Cornell Climate Impact Speaker Series
The Cornell Climate Impact Speaker Series highlights the work of prominent leaders in climate change mitigation and adaptation. It is an opportunity for the Cornell community to hear from climate professionals in business, academia, philanthropy, and government and learn from their experiences and insights.
(A time for conversation and refreshments will follow each event.)
This series is organized and sponsored by The 2030 Project and Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability.
September 5: Aliya Haq ’03 (Breakthrough Energy)
(video)
In the last three years, Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), establishing approximately $500 billion in federal funding for clean energy projects. These laws together represent the most historic action any nation has ever taken to address climate change and ushered in a new era of optimism for a clean energy future. However, the success of these laws hangs in the balance, with political obstacles, regulatory hurdles, and infrastructure bottlenecks creating significant headwinds for clean energy projects to move forward. This conversation will include looking back at the work behind-the-scenes that led to the creation and passage of these laws, and looking ahead to what work is needed in coming months and years to ensure that the US is able to realize the full potential of the IRA/BIL, and achieve significant GHG reductions.
Aliya Haq ’03 leads the team at Breakthrough Energy that advocates for an ambitious climate policy agenda in the U.S. that will accelerate the transition to a global clean energy economy. She manages the development of policy ideas and frameworks to speed up clean technology innovation and deployment across multiple economic sectors, including power, industrial, buildings, transportation, and agriculture. She also oversees strategies around grantmaking, convening, policymaker education, and communications to advance clean energy and climate policy.
November 7: Constantine Samaras (Carnegie Mellon University)
(video)
Priorities for Climate Policy in the United States of America
In 2021, the United States submitted a 2030 Nationally Determined Contribution for emissions reductions under the Paris Climate Agreement, with a target of 50-52% below 2005 levels. In 2025, the U.S. will submit a new Nationally Determined Contribution for 2035, which will set the pace and scale of new emissions reductions activities, as well as the affect the likelihood of achieving the U.S. climate commitment of net-zero emissions by 2050. This presentation characterizes the major elements of a successful 2035 Nationally Determined Contribution, including projected changes in electricity demand from vehicles, homes, industry, and Artificial Intelligence. Then, the presentation outlines a robust decision-making framework for setting the 2035 target that maximizes the likelihood of reaching the U.S. commitment of net-zero emissions no later than 2050. The presentation discusses the policy process in the White House, Executive Agencies, and Congress, and concludes with policy recommendations for developing a robust 2035 U.S. Nationally Determined Contribution for emissions reductions.
Dr. Constantine (Costa) Samaras is the Director of Carnegie Mellon University’s Scott Institute for Energy Innovation, and the Trustees Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering. From 2021-2024, he served in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) as Principal Assistant Director for Energy, OSTP Chief Advisor for Energy Policy, and then OSTP Chief Advisor for the Clean Energy Transition. His research focuses on the pathways to clean, climate-safe, equitable, and secure energy and infrastructure systems. He is the Lead Author of the Mitigation Chapter of the 6th U.S. National Climate Assessment, and he is also a Founder and Director of both the Center for Engineering and Resilience for Climate Adaptation and the Power Sector Carbon Index.
December 5: Robinson Meyer (Heatmap)
(video)
Three Charts About Decarbonization
Ben Furnas, Executive Director of The 2030 Project, will host Robinson Meyer (Heatmap) for conversation and Q&A.
Robinson Meyer is the founding executive editor of Heatmap. He was previously a staff writer at The Atlantic, where he covered climate change, energy, and technology.