Net Zero Communities

Professor Gillingham is an Associate Professor at Yale University and a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research. In 2015-2016, he served as the Senior Economist for Energy and the Environment at the White House Council of Economic Advisers. He is an energy and environmental economist drawing from the fields of applied microeconomics, behavioral economics, industrial organization, and integrated assessment modeling of climate change. He has published widely on consumer decisions and policy in transportation, energy efficiency, and renewable energy. His work has been published in top-tier journals across a range of fields, including economics, science, and management.
 
Prior to joining the Yale faculty, he worked at the California Air Resources Board, White House Council of Economic Advisers, Stanford Energy Modeling Forum, Resources for the Future, and Joint Global Change Research Institute of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.  He is also the recipient of a Fulbright Fellowship to New Zealand.  His Ph.D. is from Stanford University, where he studied management science & engineering and economics. Before beginning a career as an economist, he was a wilderness ranger in Wyoming and New Hampshire.

Drew Johnstone is a Senior Sustainability Analyst in the City of Santa Monica’s Office of Sustainability and the Environment and leads the Climate and Energy Team. He has 11 years of experience working with cities, businesses, schools, and homeowners on a variety of sustainability projects. In his current role, he focuses on Santa Monica’s green building and energy policies and programs including reach codes and procurement of renewables. Drew is also responsible for implementing actions in the City’s Climate Action & Adaptation Plan with a concentration on zero-carbon buildings.

Jillian Wilson Martin is the Sustainability Director for the Town of Natick, Massachusetts. She has worked on sustainability initiatives for the town since 2014. Jillian is responsible for managing the community’s climate mitigation and adaptation strategies and is in the process of finalizing a 2050 net zero action plan. Jillian leads the development of public renewable energy projects, the community’s electricity aggregation program, energy efficiency and electrification projects in public buildings, and a variety of waste reduction programs, including curbside composting. Prior to working in local government, Jillian spent 10+ years as a consultant to Fortune 500 companies and large nonprofits, specializing in corporate responsibility strategy and communications.