Reforming California’s Cap and Trade Program

Dr. Jasmin Ansar joined The Climate Center in September of 2022 as a Senior Climate Researcher to research and develop optimal policies to address the climate change emergency at speed and scale. Dr. Ansar is an economist who began her career as a professor and has been employed in both the private and public sectors. She has been a Climate Economist at the Union of Concerned Scientists and worked on designing and advocating for effective global warming policies with particular emphasis on proposals in California. Dr. Ansar has taught Economics at the City University in London, Lorry I. Lokey Graduate School of Public Policy and Business, Mills College in Oakland, the Presidio Graduate School in San Francisco, UC Berkeley, and the University of British Columbia. Dr. Ansar has a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Southampton, England, a Diploma/MSc. in Econometrics and Economics from the University of Southampton, England, and a B.A. in Economics with Mathematics from Sussex University, England.

Sam is Co-Founder and Managing Director of Net-Zero California, a non-profit project that develops policies to support California’s climate goals. He previously worked as a management consultant for PwC. He holds a Master of Environmental Management and Bachelor of Economics. He is originally from Melbourne, Australia.

Dallas Burtraw has worked to promote efficient control of air pollution and written extensively on electricity industry regulation and environmental outcomes. Burtraw’s current research includes analysis of the distributional and regional consequences of climate policy, the evolution of electricity markets including renewable integration, and the interaction of climate policy with electricity markets. He has provided technical support in the design of carbon dioxide emissions trading programs in the Northeast states, California, and the European Union. He also has studied the regulation of nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide under the Clean Air Act and conducted integrated assessment of costs, and modeled health and ecosystem effects and valuation, including ecosystem improvement in the Adirondack Park and the southern Appalachian region. Burtraw has been Chair of California’s Independent Emissions Market Advisory Committee and is still a member. Burtraw holds a Ph.D. in economics and a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Michigan and a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Davis.

Danny Cullenward is an economist and lawyer focused on the scientific integrity of climate policy. He is the co-author of Making Climate Policy Work (with David G. Victor), a book about the political economy of carbon markets. Dr. Cullenward is a Senior Fellow with the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania, a Senior Fellow with the Institute for Responsible Carbon Removal at American University, and the Vice Chair of California’s Independent Emissions Market Advisory Committee. He previously held research and teaching appointments at UC Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the Carnegie Institution for Science, and Stanford University. He earned his JD and PhD in Environment and Resources from Stanford University.