JULY 20-22, 2026 · Chicago, Illinois

UChicago at Aspen Ideas: Climate 2026

The Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth serves as the official academic thought partner for Aspen Ideas: Climate.

The Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth returned as the official academic thought partner for Aspen Ideas: Climate (AIC) for its second year, taking place in Chicago on July 20-22, 2026.

The collaboration involved key elements of Aspen Ideas: Climate Chicago’s programming, integrating the University of Chicago’s global expertise and cutting-edge research into the agenda. Together, we co-curated sessions on critical topics such as electricity markets, geoengineering, and battery technologies, among others.

About Aspen Ideas: Climate

Aspen Ideas: Climate is designed to offer the public a chance to interact, learn, and collaborate with thinkers and do-ers whose actions are critical to addressing our collective future around the realities of a changing climate. This event will assemble global, regional, and local policy makers, scientists, business and NGO leaders, energy experts, artists, young leaders, members of the public, and others for dialogues aimed at educating, inspiring, and provoking action to combat climate change and adapt to a changing planet.

 

UChicago at Aspen Ideas: Climate

Video·Jul 24, 2026

Aspen Ideas: Climate 2026: Opening General Assembly

Institute Founding Faculty Director Michael Greenstone gives introductory remarks at Aspen Ideas: Climate 2026 Opening General Assembly.
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Video·Aug 3, 2026

Power Sector 101

Elisabeth Moyer explores the US power grid and transforming it to reach our climate goals.
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EPIC Video·Aug 3, 2026

Climate Impacts 101

EPIC scholar Amir Jina explores how to prepare and adapt to a more turbulent climate.
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ETI Video·Aug 3, 2026

Energy Storage 101

Learn about the state of the field, the benefits of new battery chemistries, and how the next generation of batteries could catalyze decarbonization from ETI scholar Chibueze Amanchukwu.
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ETI Video·Jul 30, 2026

The Battery Boom: Rewriting the Rules of the Grid

As the US pushes to build a domestic battery supply chain, do we have what it takes to compete? ETI Scholar Chibueze Amanchukwu explores.
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Video·Jul 30, 2026

Building Clean Power at Community Scale

Institute Managing Director of Policy and Strategic Engagement Kristina Costa explores building clean power at community scale.
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CSEI Video·Jul 30, 2026

Ground Rules for Geoengineering

CSEi Founding Faculty Director David Keith explores the ethical intricacies of altering the Earth's atmosphere.
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EPIC Video·Jul 30, 2026

Lights On, Bills Low: Building the Grid We Need

Our Institute’s Founding Faculty Director Michael Greenstone explores balancing the tradeoffs of emissions and affordability when building the grid.
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Video·Aug 3, 2026

Community Approaches to Real Resilience

Colleen Grogan of UChicago's Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice explores community-led approaches to climate resilience.
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Video·Aug 5, 2026

Touch Grass

Zeenat Rahman of UChicago's Institute of Politics explores rebuilding our connection to nature amid climate disruption.
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Participants

Scholar

Chibueze Amanchukwu

Neubauer Family Assistant Professor of Molecular Engineering in the UChicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering

Sue Biniaz

Distinguished Fellow, 2025-2026, 2026-2027; Former Principal Deputy Special Envoy for Climate, United States

Kristina Costa

Managing Director, Policy & Strategic Engagement
Scholar

Michael Greenstone

Founding Director, Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth; Director, EPIC

Colleen Grogan

Deborah R. and Edgar D. Jannotta Professor, University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice
Scholar

Amir Jina

Assistant Professor, Harris School of Public Policy
Scholar

David Keith

Founding Faculty Director, Climate Systems Engineering initiative; Professor of Geophysical Science
Affiliated Scholar

Elisabeth Moyer

Associate Professor, Geophysical Sciences

Zeenat Rahman

Executive Director, University of Chicago Institute of Politics

Justin Worland

EPIC Journalism Fellow; Senior Correspondent, TIME; Founder, Future Proof

Grace Gu

College '29

“I think it’s been quite exciting and also a pretty valuable learning experience. It’s very encouraging to see so many people caring about climate, especially people from private corporations. I’ve learned a lot, and it’s certainly interesting to see how people from different fields and industries have overlapping concerns.”

Laura Bornhoevd

College '28

“This summer I’ve been working as a clean energy marketing and communications intern for R&D B2B Marketing, and seeing the topics that R&D’s clients are working on being discussed at Aspen Ideas has been really interesting. I’ve gotten to see up close how important the clean tech that these clients are developing is in the conversations that are happening here.”

Zoe Lipschultz

College '28

“It’s inspiring to see professionals across industries come together to promote environmental sustainability. The key ingredient to meet ambitious sustainability goals is the development and deployment of new technologies. It’s a great feeling to know that the work I’m doing in computational chemistry this summer is part of advancing these goals.”