Just over one year ago the government of the United States, the world’s biggest carbon polluter in history, formally delivered a notice to the United Nations stating it intended to leave the Paris Agreement. It would no longer commit to a domestic reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, nor would it contribute the full $3 billion it had pledged to aid international climate efforts.
As a conservationist this was disheartening, if not downright depressing. My country had been poised to be an international leader in addressing an urgent problem that it had been largely responsible for creating. Many state governments had set renewable portfolio standards (RPS), which require a certain percentage of their energy to come from renewable sources. Yet it was clear that the existing RPS’s alone would not be enough. Now that the federal government had walked away, would other leaders step up?
This summer I witnessed some new, perhaps unconventional, leaders in sustainability. For 12 weeks, I worked as an intern to the Renewables Advisory Team at Edison Energy. The team aids corporations, government entities, and universities who wish to buy renewable energy and reach their sustainability goals. What set these groups apart as leaders was that they all voluntarily chose to buy renewable energy, doing so in ways that went beyond state-required standards.
The environmentalist in me is always skeptical when an organization makes sustainability claims. Far too often, companies delight in “greenwashing,” — drawing attention to small sustainability actions the company engages in, distracting from the bigger picture. This was not the case with the clients that worked with Edison. They were extremely concerned with fulfilling the concept of additionality, or creating something that wasn’t already there. Instead of trading readily available, often cheap, renewable energy certificates from existing projects, our clients bought long-term renewable energy contracts from projects in development that won’t be operational for several years.
The clients who came to us were retailers, health care providers, manufacturers, universities, community groups, and so on. Often, they were interested in being renewable energy leaders in their industry by setting an example for other companies and organizations of the best way to engage with renewable energy. These long-term commitments from private groups enabled developers of large wind and solar farms to secure reliable funding to build their projects, which otherwise would be an extremely difficult endeavor.
The office was composed of people from a fascinating mix of backgrounds: from data science to political activism, energy finance, accounting, international policy, physics, wind development, etc. etc. All of this expertise went towards helping companies understand how to buy large amounts of wind or solar power, and how to mitigate the numerous risks involved with making large purchases. Because the issue of sustainability is by nature extremely interdisciplinary, employees had to be well-versed in economics, data science, policy, and business to tackle problems. I am extremely grateful to have been able to learn from different experts in the field.
As an intern, I aided employees with policy research questions, economic project evaluations, and valuing the social benefits of renewable energy. I wrote automated macro-based systems to organize and model large amounts of data in order to project future renewable energy project performance. I helped organize and analyze the offers that came in from different developers wishing to build energy projects. I wrote short reports on policy and answered a host of questions on specific state policy. Each day was different as we worked with clients with different values, needs, and requests. One of my favorite projects was when I was asked to estimate the public health benefits from different options for energy projects. I used EPA tools and the company’s own data models to synthesize estimates of the social benefit of renewable power, information that would further help our clients justify their projects.
I hope to devote my career to protecting the environment and creating an equitable system that helps those who are most affected by climate issues. Part of that system involves ensuring that those with the economic power and incentive to pollute the atmosphere do not do so. I want to work in environmental policy to fight for rules and regulations that ensure environmental justice on a global scale. My experience this summer gave me a better idea of how private-sector players think about climate issues and what they value. I hope to take this knowledge into the policy arena and help craft policy that can accelerate the growth of climate-friendly renewable energy.
Things don’t look great for our climate right now. However, seeing these private-sector leaders step up to the plate and voluntarily elect to build a better climate future gave me hope. Let’s hope that others follow suit.
As a conservationist this was disheartening, if not downright depressing. My country had been poised to be an international leader in addressing an urgent problem that it had been largely responsible for creating. Many state governments had set renewable portfolio standards (RPS), which require a certain percentage of their energy to come from renewable sources. Yet it was clear that the existing RPS’s alone would not be enough. Now that the federal government had walked away, would other leaders step up?
This summer I witnessed some new, perhaps unconventional, leaders in sustainability. For 12 weeks, I worked as an intern to the Renewables Advisory Team at Edison Energy. The team aids corporations, government entities, and universities who wish to buy renewable energy and reach their sustainability goals. What set these groups apart as leaders was that they all voluntarily chose to buy renewable energy, doing so in ways that went beyond state-required standards.
The environmentalist in me is always skeptical when an organization makes sustainability claims. Far too often, companies delight in “greenwashing,” — drawing attention to small sustainability actions the company engages in, distracting from the bigger picture. This was not the case with the clients that worked with Edison. They were extremely concerned with fulfilling the concept of additionality, or creating something that wasn’t already there. Instead of trading readily available, often cheap, renewable energy certificates from existing projects, our clients bought long-term renewable energy contracts from projects in development that won’t be operational for several years.
The clients who came to us were retailers, health care providers, manufacturers, universities, community groups, and so on. Often, they were interested in being renewable energy leaders in their industry by setting an example for other companies and organizations of the best way to engage with renewable energy. These long-term commitments from private groups enabled developers of large wind and solar farms to secure reliable funding to build their projects, which otherwise would be an extremely difficult endeavor.
The office was composed of people from a fascinating mix of backgrounds: from data science to political activism, energy finance, accounting, international policy, physics, wind development, etc. etc. All of this expertise went towards helping companies understand how to buy large amounts of wind or solar power, and how to mitigate the numerous risks involved with making large purchases. Because the issue of sustainability is by nature extremely interdisciplinary, employees had to be well-versed in economics, data science, policy, and business to tackle problems. I am extremely grateful to have been able to learn from different experts in the field.
As an intern, I aided employees with policy research questions, economic project evaluations, and valuing the social benefits of renewable energy. I wrote automated macro-based systems to organize and model large amounts of data in order to project future renewable energy project performance. I helped organize and analyze the offers that came in from different developers wishing to build energy projects. I wrote short reports on policy and answered a host of questions on specific state policy. Each day was different as we worked with clients with different values, needs, and requests. One of my favorite projects was when I was asked to estimate the public health benefits from different options for energy projects. I used EPA tools and the company’s own data models to synthesize estimates of the social benefit of renewable power, information that would further help our clients justify their projects.
I hope to devote my career to protecting the environment and creating an equitable system that helps those who are most affected by climate issues. Part of that system involves ensuring that those with the economic power and incentive to pollute the atmosphere do not do so. I want to work in environmental policy to fight for rules and regulations that ensure environmental justice on a global scale. My experience this summer gave me a better idea of how private-sector players think about climate issues and what they value. I hope to take this knowledge into the policy arena and help craft policy that can accelerate the growth of climate-friendly renewable energy.
Things don’t look great for our climate right now. However, seeing these private-sector leaders step up to the plate and voluntarily elect to build a better climate future gave me hope. Let’s hope that others follow suit.
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