October 03, 2019

Ep 42: Dan Lashof, Director of World Resources Institute, United States

55 minutes

Today’s guest is Dan Lashof, Director of World Resources Institute, United States.

He coordinates WRI’s work in the United States across climate, energy, food, forests, water and the sustainable cities programs. This includes overseeing the work of the U.S. climate team, which aims to catalyze and support climate action by states, cities, and businesses while laying the groundwork for federal action in the coming years.

Dan has been working to promote solutions to climate change for more than two decades. Before the World Resources Institute, Dan was the Chief Operating Officer of NextGen Policy Center and previously served as the Director of the Climate and Clean Air Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

His focus is developing federal and state regulations to place enforceable limits on carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping pollutants. He has participated in scientific assessments of global warming through the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and has monitored international climate negotiations since their inception. He was a member of Governor McAuliffe’s Climate Change and Resiliency Update Commission, and has testified at numerous Congressional and California legislative hearings.

Dan earned his Bachelor's degree in Physics and Mathematics at Harvard and his Doctorate from the Energy and Resources Group at the University of California, Berkeley.

Dan is married to Diane Regas and has three adult children. When not working Dan enjoys bicycling, hiking, eating, and cheering for the Golden State Warriors.

In today’s episode, we cover:

WRI history and the nature of their work

The 4 pillars Dan believes are needed to solve climate change

Some examples of WRI’s current initiatives

How they measure success

How WRI is different

'Unique nature of the climate problem

Role of government

Role of policy

Role of natural gas in short and long-term

Role of big oil

Role of adaptation

Where Dan would allocate a large pool of money to maximize impact

Dan’s advice for others seeking to find their lanes to help

Links to topics discussed in this episode:

WRI website: https://www.wri.org/

NRDC: https://www.nrdc.org/

WRI renewables accelerator for cities: https://www.wri.org/events/2019/02/american-cities-climate-challenge-renewables-accelerator

NYC’s Green New Deal: https://www1.nyc.gov/office-of-the-mayor/news/209-19/action-global-warming-nyc-s-green-new-deal#/0

Science based targets: https://sciencebasedtargets.org/

You can find me on twitter @jjacobs22 or @mcjpod and email at [email protected], where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Enjoy the show!

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*Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant

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