Consulting
In addition to my research and pro bono policy work, I am also available for paid consulting. I currently consult for:
The Greenhouse Gas Protocol, based in Washington, DC and Geneva, Switzerland, on its Independent Standards Board.
The UNFCCC Article 6.4 mechanism Supervisory Body, based in Bonn, Germany, on its Methodological Expert Panel (A6.4-MEP).
The Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN), a grassroots environmental justice organization in California, to provide technical analysis of the state’s cap-and-trade program.
Conservation Law Foundation, an environmental NGO based in Boston, MA, on the Clean Heat Standard, Vermont Public Utility Commission, Case No. 23-2220-RULE.
Equity Generation Lawyers, an Australian law firm, as an independent expert witness engaged by the plaintiffs in Australian Parents for Climate Action Ltd v. EnergyAustralia Pty Ltd, Federal Court of Australia, File No. NSD833/2023.
I have previously consulted for:
Isometric, a carbon dioxide removal credit registry based in London, UK.
Capstone LLC, a private consulting firm based in Washington, DC, on carbon markets, carbon removal, and hydrogen policy.
Carbon Market Watch, an environmental NGO based in Belgium, for a report on the climate value of temporary carbon storage.
The Utility Reform Network (TURN), a consumer NGO in San Francisco, CA, on the Southwest Gas Corporation Move2Zero program application, California Public Utilities Commission, Proceeding No. A2203014.
Lineage Logistics, a cold storage and logistics company with operations across the United States, on demand response.
The National Academy of Sciences, based in Washington, DC, as part of a report on U.S. tax policy.
The World Resources Institute, an environmental NGO based in Washington, DC, on carbon markets.
I also receive occasional payments in connection with:
Book royalties from Polity Press.
Freelance writing for Heatmap News and The Washington Post.
Participation in the Milkywire Climate Transformation Fund advisory group.
Funding history
From 2020 to 2023, I worked at CarbonPlan, a nonprofit research organization that discloses its funders here. From 2016 through 2020, I worked at the Carnegie Institution for Science via an appointment funded by Dr. Ken Caldeira and Near Zero, a nonprofit research organization based in Seattle, WA. From 2013 through 2015, I held a research fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley that was funded by the Philomathia Foundation. I have also been paid to teach courses at UC Berkeley, Stanford University, and Stanford Law School, as well as occasional educational lectures in undergraduate teaching programs and in a masters program at TU Berlin.
From 2008 through 2013, when I was in graduate school, I was supported by a Stanford Graduate Fellowship, which was funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and a Kimmelman Family Fellowship in Environment and Resources. During law school, I worked as a summer associate in the San Francisco office of Morrison & Foerster LLP, an international law firm. I also received a small number of internal research grants from Stanford University. Before beginning my PhD program, I worked for MAP Energy, an energy investment company based in Palo Alto, CA, and the Program on Energy and Sustainable Development at Stanford University. I also spent a summer in the San Francisco office of the Natural Resources Defense Council on a fellowship funded by MAP Energy.
Public service
As a requirement of my appointment to California’s Independent Emissions Market Advisory Committee, I am legally prohibited from having any financial conflicts with companies that participate in California’s carbon market. I believe that this requirement would best be satisfied if Committee members were required to publicly disclose their income via Form 700, but I have been unable to convince the California Environmental Protection Agency to require this practice nor to accept voluntary filings.
I also serve as an alternate member of the Hearing Board of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, where I previously served as a principal member of the Hearing Board and a member of the Advisory Council. As part of my past and current work on the Hearing Board, I receive modest stipends from the District for each Hearing Board matter in which I participate.