California just announced a lawsuit against five major oil corporations for their decades of deception and billions of dollars in damages to California communities. The Climate Center hosted an intimate conversation with The Climate Center CEO Ellie Cohen, Sunrun CEO Mary Powell, and California State Senator Scott Wiener to learn how we can end the fossil fuel era and build an equitable clean energy economy.
Ellie Cohen highlighted The Climate Center’s work with business and civic leaders, environmental organizations, and climate justice advocates, and how we’re pushing California state lawmakers to equitably reduce climate pollution at the speed and scale required by science. Mary Powell told us how Sunrun is rapidly scaling up solar energy to replace polluting fuels and innovating to help communities build resilience to worsening climate extremes.
Speakers
Mary has served as chief executive officer of Sunrun, a home solar, battery storage, and energy services company, since August 2021. In 2018, Mary joined Sunrun’s Board of Directors, where she continues to serve as a member of the board. From 2008 to 2019, Mary served as the president and chief executive officer of Green Mountain Power Corporation, an electric services company that serves 75 percent of the State of Vermont’s residential and business customers. At GMP, Mary successfully executed strategies to provide low-carbon, low-cost and highly reliable power to Vermonters. Mary is nationally recognized for her work disrupting the energy sector and has received numerous industry awards, including being named Utility Dive’s 2019 Executive of the Year and one of Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business in 2016.
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Ellie Cohen, CEO of The Climate Center, is a leader in catalyzing cross-boundary, collaborative and just solutions to climate change and environmental degradation. Most recently, Ellie served as President and CEO of Point Blue Conservation Science where she and the organization’s 160+ scientists worked with hundreds of public and private partners to develop climate-smart solutions for wildlife and people.
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Senator Scott Wiener represents San Francisco and northern San Mateo County in the California State Senate. Elected in 2016, Senator Wiener focuses extensively on housing, transportation, civil rights, criminal justice reform, clean energy, and alleviating poverty. He chairs the Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review, and is the past Chair of the Housing Committee and LGBTQ Caucus. Before his election to the Senate, Senator Wiener served as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Before taking public office, Senator Wiener practiced law for fifteen years, including nearly a decade as a Deputy City Attorney in the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office. He received degrees from Duke University and Harvard Law School and was a Fulbright Scholar in Santiago, Chile.
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