CONFERENCES & WEBINARS

CLIMATE ACADEMY: Advancing New Jersey’s Climate Goals with Transportation Infrastructure Investments

The transportation sector is responsible for roughly a third of the U.S.’s carbon dioxide pollution, with about 80 percent coming from cars and trucks on the nation’s roadways. With its authorization of $1 trillion over five years, the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) represents a historic investment in the country’s transportation systems and infrastructure. Those investments have the potential to contribute significantly to the nation’s efforts to achieve major reductions in the emissions and pollution that contribute to climate change.

Join us for this virtual Climate Academy to learn how different scenarios of federal transportation investments may contribute to New Jersey’s efforts to achieve its statewide 2030 and 2050 greenhouse gas emissions limits.

Meet Our Speakers

PRESENTATION
James Bradbury is the Mitigation Program Director for the Georgetown Climate Center. He oversees the Climate Center’s work on reducing emissions from all sectors. This includes the Climate Center’s work on the power sector, supporting state leadership and also coordinated engagement with the federal government through facilitation, convening, and analysis. James also manages the Transportation and Climate Initiative, a collaboration among 12 northeast and mid-Atlantic states and the District of Columbia to reduce emissions from the transportation sector. James has over 12 years of experience working with a broad range of stakeholders to help advance climate and clean energy policies at the federal and state levels. Prior to joining the Climate Center, he served as a Senior Policy Advisor for Climate, Environment and Efficiency in the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Policy and Systems Analysis. Previously, James worked as a Senior Associate in the Climate and Energy Program at the World Resources Institute and as a Senior Legislative Assistant in the U.S. House of Representatives. James holds a PhD in Geosciences from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, a MS in Hydrology from the University of New Hampshire, and a BA in Geology from Colorado College.

RESPONSE PANEL
Jon Carnegie, AICP/PP, is Executive Director of the Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, and an adjunct member of the faculty at the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers. Jon has more than 30 years of experience in the fields of land use and transportation planning and policy at the municipal, county, and regional levels. He has been or currently serves as the principal investigator for a variety of research and planning projects involving a range of transportation policy topics. His experience includes managing research projects involving transit-oriented development; the relationship between land use and transportation; long-range vision planning; transportation capital finance; transportation equity; driver’s licensing; workforce transportation options for low-income individuals and persons with disabilities; senior mobility; as well as transport security, emergency management, and evacuation planning.

Zoe Baldwin is New Jersey Director of the Regional Plan Association (RPA), where she works to advance programs that facilitate equitable, vibrant, and resilient communities through sustainable infrastructure and development. Zoe draws on her considerable experience in public policy and community engagement to build diverse support for policies that promote a stronger, more connected region. Zoe works to implement key components of RPA’s Fourth Regional Plan – a blueprint for the region’s growth, sustainability, good governance, and economic opportunity for the next 25 years. This includes building support for the Gateway Tunnel project and more NJ Transit funding, diversifying and expanding affordable housing through legalization of accessory dwelling units, and advancing policies that support climate change adaptation and clean energy.

Alex Ambrose, Policy Analyst at New Jersey Policy Perspective (NJPP), researches policies with a focus on climate justice and transportation. Prior to NJPP, Alex served as Policy Associate at the Association of NJ Environmental Commissions and Policy Assistant at New Jersey League of Conservation Voters. In those roles, she worked on policy and legislation to protect clean water, preserve open space, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions with an emphasis on equity. Most recently, she worked to pass plastic pollution legislation, including the statewide single-use bag ban. Alex currently serves as Chair of the Clinton Township Environmental Commission and is pursuing a Master in Public Administration at Rutgers University. She received a Bachelor of Science in Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources from Rutgers University with a minor in Environmental Geomatics.