YPE NYC Hosts: A Fireside Chat with Shalanda Baker

YPE NYC Hosts: A Fireside Chat with Shalanda Baker

YPE New York City will host Shalanda Baker, Deputy Director for Energy Justice in the Office of Economic Impact & Diversity at the U.S. DOE

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About this event

YPE New York City is thrilled to host Shalanda Baker for a fireside chat to discuss the future of the U.S. energy system and how to ensure justice is at the center of our energy transition.

Shalanda H. Baker is the Deputy Director for Energy Justice in the Office of Economic Impact and Diversity at the U.S. Department of Energy and was previously a Professor of Law, Public Policy and Urban Affairs at Northeastern University. She has spent over a decade conducting research on the equity dimensions of the global transition away from fossil fuel energy to cleaner energy resources.

In her recent book,Revolutionary Power: An Activist Guide to the Energy Transition, Deputy Director Baker offers a deep dive into the technical terrain of energy policy and discusses everything from utility reform to the impact of community solar. YPE NYC looks forward to discussing these topics and more during this conversation. Please be sure to submit your questions during registration.

The discussion will be moderated by Claudia Villar-Leeman, Energy Policy Advisor at the NYC Mayor’s Offices of Climate, Sustainability and Resiliency and YPE NYC Board Member. Please join us for what we’re sure will be a conversation you won't want to miss!

EVENT SPEAKERS

Guest: Shalanda Baker

Shalanda H. Baker is the Deputy Director for Energy Justice in the Office of Economic Impact and Diversity at the U.S. Department of Energy. Prior to her appointment, she was a Professor of Law, Public Policy and Urban Affairs at Northeastern University. She has spent over a decade conducting research on the equity dimensions of the global transition away from fossil fuel energy to cleaner energy resources. She is the author of over a dozen articles, book chapters, and essays on renewable energy law, energy justice, energy policy, and renewable energy development. In 2016, she received a Fulbright-Garcia-Robles research fellowship to study climate change, energy policy, and indigenous rights in Mexico. She is the Co-Founder and former Co-Director of the Initiative for Energy Justice (www.iejusa.org), an organization committed to providing technical law and policy support to communities on the frontlines of climate change. Her recent book, Revolutionary Power: An Activist’s Guide to the Energy Transition (Island Press 2021), argues that the technical terrain of energy policy should be the next domain to advance civil rights.

Moderator: Claudia Villar-Leeman

Claudia Villar-Leeman is an Energy Policy Advisor at the NYC Mayor’s Offices of Climate, Sustainability and Resiliency. There, she contributes to the City’s goal to achieve an energy system that is clean, equitable, affordable for residents, and resilient to the intensifying impacts of climate change. Claudia’s broad portfolio includes coordinating the development of the City’s first Long Term Energy Plan as well as leading the Offices' efforts to promote energy storage development citywide.

Prior to joining the Mayor’s Office, Claudia taught biology and climate policy at a high school in the Dominican Republic, and later joined the team at the Climate Museum, the first museum in the U.S. dedicated to climate change.

Claudia currently serves on the board of Young Professionals in Energy NYC, where she designed and launched the organization's first clean energy mentorship program. She was selected as a 2021 New York Fellow at the Clean Energy Leadership Institute. Claudia holds an M.A. in Climate & Society from Columbia University and a B.A. in Biology from Bowdoin College.