Stanford University
EN-14: Participation in Public Policy

1) On May 26, 2014, Students for a Sustainable Stanford hosted a panel supporting the El Camino Real Bus Rapid Transit program being proposed by the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA). The panel gave students the opportunity to engage in policy debate at a regional level, namely in a way that directly affects their daily lives by advocating increased availability of more sustainable transportation. http://sustainability-year-in-review.com/snapshots/student-group-hosts-regional-transportation-officials-in-discussion-of-sustainable-transit-upgrades/ 2) For the past two years, Stanford has offered a course entitled “Energy Transformation Collaborative (ETC),” which teaches students about renewable energy and transportation. A main focus of the class is for students to work directly on real-world sustainability problems and learn how to advocate for their solutions to business and policy leaders so they can be successfully implemented. https://energy.stanford.edu/energy-transformation-collaborative 3) Students for a Sustainable Stanford advocated for more drought-friendly landscaping policies on campus by circulating a petition amongst students, alumni, faculty, and staff. It received more than 800 signatures and led Stanford’s University Architect/Campus Planning and Design office to meet with the student leaders to discuss sustainable options which they agreed to implement in the soon-to-be constructed School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences building. https://www.change.org/p/stanford-community-we-the-students-faculty-staff-and-members-of-the-stanford-community-support-replacing-grass-landscaping-with-drought-tolerant-native-plants?recruiter=39794280&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=share_email_responsive http://sustainability-year-in-review.com/snapshots/students-encourage-more-drought-tolerant-landscaping/

1) In October 2014, Stanford hosted a discussion with business and policy leaders from across California on how to improve the state’s water management and conservation, specifically in light of the drought. It was co-led by the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment and the Hamilton Project at Brookings. Attendees included California Governor Jerry Brown, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, and former U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin. https://woods.stanford.edu/news-events/event/new-directions-us-water-policy 2) The State Clean Energy Cookbook, self-described as “A Dozen Recipes for State Action on Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy,” is a report organized by the Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance and the Hoover Institution’s Shultz-Stephenson Task Force on Energy Policy. It outlines a series of suggestions for statewide policy initiatives to increase and promote the use of clean, renewable energy. http://media.law.stanford.edu/organizations/programs-and-centers/steyer-taylor/State-Policy-Report-hi-res.pdf?__hstc=224122052.d9575b7dd398a61384f554b9d663bca8.1463626851336.1463626851336.1463626851336.1&__hssc=224122052.1.1463626851337&__hsfp=3228276027 3) The Precourt Institute for Energy (PIE) runs several centers and programs based around policy advocacy, such as the Bay Area Photovoltaic Consortium, the Shultz-Stephenson Task Force on Energy Policy, and the Stanford Environmental and Energy Policy Analysis Center. These entities participate in ongoing work in sustainability policy advocacy. https://energy.stanford.edu/ 4) The Woods Institute’s Water in the West Program assisted the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation in the development of its western water conservation strategy, which will help determine the foundation’s investment priorities in seven critical ecoregions. A write-up of this work, published in August 2015, can be found here: http://waterinthewest.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/WITW-WaterRightsLawReview-2015-FINAL.pdf.

1) Stanford professors and faculty held a conference entitled “Setting the Climate Agenda for the Next U.S. President” on 5/6/16, in which they discussed and advocated for strategies and policies that the next U.S. presidential administration could use to mitigate the effects of climate change. http://news.stanford.edu/2016/05/11/stanford-professors-recommend-climate-energy-priorities-next-u-s-president/ 2) Stanford hosted a roundtable of panelists at Maples Pavilion in October 2014 entitled “The Climate Conversation You Haven’t Heard.” It featured global leaders “discussing world problems being caused by climate change, ways to advance the conversation, the urgency of action, and some techniques and technologies being developed to solve the problems.” http://news.stanford.edu/news/2014/october/roundtable-climate-change-102414.html 3. “New Directions for U.S. Water Policy”: Stanford co-hosted a forum on campus on October 20, 2015 with The Hamilton Project, an organization focused on creating sustainable economic policy, to discuss strategies for implementing U.S. policies that address the water crisis and promote sustainable water use practices. http://www.hamiltonproject.org/events/new_directions_for_u.s._water_policy 4) Stanford engineer Mark Z. Jacobson, along with his colleagues at the Stanford School of Engineering, created a research- and evidence-based state-by-state policy plan to convert the United States entirely to renewable energy by 2050. This serves as a call by Stanford as an institution for change toward a sustainable future through concrete political and governmental action. http://news.stanford.edu/news/2014/february/fifty-states-renewables-022414.html https://engineering.stanford.edu/news/stanford-engineers-develop-state-state-plan-convert-us-100-clean-renewable-energy-2050 http://sustainability-year-in-review.com/snapshots/stanford-engineers-develop-state-by-state-plan-to-convert-u-s-to-100-clean-renewable-energy-by-2050/ 5) The student group Fossil Free Stanford organized a protest in February 2014, during President Obama’s visit to campus, urging him to veto the Keystone XL oil pipeline proposal. The demonstration was the first of several “organized by Stanford students to bring attention to the pipeline. Fifteen Stanford students had joined hundreds of other college students in Washington, D.C., for a national demonstration in front of the White House in spring 2014.” http://sustainability-year-in-review.com/snapshots/students-urge-obama-to-veto-keystone-xl-pipeline-during-campus-visit/

1) Ahead of the 2016 COP21 summit in Paris, Stanford’s Board of Trustees issued a statement to the summit conveners, urging global leaders to look to universities for climate solutions. The statement highlights the steps Stanford has taken to provide leadership on climate change, both in its academic enterprise and in its operations, and welcomes dialogue and idea-sharing with other universities. An article with the text of the statement can be found here: https://news.stanford.edu/2015/10/28/climate-change-statement-102815/ 2) On January 28th, 2016, the Stanford Environmental and Energy Policy Analysis Center (SEEPAC), Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR) and the Precourt Institute for Energy hosted a panel on international climate policy in the wake of the Paris Agreement. http://www.stanforddaily.com/2016/01/31/panel-discusses-energy-policy-and-economics-of-paris-agreement/ 3) In a new paper in the journal Science, a team led by Stanford professors Charles Kolstad and Marshall Burke argues that relatively low funding for social science research has contributed to a knowledge gap about what climate change means for human society. This knowledge gap, they argue, renders the large advances in natural science less useful than they could be for policymakers. https://news.stanford.edu/2016/04/14/society-needs-better-understand-economics-climate-change-stanford-researchers-say/ 4) "Open Office Hours: Responding to Climate Change" was an open panel held on 11/19/15. Stanford faculty hosted the discussion about potential policies for improving environmental health on campus-wide, state-wide, national, and international levels: “Our panel of experts will discuss a range of strategies for responding to climate change, including approaches such as divestment from fossil fuels, investment in alternative energy, environmental justice, and policies such as carbon fees or markets.” https://openxchange.stanford.edu/events/open-office-hours-responding-climate-change