For MBA and MPA students interested in pursuing a career in energy efficiency, management or environmental sustainability, the Environmental Defense Fund’s (EDF) Climate Corps Fellows Program is an excellent way to jump start your career. Recently included in our Top 10 Summer Fellowships of 2013, the EDF Climate Corps Fellowship trains and places MBA and MPA students in leading companies, cities and universities to build business cases for energy efficiency. Since 2008, three hundred Climate Corps Fellows have developed case studies for dozens of high growth companies, including adidas, Bloomberg and Facebook, and have identified more than $1.2 billion in net operational cost savings while cutting 1.7 billion kilowatt hours of electricity use. The full list of companies and case studies is available here.
As impressive as the environmental gains identified by Fellows are the career paths of the Fellows. A recent article published by EDF Climate Corps titled EDF Climate Corps Fellow Today, Director of Sustainability Tomorrow provides a window into these careers. After their fellowships, some Fellows have gone on to forge careers at the companies where they performed their fellowships; others now work at leading startups, non-profits, local and state governments, and even the White House. For example, Emily Applegate (2011, Gaylord Entertainment) is now the Director of Sustainability at Energy Source Partners; Elizabeth Turnbull (2010, adidas Group) is now Sr. Manager of Environmental Affairs at adidas Group; Tom Fisher (2010, Staples) is now a Sustainability Analyst at Salesforce.com; and Anne Marie Pippin (2010, Bank of America) is now a Climate Change Adaptation Analyst at the White House Council on Environmental Quality.
The organizations that host EDF Climate Corps Fellows also reap the benefits of this program:
“Our fellow had the ability to introduce us to some of the tools available to us that we weren’t aware of – tools that help us think about how we go about our work, how we think about energy and reducing energy usage for our restaurants.”
– Jerry Sus, Senior Director of Development & Strategic Technology, McDonald’s
Applications for the 2013 EDF Climate Corps Fellowship are currently open. The program is 10-12 weeks in length. Fellows receive a minimum salary of $1,250 per week and $2,500 for travel expenses. The application deadline for the 2013 summer fellowship is January 11, 2013. Click here to apply.