC report calling for U.S. apparel manufacturers to eliminate PFAS from supply chains and which graded apparel and footwear manufacturers on their policies regarding PFAS use. The PFAS scorecards were compiled by NRDC, Fashion FWD, and the U.S. PIRG Education Fund. In 2022, Bergen participated in a petition to Columbia Sportswear demanding the removal of PFAS from its products and has called for an immediate ban on the chemicals in apparel. 6 7

In 2017, she wrote a report titled “Eating Less Beef Goes a Long Way Toward Cutting Carbon,” which called for Americans to eat less beef as well as other “carbon-intensive foods” such as cheese, yogurt, and butter to curb global warming. 8

Bergen has sat as a director on the board of the Environment America Research and Policy Center, a left-of-center environmental research organization affiliated with the Public Interest Network. 9

References

  1. Sujatha (Jahagirdar) Bergen. LinkedIn, 2025. Accessed December 23, 2025. https://www.linkedin.com/in/sujatha-jahagirdar-bergen-61748019.
  2. Sujatha Bergen, Director, Global Energy Transition, International. Natural Resources Defense Council, 2025. Accessed December 23, 2025. https://www.nrdc.org/bio/sujatha-bergen.
  3. Natural Resources Defense Council, 2025. Accessed December 23, 2025. https://www.nrdc.org/stories/forever-chemicals-called-pfas-show-your-food-clothes-and-home
  4. Bergen, Sujatha. “Congress Should Follow Biden’s Lead on Fossil Fuel Subsidies.” Natural Resources Defense Council. April 7, 2023. Accessed December 23, 2025. https://www.nrdc.org/bio/sujatha-bergen/congress-should-follow-bidens-lead-fossil-fuel-subsidies
  5. Sujatha Bergen and Susan Casey-Lefkowitz. “The Days of Fossil Fuel Freebies Are Over.” YubaNet, April 21, 2021. Accessed December 23, 2025. https://yubanet.com/opinions/sujatha-bergen-and-susan-casey-lefkowitz-the-days-of-fossil-fuel-freebies-are-over/.
  6. Bergen, Sujatha. “Toxic Fashion: Remove “Forever” PFAS Chemicals from Our Apparel.” Natural Resources Defense Council. January 31, 2022. Accessed December 23, 2025. https://www.nrdc.org/resources/toxic-fashion-remove-forever-pfas-chemicals-our-apparel
  7. “Petitioners demand Columbia Sportswear remove PFAS.” Northeastern University PFAS Project. July 8, 2022. Accessed December 23, 2025. https://pfasproject.com/2022/07/08/petitioners-demand-columbia-sportswear-remove-pfas/
  8. Bergen, Sujatha. “Eating Less Beef Goes a Long Way Toward Cutting Carbon.” Natural Resources Defense Council. March 21, 2017. Accessed December 23, 2025. https://www.nrdc.org/resources/eating-less-beef-goes-long-way-toward-cutting-carbon
  9. Financial Information. Environment America Research & Policy Center, 2025. Accessed December 23, 2025. https://environmentamerica.org/center/financial-information/.
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