Spring 2025 Clean Energy Intern

Overview

NRDC is a non-profit environmental advocacy organization. We use law, science, and the support of 3.1 million members and online activists to protect the planet's wildlife and wild places and to ensure the rights of all people to clean air, clean water, and healthy communities. NRDC was founded in 1970 and our people helped write some of America's bedrock environmental laws, including the Clean Water Act and many of the implementing regulations. Today, our team of more than 700 lawyers, scientists, economists, policy advocates, communications experts, and others work across the United States and the globe from our offices in Beijing; Bozeman, Montana; Chicago; New Delhi; New York; San Francisco; Santa Monica; and Washington, D.C.

 

NRDC is seeking a Climate & Energy Graduate Student Intern to work with the California Climate and Energy team associated with our San Francisco office.

 

Position Summary

 

NRDC is seeking a graduate student intern to work with the Climate & Clean Energy team in our San Francisco office for both the spring (part time or full time) and summer (full time). We are looking for passionate individuals to bring their unique skills and perspectives to our California power sector and industrial decarbonization work. A key project over the duration of the internship will be to analyze industrial subsector load profiles and how they interact with existing and alternative electric rate structures to determine potential electric rate reforms that may enable cost-effective electrification of industrial processes. As part of this internship, you will:

Gain exposure to a wide range of equitable clean and affordable energy policies.

Dive into solutions particular to industrial electrification in California as we transition to a clean energy economy.

Help create memos, reports, graphics, and blogs based on research and analysis to be used to advance our advocacy in California.

You will be an integral part of NRDC, working as a critical member of our California Team in the San Francisco office. You will gain exposure to a variety of activities and build transferable skills. The following are some examples of activities that you can expect throughout the internship:

Leave with completed projects (e.g., blogs, memos, graphics, etc.) that can be added to your professional resume.

Responsibilities

• Participate in staff meetings and learn about how a large non-profit operates;
• Participate in meetings with advocates from other environmental organizations and potentially with Commissioners and other state leaders;
• Learn the regulatory processes of key state energy agencies where most of California’s energy policy is determined;
• Interact with various NRDC staff to widen your exposure to various projects and programs;
• Enhance analytical research ability;
• Deepen written and oral advocacy skills; 

Qualifications

Required

 

Commitment to NRDC’s mission and values.

You are enrolled in a graduate program on energy policy, technology, economics, or engineering.

You have demonstrated a strong interest in energy and climate policy.

Strong writing, research, and analytical skills.

NRDC is committed to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion, both in our work and in our workplace. We believe that celebrating and actively welcoming diverse voices and perspectives is essential to solving the planet's most pressing environmental problems, and we encourage applications from candidates whose identities have been historically under-represented in the environmental movement.We are an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate in hiring or employment on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, marital status, sexual orientation, national origin, citizenship, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law. Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records. This position is a paid internship for a graduate student enrolled in a current accredited graduate program with a stipend of10,0000 paid bi-weekly over the course of 10-week if full time. We will review part-time candidates as well. 

Our offices are open and we are operating in a hybrid model. We offer NRDCers flexibility, and we ask them to come into the office and spend meaningful time there in collaboration with their colleagues. We call this purposeful presence. 

 

As a science-based organization, NRDC aims to do our part to help contain the COVID-19 public health crisis. For the sake of health, safety, and equity, we ask that people be vaccinated unless they have an approved medical or religious accommodation or other exemption in accordance with state and local law. We consider a person to be vaccinated two weeks after receiving one full course of a CDC-approved vaccine. In accordance with state or local law, new hires will be asked to attest to vaccination, those wishing to do so may request medical or religious accommodations or other exemptions via NRDC Employee Relations. NRDC treats all vaccine-related data confidentially, in keeping with local, state, and federal laws. 

 

If you experience technical problems while applying or if you are a person with a disability and need assistance applying online, please reach out to iCIMS Customer Care at 1-800-889-4422. 

 

For more about NRDC, visit www.nrdc.org.