2024 Power Players in Climate, Energy & Sustainability

Kate Kitchener is the director of the Bureau of Recycling and Sustainability at the New York City Department of Sanitation. She oversees programs that provide NYC residents with the opportunity to divert textiles, electronics, organics, and harmful household products. Kate has a strong focus on waste research and policy, leveraging Extended Producer Responsibility and grant funding to develop innovative strategies for managing a challenging and dynamic waste stream.

What is one thing your organization hopes to accomplish in 2024?
Food and yard waste make up 36% of the residential waste stream in NYC. When landfilled, this organic waste can release potent greenhouse gasses contributing to climate change. This fall, DSNY will be rolling out curbside collection of composting to every single New Yorker – a service already available in half the City. This convenient program will ensure that food and yard waste aren’t wasted, but a resource to build soils and create energy.

Do you have any advice for someone looking to pursue a career in your field?
When implementing sustainability policies and programs, it is essential to have a pragmatic approach, balancing ideal goals against economic realities, the political landscape, and logistical constraints. Programs that truly have a significant impact need long-term funding, support from the administration, and to be easily accessible for all New Yorkers.

What is one thing everyone can do to help protect the environment?
Take the time to properly separate your waste. Properly separating your recycling helps reduce the need to mine virgin resources to make new products. Separating your food and yard waste can help rebuild our soils and create energy to heat our homes.

What can policymakers do to aid in your organization’s work?
New York State has implemented several successful Extended Producer Responsibility laws for products like electronics, paint, and rechargeable batteries. These laws take the burden off municipal budgets (and taxpayers) and place the responsibility for managing product end-of-life on the manufacturer that made that product. The legislature has introduced a similar bill to address product packaging which would create long-term funding for recycling and incentivize manufacturers to design more easily recyclable packaging.

Zackary joined GT’s Environmental and Government Law & Policy practices in 2019 after serving then Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s chief legal counsel. Zackary’s law and lobbying practices cover all aspects of energy and environmental law and policy, including complex federal and state environmental reviews and permitting, advising companies on New York’s clean energy transition, brownfield redevelopment, litigating high-profile environmental and energy cases, and representing clients for regulatory matters before New York agencies.

What is one thing your organization hopes to accomplish in 2024?
For several years now, New York has been transitioning away from carbon emissions and toward sustainability. It will be a decades-long process, and we are still in the early stages.  Many thorny legal and policy issues remain uncertain, and uncertainty fuels fear, but it also presents enormous opportunities. Helping clients to identify those opportunities, and respond to change in a positive way is both professionally and personally rewarding. 

Do you have any advice for someone looking to pursue a career in your field?
Educate yourself, read everything you can, observe what is happening around you, and work to understand the relationship between what is happening around you and the laws and policies that govern those events. Then, make personal connections to leaders in the field and learn what is important to them and why. 

What is one thing everyone can do to help protect the environment?
Follow the hierarchy of waste: reduce, reuse, and recycle. Since the Industrial Revolution, technology has developed and expanded to meet human needs and wants. The result has been a more comfortable and humane world that is shaped by human activity. If we are mindful of what we consume, keep, and throw away, we will conserve more resources and reduce our impact on the environment. 

What can policymakers do to aid in your organization’s work?
Listen with an open and critical mind. 

Cortney Koenig Worrall currently serves as the president and CEO of the Waterfront Alliance. Ms. Koenig Worral brings her expertise in climate resilience policy, campaign planning, community outreach, and public participation processes to this role. Prior to her role with the Waterfront Alliance, Ms. Koenig Worral led the National Parks Conservation Association’s northeast office. Ms. Koenig Worral earned her B.A. in environmental policy from Mount Holyoke College and her MPA in advanced management from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.

David Lyons was appointed interim president and COO of PSEG Long Island in May 2022. Since joining PSEG in 1981, he has held a variety of positions, including VP of construction and operations services for PSEG Long Island. He holds a B.S. in electrical engineering from NJIT and an Executive MBA from NYU Stern School of Business. He is on the boards of Island Harvest, United Way and the Advance Energy Research and Technology Center.

What is one thing your organization hopes to accomplish in 2024?
PSEG Long Island has been hard at work on a Climate Change Vulnerability Study that analyzes our transmission and distribution assets and operational vulnerabilities to potential future climate hazards. We look forward to publishing it this spring. The study is a first step that lays the foundation for a Climate Change Resiliency Plan that will propose solutions to potential climate risks identified by the study. We hope to publish that later this year.

Do you have any advice for someone looking to pursue a career in your field?
Keep your mind open to the possibilities. We have engineers preparing the electric grid for the growth in electric vehicle ownership, as well as developing the transmission interconnections that will handle the offshore wind power under development. We have energy efficiency experts promoting greener home heating/cooling technologies like air source heat pumps. We have a team that protects osprey from nesting on electrical equipment. There are many ways you can support sustainability here.

What is one thing everyone can do to help protect the environment?
While New York State is making progress toward its ambitious clean energy goals, we still have a ways to go. By finding ways to use less energy at home — and at work, if you own a business — you don’t just save money on your bill. You also decrease the need for fossil fuel power plants.

What can policymakers do to aid in your organization’s work?
This year, Long Island became the first region of New York State to bring offshore wind generation online, with several more to come. Long Island is going to be the statewide leader in wind generation. We’re also going to have to be leaders in getting that electricity off the island. We look forward to the continued support of policymakers in developing the solutions that ensure the state can meet its clean energy goals.

John joined Urban Green Council in 2018 as its first-ever CEO and leads the organization in its mission to decarbonize buildings for healthy and resilient communities. He capped a 25-year career as chief sustainability officer for United Technologies Corporation having done business in 53 countries. He’s an adjunct professor at the University of Connecticut School of Business and also served as a visiting scientist at the Harvard University T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

David Marks has been at the nexus of politics and energy for more than two decades since beginning his career on Capitol Hill for the U.S. Senate Energy Committee under New Mexico Senator Jeff Bingaman. Currently, David has been with Equinor in the U.S. for more than four years where he leads government relations and communications for their renewable energy business.

What is one thing your organization hopes to accomplish in 2024?
Equinor is focused on delivering our vision for offshore wind in New York, including starting construction on Empire Wind 1, a project that will supply more than 800 MW of power. In addition, Equinor is excited to build out our offshore wind hub in Brooklyn, a 73-acre site at South Brooklyn Marine Terminal that will be revitalized as the staging area for our turbine assembly and home to our offshore wind operations and maintenance base.

Do you have any advice for someone looking to pursue a career in your field?
I like to keep advice pretty simple. I think in this world of constant screens and mobile devices we forget the benefit of reaching out to connect with folks in person. Building your network and seeking out individuals in this industry is the best way to learn more about renewables and get your foot in the door.

What is one thing everyone can do to help protect the environment?
It is always easy to sound preachy here and there are countless things you can do to protect the environment – but if there is one thing – I would say make your voice heard and vote. It’s the best way to stand up for what you believe and ensure your opinion on environmental issues is prioritized.

What can policymakers do to aid in your organization’s work?
We have amazing supporters – particularly from policymakers who have been pushing the clean energy agenda for years and are an important reason we are able to deliver renewable energy projects at the size and scale we are pursuing now. It takes a lot to get a new industry like offshore wind off the ground. We will always be grateful for the political support we receive and recognize our responsibility in moving these projects forward.

Sadie McKeown leads The Community Preservation Corporation (CPC)’s growth strategy and oversees its construction lending business and its equity and impact investing platforms. Sadie is a pioneer in the sustainable movement and a fierce advocate for transitioning real estate to clean energy. Sadie leads CPC’s sustainability platform, focused on driving higher performance, resilient, healthier housing and creating economic opportunity for owners and residents in disadvantaged communities. Under Sadie’s leadership, CPC has financed more than 12,000 sustainable units since 2015.

What is one thing your organization hopes to accomplish in 2024?
Our goal is to educate the mortgage markets regarding how to integrate decarbonization into the construction and permanent loans they make to owners. If the mortgage markets don’t begin to routinely address decarbonizing buildings when they close their first mortgages, we will never move the needle on climate in the built environment. CPC hopes to have a substantial grant from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to support lenders with low-cost subordinated debt capital.

Do you have any advice for someone looking to pursue a career in your field?
Be curious. There’s a lot to learn about driving affordability and sustainability in housing. Get educated – there are so many good conferences, webinars, podcasts and papers out there. Don’t be shy. Reach out to people you see doing interesting work and ask them questions. There’s great demand to hire smart, curious people who are not afraid to work hard. Transitioning to clean energy will take creativity. Practice-informed policy will also be critical.

What is one thing everyone can do to help protect the environment?
We need to green all existing jobs. Whatever job you are doing right now, you should ask how it can support the clean energy transition. At CPC that means adding decarbonization to our lending and integrating sustainability into all of our processes and procedures. Companies need to be intentional and change the way they work. Think clean transportation, using clean renewable energy and moving away from fossil fuels. It’s not one thing, it’s everything.

What can policymakers do to aid in your organization’s work?
Policymakers can look at existing policies and see how they can be modified to include support for the energy transition. Government money supports all aspects of our economy – we should look to see how federal, state and local support influences and drives the clean energy transition. In order to get to the tipping point we need demand – government capital drives demand, and we need to ensure it integrates demand for the clean energy transition.

John is the managing partner of Harris Beach’s Capital Region offices in Albany and Saratoga Springs and a member of the firm’s Energy Industry Team. Among other regulatory approvals, John successfully represented an offshore wind developer in securing a Certificate of Environmental Compatibility and Public Need pursuant to Article VII of the Public Service Law from the Public Service Commission for the transmission facilities to interconnect the offshore wind farm with the State’s electrical grid.

What is one thing your organization hopes to accomplish in 2024?
Harris Beach’s Energy Industry Team is working on a number of cutting-edge projects in 2024 that will help the State meet its nation-leading energy and environmental goals in the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act or CLCPA. Our Team hopes to file two Article VII applications with the Public Service Commission for major electric transmission facilities that will assist the State in meeting its offshore wind requirements under the CLCPA.

Do you have any advice for someone looking to pursue a career in your field?
Become a subject matter expert. Energy law is a highly regulated and technical sector. Staying current on regulatory changes and technical innovations is crucial to be able to guide clients through an ever-changing legal landscape with the clients’ ever-evolving technology.

What is one thing everyone can do to help protect the environment?
Take time to think about your impact on the environment and then take steps to reduce your impact. Everyone can do their part to reduce their individual impact on the environment from recycling to using a programmable thermostat. Aggregated together, these positive individual steps will result in meaningful changes that will benefit the environment.

What can policymakers do to aid in your organization’s work?
In order to meet the State’s nation-leading energy and environmental requirements in the CLCPA, among other steps, a significant amount of renewable energy generation and battery energy storage facilities are going to need to be sited over the next several years. In order to meet these goals, policymakers should strive to provide regulatory certainty to allow for project developers to site these types of projects in a timely, economical, and responsible manner.

Liz Moran joined Earthjustice in September 2021 after previously working for NYPIRG and Environmental Advocates NY. She brings to the organization over a decade of experience organizing communities and advocating for bold environmental policies in the halls of Albany. Her efforts have led to numerous victories, including New York’s first-in-the-nation mandate for all-electric new construction, a moratorium on fossil-fuel-based proof-of-work cryptocurrency mining, the creation of New York’s multi-billion Clean Water Infrastructure Act, and more.

What is one thing your organization hopes to accomplish in 2024?
Following 2023, the hottest year ever recorded where New York saw smoke-filled skies, unprecedented flooding, heat waves, and increasing utility bills, we hope to get bold climate legislation passed to give people reprieve. In particular, we want legislation passed that will help the state downsize the gas system while saving New Yorkers money on their energy bills.

What is one thing everyone can do to help protect the environment?
Call your local, state, and federal representatives to urge them to take action on an environmental issue you care about.

Victor Mullin is an energy veteran with over 30 years in engineering, project management and operations spanning electric, gas, steam and nuclear. Since 2018, he has led New York Transco, an electric transmission development company, that is innovating clean energy transmission solutions across New York State. Under Vic’s leadership, the company successfully permitted, constructed and put into operation 70 miles of new lines and several substations to bolster energy delivery – completed early and on budget.

What is one thing your organization hopes to accomplish in 2024?
New York Transco is collaborating with the New York Power Authority on Propel NY Energy,  a transformative electric transmission project that will bolster grid reliability and resiliency and create new pathways for clean energy delivery throughout parts of Long Island, New York City and Westchester County. In 2024, we are forging local relationships in the host communities and will kick off the regulatory process. Also, we’re innovating ways to further the state’s clean energy success.

Do you have any advice for someone looking to pursue a career in your field?
Stay curious, think outside of the box and maximize opportunities to get tangible experience. The energy field is looking for people with diverse backgrounds and experiences, and a passion to be at the forefront of a once-in-a-lifetime energy transformation. The field growth combined with a greying of the industry means we’ll need future generations to lead the way. Utilities, unions, construction companies, developers, etc. all offer great pathways into the field.

What is one thing everyone can do to help protect the environment?
Participate. There are projects and initiatives happening across the state to improve our electric grid, and environment, and address climate change. I encourage people at all levels to read the facts, join the dialogue, and be part of the positive outcomes. We all have a role in making sure we leave our communities better than we found them and being part of the solution is essential.

What can policymakers do to aid in your organization’s work?
Electric transmission is typically not thought about and often misunderstood – but it is the backbone of our energy system and is critical to a strong economy and a cleaner environment. We welcome partnerships with policymakers to highlight the importance of this core infrastructure and collaborate to find cost-effective solutions that modernize our aging system, ensuring we are solving the needs of tomorrow today.