Deputy Director for Energy Sally Benson Discusses a Transformational Climate Decade

Dr. Sally Benson, Deputy Director for Energy, OSTP spoke with the Scott Institute this September as part of the 2022-2023 Distinguished Lecture series. For the past 25 years, Benson has focused on deep decarbonization on the global scale. Benson led an engaging conversation with the moderators, Director of the Scott Institute Jay Whitacre and Energy Fellow Valerie Karplus, detailing innovations in climate action through policy and technology.

Benson discussed emerging and future technologies, commercialization and how policies around these advances and climate goals will accelerate progress towards lower emissions and net-zero targets. From building out infrastructure to support clean energy sources, to tax benefits, the current focus of legislation is to propel clean energy and boost economic impact of nuclear energy and other sources.  “For the first time we have comprehensive legislation that will accelerate emissions reductions across every sector of the economy,” Benson said about the CHIPS and Science Act that focuses heavily on clean energy and supporting innovations in the energy system.

Encouraging researchers and audience members, Benson described the importance of interdisciplinary and creative approaches to contribute to net-zero goals, from artificial intelligence to new materials to integrating different types of energy sources. “I think it would be wonderful if we could turn that corner and start having many spin-offs and benefits of all that we’ve learned from a fundamental molecular level to start thinking about reimagining industry, reimagining how we source everything that humans use,” expressing the complex and exciting opportunities that the energy sector and its diverse domains pose for all of us.

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An internationally-recognized energy expert, Dr. Sally Benson currently serves as Deputy Director for Energy & Chief Strategist for the Energy Transition at OSTP. Trained as an earth scientist and engineer, she has researched a wide variety of topics related to energy and the environment. For the past 25 years, she has focused on deep decarbonization of the global energy system. She comes to OSTP from Stanford University where she is the Precourt Family Professor of Energy Resources Engineering, in the School of Earth, Energy and Environmental Sciences. During her time at Stanford, she was also the Director of the Global Climate and Energy Project, a research program focused on discovering and developing new technologies for reducing carbon dioxide emissions from the energy system. 

Prior to joining Stanford University, she was at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where she held many positions, including Earth Sciences Division Director, Associate Laboratory Director for Energy Sciences, and Deputy Director for Operations. She has been a coordinating lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and a member of several National Academies of Sciences studies related to energy and the environment, most recently the study on Negative Emissions Technologies and Reliable Sequestration.