Policy Punchline

Dan Kammen is the Class of 1935 Distinguished Professor of Energy at the UC Berkeley. Well-rounded in issues across the entire energy sphere, Prof. Kammen has also served in both the Obama and Trump administrations among other public facing duties, in addition to being a founder of and advisor to several private companies.  In this interview, Prof. Kammen discusses his views on the American energy policy after Covid-19 and the elections season, and stresses that social and environmental justice are playing an ever more important role in the future of clean energy, requiring a leader like Biden to put forth bold plans. He believes that the U.S. missed a great opportunity to push through a green stimulus package after Covid, which showed the necessity for a clean energy-style stimulus. The opportunity was capitalized upon other countries like South Korea and New Zealand, but the U.S. was stymied by partisan politics when it came down to the details. He remains optimistic, however, when comparing his own Co