Study Group with Alejandra Castillo

Climate Change: A Threat to U.S. Economy, National Security, and Global Supply Chain

The pandemic seems far removed from our rear-view window, yet the lessons are searing and impactful on our national consciousness. How will the U.S respond to a catastrophic natural disaster? How do we prepare and respond to a natural disaster crisis in light of the current political landscape? Are natural disasters and climate change the new destabilizing economic threat to our national security and global supply chain?

GUEST: Jennifer DeCesaro, Senior Director for Resilience at National Security Council, The White House, will join Resident Fellow Alejandra Castillo virtually for the October 29 session.

Jennifer DeCesaro serves as the Senior Director for Resilience at the National Security Council.

She also served for more than a year and a half as the Director for Recovery and Mitigation and more than a year as the Director for Climate Security and Resilience at the National Security Council. Prior to the NSC, she served as the Director for Recovery and Resilience in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Electricity where she leads the Department's long-term energy sector recovery efforts in the U.S. including Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Additionally, she oversees the Energy Transitions Initiative which is focused on advancing self-reliant island and remote communities through resilient energy systems. Previously, she served as a Senior Programme Officer in the International Renewable Energy Agency's (IRENA) Country Support and Partnerships Division. In this role, she worked with countries to support their transition to a sustainable energy future. With a strong focus on developing countries, Jennifer coordinated across a wide variety of stakeholders to implement IRENA's technical assistance and advisory support activities under country specific and regional projects and programmes for governments, regional energy organizations, among others to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy technologies.

Prior to joining IRENA, Jennifer served as the Director of the Technology-to-Market Program in the DOE's EERE. In this capacity, she worked across EERE to identify and address challenges of commercializing and deploying energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies. Before taking on that role, Jennifer served as a Special Advisor for Renewable Energy and Transmission in the Secretary of Energy's office and worked as the Market Transformation lead for the DOE's SunShot Initiative. In this capacity, she directed a broad portfolio of activities at the local, state and utility levels to reduce PV system costs and eliminate barriers to solar market development.

Before joining DOE, Jennifer was a senior analyst at Exeter Associates, where she worked on renewable energy grid integration issues and transmission policy. She also has worked as a Project Director for the Clean Energy Group, as a renewable energy and climate policy specialist for the National Conference of State Legislatures, and as an environmental consultant in the U.S. Virgin Islands. She holds a B.A. in Environmental Biology from Colorado College and a Master's Degree in Environmental Law from the Vermont Law School.

AUDIENCE: These conversations are open to members of the Harvard community. Please RSVP with a valid Harvard email address. 

OFF-THE-RECORD: In keeping with our long tradition at the IOP to ensure honest and candid discussions of politics, all IOP study groups are off-the-record.