Opportunity & Mission
A third of the 2,000 largest publicly traded companies globally have committed to net-zero targets in their corporate strategies, most by 2050; another ten percent have pledged to do so. Despite these ambitious targets, companies cite the lack of reliable, data-driven information on the present and future of affordable low-carbon technologies, business climate transition models, and successful examples of the implementation of different technologies or in different industries, including high-quality nature-based solutions, as the greatest single challenge to transitioning to net zero. The Climate Knowledge Initiative's mission is to fill this gap.
The Climate Knowledge Initiative is led by faculty director Gernot Wagner.
Climate Knowledge Initiative (CKI) Fellows
About CKI Fellows
CKI Fellows are an integral part to making CKI a success. We are seeking MBA students, graduate, and undergraduate students from across Columbia University to play a pivotal role in helping research decarbonization pathways across various industries, translate detailed, technical reports into digestible articles, slide decks, and business school case studies, and generally tell the kind of decarbonization success stories that help spur action.
This means helping produce high-level summaries of the size of the challenge — read: opportunity — sector by sector, technology by technology, and in both tons of CO2 and in dollars. It means helping to 'pick' winners ripe for investments to hasten the clean transition, as much as unapologetically pointing out where business and public interests diverge, and how to align them.
We seek CKI Fellows interested in working for ten hours a week during the fall or spring terms, as well as 6-10 weeks full-time (35 hours a week) over the summer. Pay rates are linked to Columbia University's standard hourly rates for masters and undergraduate students.
Please Note: As of March 2025, applications are being reviewed for the summer 2025 hiring cycle. Offers will be made by the end of April.
Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. If you have any questions, please reach out to Lauren Westley: [email protected].