A Pivotal Year

Tenth Anniversary

Last October, we gathered with colleagues and friends to officially celebrate the first decade of our center. The evening included a panel discussion with three core faculty, moderated by Scott Kleinman (C’94, W’94). Professors Shelley Welton, Jennifer Wilcox, and Sanya Carley (pictured below) shared research highlights and explained why they chose to affiliate with the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy.

10 Years and Counting

Through grants, awards, events, publications, a podcast, and more, the center provides resources and a central hub for researchers across Penn tackling the energy transition.

Tribute Video


Welcoming a Professor of Practice

Heather Huntington

Director, Penn Development Research Institute-DevLab

Heather Huntington is the executive director of the Penn Development Research Institute-DevLab. Her research interests include land tenure, land administration, natural resource management.

This year concludes a competitive and fruitful search for our new professor of practice. We are pleased to welcome former White House Chief Economist Heather Boushey, who recently served on President Biden’s Council of Economic Advisers for the White House’s Invest in America cabinet, where she was central in shaping and implementing the administration’s industrial policy agenda. This fall Boushey will take on the new leadership role of defining economic policy for a future energy transition.


Moving Our Research Agenda Forward

As we celebrate these many accomplishments, we also note that this year has been a challenging one, with the arrival of a new U.S. administration skeptical of climate change and antagonistic toward the energy transition.

Since January, our team has observed and responded to cataclysmic blows to energy and climate policy, including U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement and reversal of key provisions in the IRA. As part of the broader university community, we’ve been responding to more existential threats, including revoked student visas, research grants, and other federal dollars.

Our Mission

In this moment, the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy stands behind its mission: to create the conditions for policy innovation that support a just and efficient transition to sustainable energy.

Focus on Core Activities and Mission

Research [insert photo]

Now more than ever, we are committed to providing quality research. Journalists, policymakers, and thought leaders look to us to provide data-driven information and insight. Faculty look to us to provide research support through our ongoing grants program.

Teaching [insert photo]

Students rely on us for learning and career development during uncertain times. We support Penn students with student grants, summer fellowships, seminars, and our Certificate in Energy Management and Policy.

Convening [insert photo]

And we continue gathering students, scholars, practitioners, and thought leaders for lectures, workshops, and our campus-wide Energy Week:

Energy Week

Focus on State and Global Policy

The Kleinman Center is also strategically focused on making an impact at both the state and international levels. As you continue reading, you’ll see how some of this year’s work has influenced several state policies on utility disconnections, data centers, gas prices, and ISO governance.

At the international level, our faculty have participated in NATO briefings about energy security, presented at international conferences, and contributed to world-renowned publications like the IPCC report on carbon dioxide removal. We also welcomed CBAM author Mohammed Chahim and COP24 President Michał Kurtyka to campus.

Where Penn can really be distinctive is in the area of policy. It’s arguably the most powerful lever that we have to work with, and we’ve now got a 10-year running start.

PENN President J. Larry Jameson