Kate Zerrenner, one of the panelists for “Shaping the Future of Sustainable Production” at the 29th Annual Governor’s Awards, is a Climate and Energy Project Manager with the Environmental Defense Fund’s US Climate and Energy Program and is based in their Texas Regional Office. She helps develop and implement strategies to promote energy and water efficiency and climate change solutions in Texas and leads EDF’s multi-year campaign to influence and enact state and national energy and water efficiency policy, including breaking down financial, regulatory and behavioral barriers. She also directs regional efforts to improve options for clean energy choices that create jobs, reduce climate change impacts, water intensity and air pollution. Her expertise includes a sound understanding of technologies and policies affecting traditional energy generation, energy efficiency business models, and the energy-water nexus.
She designs and implements non-regulatory, legislative and policy strategies to increase energy and water efficiency (business models, technological, and financing options) and clean energy options to reduce climate change pollution and water intensity and encourage clean and sustainable energy choices. She collaborates with key stakeholders and legislative sponsors on passage of clean energy and energy-water legislation, including drafting legislative language and providing oral and written testimony.
Kate participates in the Energy Efficiency Implementation Project at the PUC of Texas, submitting written comments and providing input to rulemaking and utility efficiency program design. She serves on the City of Austin Integrated Water Resource Planning Community Task Force and the Advisory Board of the Smart Cities Council.
Prior to joining EDF, Kate worked at the U.S. Government Accountability Office analyzing U.S. action on climate change and the voluntary carbon offset market; SAIC, on climate change projects for the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; and U.S. Department of Energy on the Energy Policy Act of 2005. She has also worked for the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission and the U.S. Commission on National Security/21st Century (Hart-Rudman Commission) at the U.S. Department of Defense.
She holds a Master’s degree in International Energy and Environmental Policy and Economics from the Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies, a Master’s in Comparative Politics from the University of Glasgow in Scotland, and a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas.