Schneider 1-Year Fellowship: Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) 2024-25

Stanford Students Only

Schneider Equitable Clean Energy Fellowship (2024-2025)

San Francisco & Washington, D.C.

NRDC is a non-profit environmental advocacy organization. We use law, science, and the support of 3.1 million members and online activists to protect the planet's wildlife and wild places and to ensure the rights of all people to clean air, clean water, and healthy communities.

NRDC was founded in 1970 and our people helped write some of America's bedrock environmental laws, including the Clean Water Act and many of the implementing regulations. Today, our team of more than 700 lawyers, scientists, economists, policy advocates, communications experts, and others work across the United States and the globe from our offices in Bozeman, Montana; Chicago; New York; San Francisco; Santa Monica; Washington, D.C.; and Beijing.

NRDC is committed to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion, both in our work and in our workplace. We believe that celebrating and actively welcoming a diversity of voices and perspectives is essential to solving the planet's most pressing environmental problems.

Fellowship Overview

NRDC is a non-profit international environmental advocacy organization with 3.1 million members and online activists. They use law, policy, and science to protect the planet's wildlife and wild places and to ensure the rights of all people to clean air, clean water, and healthy communities. NRDC was founded in 1970 and now has a staff of more than 700 lawyers, scientists, economists, policy advocates, communications experts, and others working across the United States and internationally from offices in New York; Washington, D.C.; Chicago; Santa Monica; San Francisco; Bozeman, Montana; New Delhi; and Beijing.

The Climate and Energy Program focuses on fighting climate change by designing equitable policies with community partners to cut carbon pollution and expand equitable energy efficiency and renewable energy to ensure clean, reliable, and affordable energy services that a healthy and sustainable economy needs. NRDC is currently looking for passionate individuals who are willing to learn; want to take advantage of a rich, interdisciplinary work environment; and can bring their unique skills and perspective to help develop smart and equitable environmental policies.

The Fellow will gain skills in research and analysis, written advocacy, oral advocacy, legislative and/or regulatory processes, and inclusive and equitable policy development. The Fellow will be an integral part of NRDC’s team and will gain exposure to a variety of activities including attending policy meetings, working with private sector stakeholders, engaging in joint advocacy with other partners, conducting policy analysis and development, and doing legislative and regulatory research and drafting.

We particularly encourage candidates whose identities have been historically under-represented in the environmental movement. You should apply if you are eager to be part of a cross-cutting team; learn about clean energy and equity; gain valuable policy, writing, speaking, and analytic skills; and to be an active team member tackling climate, equity, and policy issues.

Eligible candidates include those with undergraduate or graduate level experience in energy, science, engineering, economics, public policy and/or law, including candidates with multi-disciplinary experience and/or joint degrees. You must be a current student to apply. Final offers are contingent upon a satisfactory report from Stanford's Office of Community Standards.

Available Positions

NRDC is currently seeking two Schneider Fellows to work on equitable climate and clean energy topics including, but not limited to: the power sector, transportation, equitable building electrification, and related analysis. Fellows will work primarily in our San Francisco or Washington, D.C. office, with potential opportunities to work with NRDC colleagues across the country. The two open positions are:

Western Equitable Clean Energy and Climate Fellow, San Francisco

The Fellow will be involved directly in the development of advocacy strategies, collaboration with key stakeholders, and in the preparation of NRDC materials designed to influence equitable public policy decisions. Projects that the Fellow may work on include furthering NRDC’s work to ensure California, Colorado, and New Mexico greenhouse gas reduction, energy efficiency, and renewable energy mandates are implemented effectively and with a focus on equity, quality workforce, & improving air quality in disadvantaged communities.

The work will include developing and analyzing policy proposals, writing comments for regulatory agencies, writing blogs and other materials, generating and testing proposals and rationales for different audiences, working with coalitions in states, and helping state advocates identify and implement priority tasks. Past projects include helping with the implementation of a multi-state campaign to increase portfolio standards across the West, advocating for clean trucks and cars standards in CO and NM, and assisting with the implementation of California energy efficiency policies as well as decarbonization efforts of the state’s transportation and building sectors.

Energy Policy Analysis Fellow, Washington, D.C.

The Fellow will be directly involved in policy development and technical analysis of various federal regulatory and legislative approaches to energy policy. Research and analysis projects that the Fellow may work on include the development and defense of key federal standards for carbon dioxide pollution from power plants, vehicles, and other carbon-intensive sectors; approaches for strategic and more innovative climate and clean energy legislation; and the development of deep decarbonization (e.g., net-zero) pathways to inform strategic and institutional decision-making. The Fellow will work within the Science Office’s Policy Analysis Team, allowing the Fellow to interface across multiple programs and teams to analyze the economic, environmental, and public health impacts of policy opportunities and advocacy priorities.

The Fellow may also work on discrete projects for our regional teams (e.g., analyze the impacts of a state joining a carbon trading program, model proposed state-level proposed clean energy or renewable portfolio standard) across the U.S. Current and past fellows have provided integral analysis and materials development in support of the Clean Power Plan and the Inflation Reduction Act, the development of guidelines and model policies for emerging technologies like electrolytic hydrogen production, drafted and submitted testimony and comments in front of state agencies and utility commissions, and supported the passage of numerous state and regional clean energy policies. Fellows have relied on their modeling and analytical skills to support both federal and state climate and clean energy policy and have successfully engaged in all stages of policy advocacy from concept and strategy development to analysis, negotiation, execution, and implementation.

The Policy Analysis team both works with consultants to develop and run energy models, as well as execute our own energy modeling and data visualization in-house, to support NRDC’s climate advocacy. The ideal candidate would have experience with one or more of the following: Python, R, Tableau, or GIS, as well as advanced excel skills.

Examples of Previous Fellow Projects

Additional past fellow projects include: developing a plan to phase out fossil gas use from buildings; reforming policies for rooftop solar; implementing a multi-state campaign to increase renewable portfolio standards, developing campaign materials to promote clean trucks; developing and implementing strategies to advance specific policy objectives in state and city legislatures; helping to advance equitable clean transportation and building decarbonization policies through efficiency and electrification; writing comments for regulatory agencies; generating and testing proposals and rationales for different audiences; providing integral analysis and materials development in support of federal policies around green hydrogen development and funding; and providing technical analysis on EPA regulatory rules and  federal  clean energy legislation.

NRDC Information

We are an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate in hiring or employment on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, marital status, sexual orientation, national origin, citizenship, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law. Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

We offer competitive salaries, excellent benefits, and a supportive working environment. Salary is based on a nonprofit scale and is commensurate with skills and experience. For this position, the salary is $65,000. Internal equity considerations will be reviewed before making a final offer.

Our offices are open, and we are operating in a hybrid model. We offer NRDCers flexibility, we ask them to come into the office and spend meaningful time there in collaboration with their colleagues.  We call this purposeful presence.

As a science-based organization, NRDC aims to do our part to help contain the COVID-19 public health crisis. For the sake of health, safety, and equity, we ask that people be vaccinated unless they have an approved medical or religious accommodation or other exemption in accordance with state and local law. We consider a person to be vaccinated two weeks after receiving one full course of a CDC-approved vaccine. In accordance with state or local law, new hires will be asked to attest to vaccination, those wishing to do so may request medical or religious accommodations or other exemptions via NRDC Employee Relations. NRDC treats all vaccine-related data confidentially, in keeping with local, state, and federal laws.