{"id":2362,"date":"2019-08-20T09:20:05","date_gmt":"2019-08-20T13:20:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/?p=2362"},"modified":"2019-08-21T11:57:38","modified_gmt":"2019-08-21T15:57:38","slug":"a-climate-of-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/2019\/08\/20\/a-climate-of-change\/","title":{"rendered":"A Climate of Change"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Susanne
Photo by Andr\u00e9 Chung<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Throughout her more than 10 years at the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), Susanne Brooks \u201904 has weathered drastic changes in both the global and political climate. By extending a hand to policymakers on both sides of the aisle as well as collaborators in the private, public, and academic sectors, Brooks strives to advance climate policy and fulfill EDF\u2019s motto of \u201cFinding the Ways that Work.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Brooks can trace a direct line from her current role as senior director, U.S. Climate Policy and Analysis at EDF to her studies as an economics<\/a> major at Colgate. \u201cI took a couple of environmental economics classes and realized, \u2018Here was a set of very practical solutions \u2014 such as cap and trade \u2014 to problems that I cared deeply about,\u2019\u201d she says. \u201cI couldn\u2019t understand why those solutions weren\u2019t being implemented in the United States.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Brooks sees EDF as uniquely positioned to develop and advocate for solutions to many of the world\u2019s most pressing environmental problems. \u201cThere are three things that set us apart,\u201d she explains. \u201cWe ground all of our work in sound science and economics. We work on market-based solutions, which we believe allow us to achieve more on a faster timeline. And we develop innovative and sometimes nontraditional partnerships, be it with industry, universities, or community groups. Together, those pieces create an influential approach.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

On any given day, Brooks might be on the Hill meeting with congressional staffers on key environmental issues, discussing policy design with partner NGOs, or researching new initiatives. A scroll through her blog posts on the EDF website provides a glimpse into some of her recent work, such as accelerating clean energy innovation and, particularly, carbon pricing legislation. \u201cWe\u2019ve been trying to ensure that carbon tax policies are explicitly tied to emission reduction goals and have provisions to make sure those goals are achieved,\u201d she says. \u201cWe\u2019ve been socializing this concept, called \u2018environmental integrity mechanisms,\u2019 with partners and policymakers, and it has really started to pick up steam.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brooks also spends a fair amount of time and energy playing defense against attempts to roll back existing climate standards and policies. \u201cOne of the most exciting things about my job is that it\u2019s responsive to what\u2019s going on in the world and allows us to make a difference in real time,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

When she joined EDF in 2008 as an economic policy analyst, it was in the midst of the pitched battle to pass federal comprehensive climate legislation known as the Waxman-Markey bill, or the American Clean Energy and Security Act. \u201cWe were right in the middle of that, helping shape the conversation and providing support as the legislation moved through the system,\u201d she says. The bill passed the House of Representatives, but was never taken up by the full Senate. <\/span><\/p>\n

That experience stayed with her and influenced her decision to transition from her role on EDF\u2019s economics team into the U.S. Climate program two years ago. \u201cWe\u2019re hopeful there will be another window of opportunity to pass comprehensive climate change policy opening in 2021,\u201d she says. \u201cI want to be on the front lines of that fight again.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As senior director of the Environmental Defense Fund, Susanne Brooks ’04 seeks market-based solutions to climate change.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1221,"featured_media":2675,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2],"tags":[113],"coauthors":[424],"class_list":["post-2362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-alumni-spotlights","category-alumni-updates","tag-sustainability"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/palXSH-C6","amp_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2019\/08\/brooks-featured.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1221"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2362"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2362\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2460,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2362\/revisions\/2460"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2362"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.colgate.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=2362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}