Inaugural Climate Cohort Demonstration Day Showcases Partnership with Aspen Institute’s Energy and Environment Program
Contact:
Dani Leopold
Glen Echo Group
dleopold@glenechogroup.com
Washington, D.C., December 5, 2022–The Aspen Institute’s Tech Policy Hub, in partnership with the Institute’s Energy and Environment program, released seven new policy proposals as part of a Demonstration Day on December 5 featuring the inaugural Aspen Climate Cohort fellows. The climate-focused iteration of the Hub’s fellowship program trained climate experts to integrate their ideas into actionable policy solutions.
The Demonstration Day featured seven policy projects developed by the Climate Cohort fellows addressing green business, sustainability, and equity. The projects, the materials for which are available on the Hub website, include:
- Designing a More Equitable Offshore Wind Industry. Swathi Manchikanti, Stephen Mushegan, and Esther Sosa recommend that the federal government update its offshore wind leasing process to better engage with disadvantaged communities and to incentivize benefits from offshore wind development to flow equitably to these communities.
- Demystifying Long-Term Disaster Recovery Grant Administration. Nadia Seeteram recommends two ways that HUD can take advantage of existing government tools and resources to offer applicants more digital support and expedite the grant disbursement process.
- Transforming Athletic Apparel Recycling. Patrick Beckley and Rebecca Peters propose a comprehensive “Green Game Plan” initiative to help stadiums encourage recycling, engage fans, and partner with athletes to reduce climate impact.
- Brownfields Revitalization. Emma Crow-Willard and Arthine Cossey van Duyne recommend ways that cities can better leverage federal and state resources and partner with local organizations for brownfield revitalization.
- The “Right to Cool” for Washington. Alyssa Poletti proposes new data reporting and evaluation policies to help the State better ensure it is serving its vulnerable communities.
- Green Transit Equity in Los Angeles. Jaida Nabayan and Emily Doyle recommend that LA Metro use a standard metric system to prioritize bus priority lane implementation using ridership, bus frequency, delay time, equity, and air pollution parameters.
- Transforming Agriculture in Washington State. Mira Chokshi and Nicole Jain Capizzi propose that the State establish a revolving loan fund to help Washington state farmers transition to greener agricultural solutions.
“Our inaugural climate cohort proves transformative policies can come from individuals outside lawmaking bodies,” said Betsy Cooper, director of the Aspen Tech Policy Hub. “We are incredibly impressed with the solutions our fellows presented and look forward to training more climate experts with the Energy and Environment program.”
To learn more about the Aspen Climate Cohort Fellows, see here.
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The Aspen Tech Policy Hub is a West Coast policy incubator, training a new generation of tech policy entrepreneurs. The Hub takes tech experts, teaches them the policy process through fellowship and training programs, and encourages them to develop outside-the-box solutions to society’s problems. It models itself after tech incubators like Y Combinator, but trains new policy thinkers and focuses on the impact of their ideas. For more information, please visit https://www.aspentechpolicyhub.org. The Aspen Tech Policy Hub is an initiative of Aspen Digital.
The Aspen Institute Energy and Environment Program explores significant challenges with diverse thinkers and doers to make a more prosperous, equitable, and sustainable society for all. We address critical energy, environmental, and climate change issues through non-partisan, non-ideological convening, with the specific intent of bringing together diverse stakeholders to improve the process and progress of policy-level dialogue. This enables EEP to sit at a critical intersection in the conversation and bring together diverse groups of expert stakeholders. To learn more visit www.aspeninstitute.org/ee or follow @AIEnvironment.