Analyzing climate change and proposing solutions at the nation-state
level can obscure the path forward, as ambition varies widely across
countries and can change dramatically as soon as the next election.
Furthermore, coordinating the actions of nearly 200 nations (including
more than a dozen major emitters) presents its own challenges. Viewing
climate solutions as sectoral rather than “national,” may be more
productive and give a clearer of how to cut the most emissions in the
fastest manner.
This webinar series,
sponsored by American University’s Center for Environmental Policy (CEP)
and the not-for-profit think tank Energy Innovation, reframes causes and
solutions of climate change as “sectoral” issues.
The energy sector has been the focus of many mitigation efforts to date,
as clear alternatives like renewable technologies are readily available
and increasingly competitive. Should the energy sector be the highest
priority for mitigation strategies? What has been done right and what
has been done wrong to date? What sort of changes would enhance energy
sector mitigation strategies (particularly as these relate to the energy
grid)?
Speakers:
- Michael O’Boyle, Energy Innovation
- Michelle Solomon, Energy Innovation
- Dan Fiorino, Center for Environmental Policy, School of Public Affairs
- Moderator: Gabriela Siegfried, EPRI
Mike O’Boyle is Energy Innovation’s Director, Electricity. He directs
the firm’s Electricity Program, which focuses on designing and
quantifying the impacts of policies needed to affordably and reliably
decarbonize the U.S. electricity grid. Mike’s expertise includes clean
electricity standards, wholesale market design, monopoly utility
regulation, and energy efficiency policies.
Michelle Solomon is a Policy Analyst in the Electricity program at
Energy Innovation, working to accelerate the transition to a clean and
affordable electricity sector in the United States. Prior to joining
Energy Innovation, she completed her PhD at Stanford University in
Materials Science and Engineering, focusing on nanotechnology.
Immediately after graduate school, she was a Congressional Science and
Engineering Fellow in the office of Senator Ed Markey, where she worked
on all things energy and environment.
Daniel J. Fiorino is the founding Director of the Center for
Environmental Policy and Distinguished Executive in Residence in the
School of Public Affairs at American University. Fiorino is the author
or co-author of seven books and some 60 articles and book chapters,
including A Good Life on a Finite Earth: The Political Economy of Green
Growth (Oxford University Press, 2018), Can Democracy Handle Climate
Change? (Polity Books, 2018), and Conceptual Innovation in Environmental
Policy (with James Meadowcroft, MIT Press,
2017). MIT Press also published the second
edition of Environmental Governance Reconsidered (with Robert F. Durant
and Rosemary O’Leary) in 2017.
Gabriella A. Siegfried is a Senior Sustainability Analyst at the
Electric Power Research Institute’s (EPRI), Gabriella performs research
within the energy sector related to ESG
governance/disclosure, corporate social responsibility, and
cross-industry benchmarking. While at EPRI,
Siegfied has led projects on climate change mitigation through
sustainability goal-setting and circular economy metric development for
the energy sector. Through AU’s Center for Environmental Policy, where
Siegfried worked during her MA program, she conducted research on
environmental justice, such as analyzing Hurricane Katrina
reconstruction and the Texas Freeze of 2021 from an environmental
justice lens.
RSVP
American University Center for Environmental Policy
03/07/2023 at 01:00PM
