2023 Climate Policy Internships

Guest post by Charles Yang · updated Mar 15, 2023

ClimateTechList focuses on jobs for software engineers. However, public policy is a huge part of addressing the climate crisis.

Our friend Charles Yang [LinkedIn][personal website] compiled a list of climate policy internships here.

We've copied it here (with Charles' permission) for your convenience. And now, a guest post from Charles:

The roles listed here are not endorsements, please do your own research! But I do have some experience with most of the places listed here.

Feel free to reach out if you have any questions on Twitter (while it still works), Mastodon, or email (or if you would like your opportunity to be added to the list!).

Summer 2023

The Ad Hoc Group Summer Policy Associate Intern

Organization:
Pay: paid, $21,000 for 12 weeks
Location: remote, or SF, DC, Chicago, NYC, Denver,
Duration:
Responsibilities:
Background: actively pursuing masters or 3 years work experience

Rocky Mountain Institute Summer Internships (Multiple Roles)

Organization: research non-profit that provides excellent technical resources and advocacy for decarbonization, covering a broad swathe of sectors
Pay: paid
Location: remote or in-person (DC, NYC, Oakland CA, Boulder CO)
Duration:
Responsibilities: topic areas for internships include carbon-free electricity, carbon-free buildings, carbon-free mobility, climate intelligence, climate finance, climate-aligned industry, India, urban transformation, US federal govt relations -

White House Council on Environmental Quality (WH CEQ) Internship

Organization: one of the primary coordinating bodies within the white house for the environment, particularly with regards to environmental permitting
Pay: paid, part-time or full-time up to 35 hours a week
Location: Washington DC
Duration: Spring, Fall, or Summer
Deadline for summer is last friday of february
Application: Two references, zero drug use policy, writing sample

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Summer Internship

Organization: FERC is located within the Department of Energy and is responsible for regulating interstate electricity and natural gas markets. They play a pivotal role in designing the future of energy regulation and our national power grid
Location: Washington DC
Pay:

Environmental and Energy Studies Institute Policy Internship

Organization: (I don’t know too much about them, just have a lot of mutual follows on twitter)
Pay: $16.10/hour
Duration: 26-30 hours a week. Spring, Summer, and Fall internships offered
Location: Remote or Washington DC
Responsibilities: write articles, contribute to the newsletter, cover congressional hearings and assist in research

Atlas Public Policy Internship

Organization: (I don’t know too much about them, just have some mutual follows on twitter)
Pay: $25/hour
Duration:
Location: Washington DC
Application Deadline: December 31, 2022
Responsibilities:
Background: actively pursuing masters OR 1-2 years of experience with a bachelors (though undergrads can always try to apply!)

Department of Energy (Zintellect)

Zintellect is an application portal for many US government agency internships, including the Department of Energy. If you select “Department of Energy” as “Organization” and filter by “Date Posted” in descending order, you’ll see most of the summer internships DOE offers (as well as post-grad fellowships). I’d highly recommend the ARPA-E Tech-to-Market fellowship (mostly MBA’s/grad students, but also some undergrads) and the Technology Commercialization Internship. The DOE Scholars is a general application for summer interns that’s also a good funnel to apply into.
Requires 2 letters of recommendation, but you can use the same recommenders across programs

Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA)

Organization: the primary lobbyist group for solar
Pay: $18/hour
Duration: Summer 2023, 20-30 hours a week
Location: Washington DC
Responsibilities: they have a congressional affairs intern and a state and regulatory affairs intern (among others). It looks like the website hasn’t been updated for 2023 though

Kairos Power Regulatory Affairs Intern (and others)

Organization: nuclear power startup
Pay: Paid
Duration:
Location: Charlotte, North Carolina
Other roles: Licensing Engineer Intern, Accounting Intern, Communications Intern, Commercial Development Intern, Environmental Intern, Computational Mechanics Intern,

Seamless Bay Area Transportation Policy and Advocacy Intern

Organization: non-profit advocating for public transit in the san francisco bay area
Pay: $25/hour
Duration: march to september, 20 hours a week

ACORE Policy Intern

Organization: American Council on Renewable Energy is a non-profit industry advocacy group
Location: washington DC or remote
Pay: $18/hour
Duration: summer

Advanced Energy United Policy Intern - Energy Market Reform

Organization: advanced energy united is a non-profit industry advocacy group
Location: remote
Pay: $18/hour
Duration: summer

New America Housing and Climate Intern

Organization: non-profit
Location: Washington DC
Pay: $18/hour
Duration: May to August
Requirements: “A recent or a current graduate student in a field relevant to FLH’s areas of interest, including, but not limited to, Public Policy, Urban / Regional Planning, Environmental Science, Political Science, or Environmental Law.”

Environmental Law Institute Research & Publications Internship

Organization: non-profit
Location: Washington DC
Pay: $16.10/hour
Duration: at least 10 weeks, 15hours/week
Requirements: completed first year of college

Energy Efficiency Internship at CPower

Organization: startup
Location: remote
Pay:
Duration: June 5-August 11
Requirements: rising junior or senior in college

Boundary Stone Internships

Roles: Industrial Decarbonization, Legislative, Solar Practice, Communications, Transportation Policy
Organization:
Location: Washington DC
Pay: $20/hour + transportation benefits
Duration:
Requirements: