We are pleased to announce Taryn Fransen as the recipient of the 2021 Art Rosenfeld Award for Energy Efficiency!
Taryn is a PhD student with the Energy and Resources Group at UC Berkeley, having earned her M.S. and B.S. in Earth Systems from Stanford University. Growing up in rural Washington as the child of a fisheries biologist working for the local tribes, she saw firsthand the close relationship among the economy, cultural values, and stewardship of natural resources. This inspired her to pursue research in climate and energy policy in order to speak credibly to perceived conflicts between environment and economic development.
After college, Taryn has had a robust career in the field of energy and climate policy having served in prominent leadership and advisory roles at globally recognized non-profit organizations, foundations, and agencies. While with the World Resources Institute, she was on the ground during the negotiations for the Paris Agreement in 2015, reviewing negotiating text, explaining it to the press, and leading a team of analysts to determine the impact of what was under discussion, and what it would mean for global energy use and emissions . During the 2018 Global Climate Action Summit, she served as a Senior Policy Advisor to the Office of the Governor of California. She is currently a Senior Fellow at the World Resources Institute and a Graduate Student Researcher at GSPP’s Global Policy Lab.
The Art Rosenfeld Award will enable Taryn to build on her research on the ways that “nationally determined contributions” (NDCs) arising out of the Paris Climate Agreement drive energy policy primarily in the G20 countries, asking questions such as: Why do countries “over-pledge” or “under-pledge”? How do pledges actually influence energy policy? And why do countries enhance their pledges? Award funds will support Taryn by covering most of her tuition in the upcoming year so that she may focus on her informative and impactful work. We wish Taryn the best of luck with her research and can’t wait to see what she accomplishes.
