“People around the world aspire for a better life, and inexpensive energy is key to the growth that unlocks it…The reality is that, in many places and settings, the fossil fuels that cause climate change are cheaper than the alternatives—putting the goals of managing climate change and growth in conflict. The Institute’s aim is to find ways to balance these two goals, recognizing that both are critical to our well-being.”

“The only way we’re going to get people to move from a world based on an energy system that consists of fossil fuels to one that’s built on clean energy and the promise of that is to have sustainable growth models. That’s why this institute is such an important contribution to the analysis of how we build strong economies while we’re decarbonizing the global economy.”

“You have to have a broad set of experience to go out and do this [work in climate and energy] because there are too many people who think this is easy. There’s one thing the University of Chicago certainly does is expose students to a broad set [of experiences] so that they understand that life is about learning throughout your whole lifetime.”

“One thing I know coming from a state like North Dakota that is conservative and really has not been that concerned about the climate issue, they’re much more concerned about economics, they’re much more concerned about affordability. To recognize in this institute that it has to balance those two interests and you have to respond to those two questions I think puts the University of Chicago in a very unique position.”