Senior Climate Policy Analyst

Anne serves as CSPW’s Senior Climate Policy Analyst. She has 30 years of experience in public policy relating to energy and the environment, with a strong focus on climate change and renewable energy. Anne has served as an independent consultant and held management positions in private industry, not-for-profit organizations, and the US Congress. For much of the 1990s, Anne directed the Policy and Governmental Affairs arm of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) where she advocated and supported federal and state energy policies favorable to renewable energy. Before moving to SEIA, she staffed the US House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space and Technology where she facilitated development and passage into law of the Global Change Research Act of 1990, the Oil Pollution Act, and amendments to the Clean Air Act. Polansky Consulting, established in 1998, has provided a variety of services to clients including the Organization for Tropical Studies, the International Energy Administration, the Rocky Mountain Institute, Environ International Corporation, the Renewable Energy Policy Project, and the Center for Resource Solutions. She holds a Master of Science degree in Environmental Chemistry from Clemson University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Science and Engineering from Vanderbilt University.

Anne met Rick Piltz in 1991 when he worked at the House Science Committee. Rick took over for Anne on covering climate issues and staffed several oversight hearings of the US Global Change Research Program, the entity created by the GCRA. Their overlap in the House was short but they stayed in touch. A few months after Rick blew the whistle, Anne offered to help Climate Science Watch get off the ground and was soon brought on full-time. From 2006-2009 Anne contributed over one hundred CSW blog posts offering unique perspectives on a wide variety of topics, and teamed with Rick to design and develop the elements of a National Climate Change Preparedness Initiative (NCCPI) – recognizing the urgent need for US and State leaders to recognize and prepare for the full array of climate change impacts, both predicted and occurring, in every sector of our economy and in every region of the country. After Anne left CSW, Rick continued the effort of getting “climate preparedness” on the radar of the US Congress and the White House. We believe that President Obama’s 2013 Executive Order creating a White House Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience, and the incorporation of climate preparedness language into the President’s Climate Action Plan, was at least partly inspired by this important work.

[email protected]
(202) 926-3305