Powering the Future

During the launch of the Duke Campaign, a session highlighted ways in which Duke researchers and stakeholders are collaborating to achieve global energy goals and create a more equitable and sustainable world.

Brian Murray M.S.’87, Ph.D.’92 directs the Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability. “The institute helps bridge Duke and the world — engaging with decision-makers in the public and private sector, providing research-grounded actionable recommendations for advancing solutions and leveraging that work to design transformative experiences for Duke students,” he told the audience.

“The global energy transition is a shift from something current to something desired in the future — a shift from an energy system that emits a lot of greenhouse gases to one that doesn’t,” Murray explained. “Climate finance is a deployment of capital to meet some need… Like other forms of finance, there are private investors, public investment, philanthropy and enterprises that cut across these seams like public-private partnerships. There are also different varieties of capital: early-stage venture, private equity, commercial debt... To get to the scale we’re talking about, public policy is critical.”

Duke has invested significantly in the area of climate finance and policy, Murray continued, noting new curricular and co-curricular options under development for students and the second “From Billions to Trillions” summit in April, which will focus on leveraging public and private capital for climate solutions.

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“This is an interdisciplinary set of challenges, and we attempt to match them to Duke’s interdisciplinary resources,” said Jackson Ewing, director of energy and climate policy at the Nicholas Institute.

“What we’re talking about is the need to build new energy systems around the world that skip or roll back heavy fossil fuel use,” he noted. “There is little precedent for such transitions, and they will require enormous amounts of money, smart innovations and effective policies. The reality is that public sector actors and development banks are not going to deliver all that is needed, and that much of the money and capacity must come from the private sector.”

Ewing described a “working model” that is emerging as he and other Duke experts pursue ways to accelerate progress on climate finance and policy. He explained that Duke brings cohorts of decision-makers together at events like “From Billions to Trillions” and smaller gatherings to discuss complex issues they’re facing, surfacing evidence from the public, private and nongovernmental sectors about roadblocks and opportunities. “That then leads to a research agenda that we can pursue along with partners around the world,” he explained. “I don’t claim that Duke is ‘to the rescue,’ but through this work we can contribute to solving the problem.”

Ewing also noted that the Nicholas Institute is committed to helping equip students to tackle climate policy and finance issues, mentioning the U.N. Climate Change Negotiations Practicum course as an example. “About 15 students get semester-long educational training and then work for client organizations and participate in the annual U.N. climate summit,” Ewing said.

Panelist Charlotte Del Col is a master of environmental management candidate who anticipates graduating in 2026. “I went to undergraduate in Maine and studied an interdisciplinary set of courses at the nexus of tech, policy, culture and science as an environmental policy major,” she said. “I worked in energy consulting, and I came back to school for a more interdisciplinary and global focus on energy. It’s been a whirlwind.”

She received a merit-based assistantship with Ewing to work with the James E. Rogers Energy Access Project. “It’s a really cool portion of my time here to be working with these people,” Del Col said. “It’s been complementary to my studies, rounding out my coursework and applying it to a professional setting.”

“Charlotte is a student, but also a core member of our project,” said Ewing. “It’s hard to overstate how much we get from our students.”

Panelist Tyler Ratcliffe, Trinity Class of 2026, is originally from the San Francisco Bay Area. “Climate was front-of-mind from an early age,” he said. “At Duke, I joined the Focus program and took two transformative classes, one with Brian Murray and one with Tom Cinq-Mars. They were both eye-opening. I came in with a sense of the problem, but no sense of the solution. The classes showed me what could be the start of a career — and my whole life.”

Ratcliffe got involved with the undergraduate energy club and started engaging in events with alumni. Through a house course he codeveloped, a dozen Duke alumni came to campus to connect with students interested in the energy field.

“As students, we have the power to borrow some of Duke’s convening power to bring in stakeholders and mobilize human capital,” Ratcliffe told the audience. “My personal goal is to get more students into this space. The Nicholas Institute always supports us. Whenever we have an idea, they’re always there to listen.”

Main image: Panelists Tyler Ratcliffe, Jackson Ewing and Charlotte Del Col