2024 Power Players in Climate, Energy & Sustainability

Michael is a lawyer, writer, teacher and scholar who has worked on climate change issues from the hyper-local to the global level for 20 years. As executive director of the Sabin Center, a leading “think-and-do” tank housed at Columbia, he manages a dynamic team at the forefront of efforts to use the law to combat the climate crisis. He is also of counsel at Sher Edling LLP, where he works on high-profile, high-impact climate cases.

What is one thing your organization hopes to accomplish in 2024?
The causes of climate change are profoundly diffuse, and the solutions come from every corner of the economy. So the Sabin Center casts a wide net and engages on multiple fronts. This year we are focused on helping cities with the Inflation Reduction Act, assisting local supporters of renewable energy infrastructure, defending federal climate regulations, developing resources and knowledge around climate litigation, and charting legal pathways for carbon management – among many other things!

Do you have any advice for someone looking to pursue a career in your field?
There is no silver bullet that will put an end to the climate crisis. And this kind of mission-driven work can be exhausting. So I often advise students and recent graduates to figure out what they actually enjoy doing, in terms of tasks and types of work, and where they like doing it, in terms of location and work environment. Then find that first job, plug in, and run with it. We need people everywhere.   

What is one thing everyone can do to help protect the environment?
Vote for political representatives committed to enacting laws and policies that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and provide for increased resilience to climate impacts.

What can policymakers do to aid in your organization’s work?
It takes vision to imagine, innovate and create a sustainable future. And it takes courage to stand up to the inevitable pushback against it by vested interests. New York State and New York City are leaders in the fields of climate law and policy. The politics can be tough – just look at congestion pricing. What can policymakers do? Keep going big. And stay strong.   

Tria Case serves as the university executive director of sustainability and energy conservation and launched Sustainable CUNY to support the adoption of renewable energy, energy efficiency practices, innovations in clean technology and behavioral changes on CUNY’s campuses and in NYC. Ms. Case directs the CUNY Conserves Energy Efficiency O&M Program and formed the Smart DG Hub, with City, State, and Federal participation, in an effort to integrate storage and distributed renewable energy resources into NYC.

What is one thing your organization hopes to accomplish in 2024?
CUNY has developed, and is implementing, a detailed, action-oriented Energy Master Plan (EMP) for its campuses. The EMP outlines a 5-year energy and carbon reduction strategy designed to meet State and City energy and GHG emissions reduction goals and mandates. In 2024, my office is focused on engaging the broader campus community to ensure the awareness and support of this important work as we assist in the integration of the plan’s actions across our campuses.

Do you have any advice for someone looking to pursue a career in your field?
Get involved! Seek out internship programs and volunteer opportunities. Networking and collaboration is what gets the work done.

What is one thing everyone can do to help protect the environment?
Examine your own behaviors. Analyzing your own impact at home and at work will help illustrate how you can modify your behavior to have a smaller environmental impact. I host CUNY TV’s Sustainability Matters with the goal of educating viewers about the many opportunities for individual and collective action. 

What can policymakers do to aid in your organization’s work?
Federal, State and City policies and goals designed to address climate change, and integrate renewable energy are critical to a sustainable society. I encourage policymakers to strategize with implementers during the policy-making process to ensure success. https://tv.cuny.edu/homepage/show/sustainabilitymatters/

Timothy Cawley is the chairman, president and CEO of Con Edison, Inc, the energy provider for over 10 million people across the company’s service territory. In these roles, Mr. Cawley oversees the activities of Con Edison, Inc.’s two regulated utilities, Consolidated Edison Company of New York, and Orange and Rockland Utilities. Mr. Cawley earned an MBA from New York University and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Union College.

Governor Hochul designated Commissioner Rory M. Christian as the chair and CEO of the PSC. His career began as a civil engineer. As director of Energy Finance and Sustainability at New York Central Housing Authority (NYCHA), he oversaw a utility portfolio achieving mandated greenhouse gas emissions reduction requirements. He was director of NY Clean Energy at Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and taught energy efficiency courses at Columbia University. He also volunteers at Green City Force and was the chair of WE ACT for Environmental Justice’s board of directors.

As founder and CEO of Edgewise Energy, Sammy Chu leads a pioneering team specializing in developing solutions to facilitate our clean energy transition. Leveraging experience and expertise in policy, technology, and finance, Edgewise Energy crafts opportunities that drive sustainability and profitability for property owners, utilities, and financiers alike. With a decades-long commitment to clean energy initiatives and strategic partnerships, Sammy welcomes tackling complex opportunities to help define the future of energy consumption and resilience.

What is one thing your organization hopes to accomplish in 2024?
Edgewise Energy aims to empower more property owners and communities with renewable energy solutions. We’re committed to providing end users the ability to harness the value of sustainability and efficiency, realizing savings, while reducing negative environmental impact. Our projects like Community Power LI – the largest distributed generation project on Long Island – are succeeding at lowering people’s utility bills, making cleaner energy more accessible, and reducing harmful emissions.

Do you have any advice for someone looking to pursue a career in your field?
Embrace the intersection of sustainability, government policy, and entrepreneurship. Seek opportunities to engage with diverse stakeholders, understand regulatory landscapes, and drive innovation for sustainable solutions. Early on, you should be generous with your attention and your time.  People who work in this field are passionate and appreciate others who share their passion and mission.

What is one thing everyone can do to help protect the environment?
Get involved in your community and hold your representatives accountable. Whether it’s advocating for local environmental policies or supporting green building practices in your office or residence. We are already behind when it comes to solving climate change. Everyone is in a position to help.

What can policymakers do to aid in your organization’s work?
The CLCPA set ambitious goals, marking significant progress. To build on this, honesty in planning is crucial to meet targets. We need to avoid dogmatic barriers to reducing carbon and embrace the practical realities. All technologies should be considered. Carbon reduction is a math problem and every bit we can reduce sooner rather than later has compounding benefits.  federal, state, and local officials must adopt this mindset as they craft policies and practices.

Peter grew up in Ireland, becoming fascinated with the natural world thanks to David Attenborough’s magical nature documentaries on the BBC. A recovering mechanical engineer, Peter moved to the U.S. in 2010 and has been in real estate sustainability in NYC ever since. He now works as a sustainability leader at CBRE in New York helping real estate occupier clients with their sustainability challenges, and teaches about GHG emissions and decarbonization at Columbia’s Climate School.

What is one thing your organization hopes to accomplish in 2024?
CBRE’s Chief Sustainability Officer Robert Bernard is on a mission to simplify today’s complex landscape of sustainability, and ultimately enable us to drive and scale meaningful decarbonization in the built environment. We are evolving our approach to better harness data from within and beyond our organization with the ultimate goal of helping our clients make better decisions around where to focus, where to procure, and where to invest in order to maximize sustainability impact.

Do you have any advice for someone looking to pursue a career in your field?
My advice would be to accumulate a variety of experiences, working on different elements of sustainability in diverse environments and industries. I would also say that as important as technical sustainability knowledge is, this career arguably demands and rewards skills like communication, translation and persuasion even more. So learn how to make your case to humans, because much of what we are doing is asking people and organizations to change the way they make decisions.

What is one thing everyone can do to help protect the environment?
I’ll share about making a home more sustainable: In February we air-sealed the envelope and re-insulated the attic which is now knee-deep in cellulose, and I estimate we’re saving 30+% on heating. And there’s a $4k rebate on offer from ConEd, which really takes the edge off the cost. So I can’t recommend doing this enough! The next project is heat pumps, for which there are also very significant incentives. But start with the envelope!

What can policymakers do to aid in your organization’s work?
Help accelerate permitting and interconnection for renewables. I also believe one of our greatest decarbonization challenges is with the current state of market-based GHG accounting. Pending an update from GHG Protocol, I would urge policymakers to enact clear standards around “impactful” renewables, in the spirit of what the city has done with Local Law 97 Tier 4 REC criteria. Absent this, we will continue to see environmental claims that do not match our climate reality.

Over the past decade, Anthony developed C&V’s energy and sustainability practice, aiming for a greener future for the city and state. His forward-looking strategies advise clients to address New York’s sustainability and resiliency needs proactively. This approach yielded successful land use actions, administrative code amendments, and the passage of city, state, and federal laws. Anthony also serves on the Board of the New York League of Conservation Voters, furthering his dedication to environmental advocacy.

What is one thing your organization hopes to accomplish in 2024?
We hope to help policymakers achieve their sustainability goals by collaborating on the latest technology meant to serve in energy storage, electric vehicle charging stations, reduce waste and reclaim valuable resources.

Do you have any advice for someone looking to pursue a career in your field?
We work on many different issues on any given day and must have the ability to handle a diverse set of clients. Our work is fast-paced and many of our colleagues have a background in city, state and federal government and law – where the same pace applies.

What is one thing everyone can do to help protect the environment?
We all must be constantly vigilant, whether it’s recycling, composting, using mass transit and cycling. Every contribution counts. In our case, our community-based energy storage clients support a more resilient electric grid, deliver economic savings and reduce carbon emissions for neighborhoods all around the city.

What can policymakers do to aid in your organization’s work?
We are here to help navigate the ever-changing energy and sustainability landscape. We welcome and help facilitate focus on electric vehicle charging, energy storage and resource recovery among many other issues.

Ramón Cruz has 25 years of experience in sustainability and environmental policy. He is currently teaching at Princeton University. Until 2023, he was the national president of the Sierra Club and the first Latinx to hold that position in 132 years. He was the deputy director of Puerto Rico’s environmental and energy regulatory agency and held senior positions at the Environmental Defense Fund, Partnership for New York City and the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy.

What is one thing your organization hopes to accomplish in 2024?
We are working to ensure that in November we elect leaders that are committed to climate action and environmental justice. We must go beyond the stalemate in Congress and elect legislators who will act on the defining issues of our generation: climate change, economic prosperity and justice. I am also writing a book gathering the perspectives of old and new leaders within the environmental and environmental justice movements to devise strategies for future action. 

Do you have any advice for someone looking to pursue a career in your field?
Get educated and find good mentors. Listen to your elders as you develop new ways of doing things and use technology to your advantage.  Most importantly, be empathetic and give back to your communities and the planet.  There is no such thing as a self-made person, we all rely on other people or circumstances to develop a career, just remember when you are at the top, to bring others with you and contribute to society. 

What is one thing everyone can do to help protect the environment?
Vote! and convince others to vote! When it comes to climate action, we have accomplished a lot in the last few years in New York (Climate Leadership & Community Protection Act), the United States (Inflation Reduction Act) and the world (Paris Agreement). We must ensure that we elect leaders who will build upon these recent successes and work to develop a clean and just economy: a more sustainable future for everyone. 

What can policymakers do to aid in your organization’s work?
Policymakers should ensure to always legislate and develop programs that center justice and the most vulnerable communities.  Science and experience should always lead the way while being conscious of our biases and the tradeoffs of our decisions.  The current generation in power failed to deliver a good transition to a clean economy. Therefore, policymakers should always listen to young people and the new generation as they are the ones that will inherit this world.

Joseph DeRosa is a partner at the lobbying powerhouse Bolton-St. Johns (BSJ) and has over 15 years of experience implementing and shaping clean energy policy in NYS. As lead of the BSJ energy practice, Joseph works diligently to advance the business priorities of market-leading clients who are building NY’s energy future in the areas of offshore wind development and port infrastructure, community- and utility-scale solar, battery energy storage, transmission, natural gas, and energy efficiency.

What is one thing your organization hopes to accomplish in 2024? 
Seven years ago, our firm introduced two clients – Equinor and Red Hook Terminals – who went on to forge a partnership. This Spring, it is expected they break ground to begin construction to transform the long-dormant South Brooklyn Marine Terminal into a world-class offshore wind port facility to support component staging and assembly, as well as an operations and maintenance facility to service the forthcoming Empire Wind I project.

Do you have any advice for someone looking to pursue a career in your field?
To survive and thrive as a lobbyist in Albany, begin by figuring out which subject area(s) you find most exciting, meaningful and motivating- because advocacy is exhausting and if you aren’t passionate about the issues it shows. There is also no shortcut to putting in the time and energy necessary to build that strong foundation of subject-matter expertise along with a network of personal and professional relationships spanning the public and private sectors. 

What is one thing everyone can do to help protect the environment?
Do what you can, when and where you can. One may begin with an energy audit of their home/business to establish a baseline; buy and eat local; reduce, reuse, recycle; take mass transportation; buy a hybrid or electric vehicle; use micromobility solutions like e-scooters, bicycles or walk when possible. As an energy lobbyist, I thought it was important to walk the talk, so I prioritized installing solar, a smart thermostat, smart lighting and automated blinds.  

What can policymakers do to aid in your organization’s work?
There are so many moving pieces that comprise the ever-evolving NYS energy landscape and it can be a lot to digest for anyone, so please consider us a resource as policy ideas are contemplated, crafted and negotiated. Also, it’s helpful when lawmakers and staff take time to tour energy projects to help inform their prospective as each region of the state and technology presents its own unique opportunities, challenges and lessons learned for the energy transition.

Susanne DesRoches is vice president of clean and resilient buildings at the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). Ms. DesRoches is leading the Authority’s work on building decarbonization and advancing programs and policies to deliver carbon-neutral, resilient buildings statewide. Prior to joining NYSERDA in April 2022, she served as regulatory director for energy policy at the New York City Mayor’s Office of Climate & Sustainability and Mayor’s Office of Climate Resiliency.

What is one thing your organization hopes to accomplish in 2024?
Guided by the Climate Act, NYSERDA actively supports electrification in buildings through programs that ensure all New Yorkers can benefit from the clean energy transition. With the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), we can expand our reach to more residents and assist in weatherization, efficiency upgrades and electrification projects while making the process easy for the residents and contractors. NYSERDA aims to launch the IRA rebate programs across the state later this year.

Do you have any advice for someone looking to pursue a career in your field?
It’s a great time to pursue a career in clean energy. There are so many different skill sets needed and paths to explore to contribute to climate goals. My main advice is to be curious and ask questions. The industry is constantly evolving. Keep learning as new policies, technologies and strategies unfold. Find the part of the clean energy transition that interests you the most and join in on the conversation.

What is one thing everyone can do to help protect the environment?
Everyone can take small actions every day to reduce their energy usage, and those small actions can make a big difference. For those who can make more robust changes, transitioning to new, modern appliances and heating systems can be a meaningful step towards reducing your own carbon footprint. As your home systems get older, learn more about energy-efficient upgrades for when it’s time to replace them with cleaner and more efficient options.

What can policymakers do to aid in your organization’s work?
This is an all-hands-on-deck effort. Strong partnerships are critical to achieving New York’s climate goals. We strive to provide communities across the state with the information and tools they need to make decisions in their own homes. As each community is unique, policymakers can act as liaisons to help connect people to NYSERDA programs that are community-specific, ensuring homeowners are able to access the resources that are most relevant and impactful to them.