
Stanford Energy Seminar: Kristina Costa | 28 Months Later: Inside the Sprint to Implement the Inflation Reduction Act
February 13 @ 12:30 am - 1:20 am
The Stanford Energy Seminar has been a mainstay of energy engagement at Stanford for nearly 20 years and is one of the flagship programs of the Precourt Institute for Energy. We aim to bring a wide variety of perspectives to the Stanford community – academics, entrepreneurs, utilities, non-profits, and more.
Abstract: The legislative history of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the most significant climate and clean energy legislation in U.S. history, has been widely covered by the political press. Since President Biden signed the bill into law—and particularly since Donald Trump won re-election in November—reporters have continued to focus on the politics of the IRA—Is it popular? Is it vulnerable to repeal? Are Republicans coming around to support it after all? Less well understood is what it takes to turn an ambitious but flawed piece of legislation into action. What do you do first, second, third? How much certainty do businesses need to invest? Where should federal grant dollars go? What happens when a major bill still doesn’t do enough? And, critically, what happens now? This talk will take attendees inside the nuts and bolts of implementation, highlight what the law has already accomplish and is poised to achieve in the years to come, and discuss areas where, despite its massive ambition, the Inflation Reduction Act’s programs and incentives may still fall short in spurring a clean energy economy of sufficient scope and scale to address climate change.
Speaker bio: Kristina Costa served until January 2025 as Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of Clean Energy Innovation and Implementation in the Biden White House, where she was responsible for managing the successful implementation of the clean energy and climate provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act. Costa managed a lean White House team and an interagency process that saw guidance issued on 23 of 24 clean energy tax provisions, obligated more than $98 billion in federal grants, and spurred more than $450 billion in private-sector clean energy investment. Prior to her White House role, Costa was senior advisor and speechwriter to Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman. She also served in the Obama White House, on the 2016 Hillary Clinton campaign, and in the United States Senate, and has worked at the Center for American Progress and Fenway Strategies. Costa is a graduate of Wellesley College and the McCourt School for Public Policy at Georgetown University, where she was a McCourt Scholar.
Anyone with an interest in energy is welcome to join one seminar or all of them! You can enjoy seminars in the following ways:
Attend live. The auditorium may change quarter by quarter, so check each seminar event to confirm the location. Explore the current quarter’s schedule.Watch live in a browser livestream if available. Check each seminar event for its unique livestream URL.Watch recordings of past seminars Available on the Past Energy Seminars page and the Energy Seminars playlist of the Stanford Energy YouTube channel(For students) Take the seminar as a 1-unit class (CEE 301/ENERGY 301/MS&E 494)If you’d like to join the Stanford Energy Seminar mailing list to hear about upcoming talks, sign up here and select the Energy Seminar checkbox.