This summer, five students will pursue prestigious climate-related internships with support from the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth’s internship program. The program, supported by the Polsky Energy Transition Leadership Academy, provides stipends to students who have secured external, unpaid positions in the climate and energy fields.
This year’s interns have departed Hyde Park classrooms for offices in New York, Beijing, Geneva and California, where they’ll dive into the fields of sustainable development, finance, policy and law. Working with leading public and private organizations, the interns will develop real-world experience and build valuable connections for their future careers in climate and sustainable growth.
Read more about the 2025 cohort below.
Xinyuan Bao
United Nations Environment Programme– International Ecosystem Management Partnership
Xinyuan Bao is a Master of Public Policy candidate at the Harris School of Public Policy. Her interests focus on climate adaptation, sustainable development, and international environmental cooperation. This summer, Bao is interning with the UNEP-International Ecosystem Management Partnership in Beijing, supporting research on ecosystem-based climate adaptation and South-South cooperation. Her work contributes to climate vulnerability assessments, policy analysis, and technical reporting aimed at enhancing equitable adaptation strategies in developing regions.
Caroline Denniston
United Nations Environment Programme
Caroline Denniston is pursuing her Master of Public Policy degree at the Harris School. She specializes in environmental policy and sustainable development. She is currently serving as a Program Resources and Oversight Unit Intern at the United Nations Environment Programme in Geneva, Switzerland. She is supporting the Basel Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions Secretariat which works to protect human health and the environment from the harmful effects of hazardous chemicals and waste. In this role, she supports the 2025 Conferences of the Parties, researches funding opportunities for pollution and chemicals management, contributes to project proposals, and helps strengthen oversight tools to enhance the effectiveness of environmental programs.
Tony Jiang
Silver Leaf Partners
Tony Jiang is a Master of Public Policy candidate at the Harris School of Public Policy, specializing in finance and energy policy. He also serves as a teaching and research assistant at the Booth School of Business. This summer, Jiang is interning at Silver Leaf Partners in New York as part of their Sustainable Finance Practice. He is supporting market research and client engagement on capital-raising strategies for emerging climate solutions, with a focus on carbon markets and ESG investing.
Adrianne Kehne
California Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General, Natural Resources Section
Adrianne Kehne is a rising 2L at the Law School. This summer, she is interning at the California Department of Justice’s Natural Resources Section. The Natural Resources Section enforces and defends environmental regulations. As an intern, Kehne will research state and federal laws in areas such as water quality, air quality, and wildfire prevention and recovery to support the Section’s environmental litigation.
Stephanie (Nan Xi) Zhao
United Nations, Division of Sustainable Development Goals, Department of Economic and Social Affairs
Stephanie Zhao is a second-year Master of Public Policy candidate at the Harris School of Public Policy. She previously worked as an investment banking analyst in the Industrials group at Bank of America Securities in Hong Kong. She holds a B.A. in Economics and Finance, with a minor in Anthropology, from Washington University in St. Louis. Zhao is currently interning in the Natural Resources and Interlinkages Branch of the Division for Sustainable Development Goals (DSDG) at the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) in New York. In this role, she supports the implementation of outcomes from the 3rd UN Ocean Conference held in Nice, France in June 2025. Her work includes conducting policy research, drafting briefing materials, and assisting with stakeholder engagement and virtual event coordination to advance the 2030 Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals.