Inevitable Ep 107: Sonia Aggarwal, Vice President at Energy Innovation
Today's guest is Sonia Aggarwal, Vice President at Energy Innovation.
I was excited for this episode because so many guests on My Climate Journey have said that policy is the biggest lever we've got, but we haven’t really double clicked on that and dug into what that means and how to bring it about. It just so happens that filling in those gaps and educating lawmakers on what needs to happen is what Sonya does for a living! We cover a lot in this episode, including a deep dive into the clean energy policy landscape, what the different levers are, and for whom. We also discuss the role of federal vs state governments here in the US, and the impact a price on carbon may have. I learned a lot in this one, and I bet you will too. Enjoy the show!
You can find me on twitter @jjacobs22 or @mcjpod and email at info@myclimatejourney.co, where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.
Topics discussed:
- What is Energy Innovation (EI) and what it does
- Genesis of EI
- How Sonia’s love of nature influenced her journey into energy policy
- The multidisciplinary talent of experts comprising EI’s team
- How EI launched a opensource energy diagnostic model for policymakers globally
- EI’s broad work in energy systems from utility regulations to work in carbon pricing in China
- EI’s role as a resource for policymakers and regulatory decision-makers
- How tonnage of GHG removal is EI’s success metric
- Gamut of services EI offers its clients
- How a range of societal benefits are also success metrics for EI
- The role of carbon pricing and some of the perceived shortcomings
- How policies that focus on power plants, factories, buildings and cars represent the lion share of impact
- How EI weighs environmental impact vs. what’s politically feasible
- How opportunities of bipartisanship on the state-level compare with those on the federal-level
- How jobs, economic development and public health are important considerations in EI’s work
- How EI projects that renewables can get the world to 90% carbon reduction, while keeping the costs stable
- How leadership on the federal-level is critically needed in order to address climate change
Correction: Energy Innovation started at the end of 2011 - beginning of 2012, not in 2013 - 2014.
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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant