2007 Interns
2007 Interns participated in E3 Network's Climate Economics Workshop in
Washington DC, June 18-20 2007. Read more about their experiences below!
Andrea Bohmholdt
Utah State University, pursuing M.S. in Economics, specializing in Natural Resource & Environmental Economics
This summer, I am working on a project for Clean Air–Cool Planet to establish corporate climate neutrality benchmarks. There are hundreds of companies claiming to be carbon neutral or climate neutral, yet there is no set international standard for what carbon/climate neutrality entails. Some corporations are making great strides while others have been misguided. Emission boundaries vary and it is questionable at what point a corporation is responsible for the emissions generated upstream and downstream. Carbon neutrality can vary significantly across sectors as well. While one corporation may be quite transparent and precise, another may be quite elusive and vague. Offsets can also vary widely, as there is no regulation or set standard for offsetting companies selling to a voluntary market. Clean Air–Cool Planet aims to publish a report that will provide a benchmarking system for companies and consumers to clearly identify who is climate neutral and who is not. This report also aims to facilitate the development of independent certification systems. My role has been to survey and analyze the corporations from various sectors making carbon/climate neutrality claims, to determine how they can contribute to this benchmarking analysis. The analysis of these corporations includes the common economic barriers and tactics for overcoming these barriers, as well as identifying corporations using best and worst practices and tactics. This research directly contributes to the benchmarking report that can be expected this October.
Helen Scharber
University of Massachusetts at Amherst, pursuing Ph.D. in Economics
I worked at the Global Development and Environment Institute on a project assessing the cost of climate change inaction to the state of Florida. The small team of researchers I worked with looked at how projected climatic effects - sea level rise, increasing average temperatures, and more intense hurricanes - would affect Florida's ecosystems, its economy, and the well being of its residents. Because Florida is a low-lying state, has large amounts coastal property, and is frequently struck by hurricanes, we found, unsurprisingly, that the state is particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change.
Matthew Sulzicki
University of New Hampshire, pursuing Ph.D. in Economics
This summer I worked with the Environmental Law and Policy Center (ELPC) in Chicago, Illinois. ELPC is the Midwest's leading public interest environmental advocacy organization working to achieve cleaner energy resources and implement sustainable energy strategies, promote innovative and efficient transportation and land use approaches that produce cleaner air and more jobs, and develop sound environmental management practices that conserve natural resources and improve the quality of life in our communities. Their staff has backgrounds predominantly in law, business, public health and economics (to name a few).
I worked on a variety of projects this summer. The first project was an intersection of my interests: health and the environment. I completed a report which examined the public health costs of coal-fired power plant emissions. My second significant project was examining the potential economic impact of global warming on the Midwestern United States. Both topics required investigation within a variety of disciplines — my reports referenced economics, public health, and science journals. In doing so, it allowed me to apply my 'economics tool kit' to issues which affect many disciplines.
Moreover, I was able to make numerous connections this summer with different organizations and researchers. For example, I was attended a Metropolitan Water District of Greater Chicago meeting. Lastly, I found Chicago to be a wonderful, friendly city with too much to do in only two months!
Tai Young-Taft
New School for Social Research, pursuing Ph.D.
Tai is working this summer with Clean Air–Cool Planet to expand its Campus Carbon Calculator. Clean Air–Cool Planet offers its Campus Carbon Calculator to campuses across the country. It is a campus-specific Excel-based spreadsheet workbook which streamlines and standardizes the GHG inventory process. As the utilization of the tool has grown, so has the demand for inclusion of economic modeling modules which will help campuses determine not just what their emissions are, but the feasibility of adopting new policies and procedures to reduce those emissions. Incorporation of this additional analytic capability into the Calculator will help the hundreds of campuses who use this tool make the leap from a solid and verifiable GHG emissions baseline to an equally solid and actionable campus-wide plan for emissions reduction — which will in turn accelerate the pace and impact of campus climate leadership and help address global warming.