The World Resources Institute and University of Chicago received a combined $100 million donation Wednesday to accelerate the global clean energy transition.
The global nonprofit was given $75 million to help communities overcome barriers to scaling clean, affordable and reliable power systems, while the university was given $25 million to train the next generation of clean energy leaders.
The donations, endowed by Chicago-based philanthropists Michael and Tanya Polsky, come as President Donald Trump has sent the United States’ clean energy transition into a tailspin. Less than a month after entering office, he has already frozen billions of dollars in energy and environmental grants, loans and other spending.
But Michael Polsky, an engineer by training and self-described serial entrepreneur, does not believe his donations are necessarily at odds with the newly elected president’s energy goals.
“What President Trump tried to accomplish is to provide abundant, affordable energy urgently,” said Polsky, referring to Trump’s declaration of a national energy emergency on his first day in office.
“We want to provide something affordable and plentiful as soon as possible. We are not disagreeing at all on what we are trying to accomplish here,” continued Polsky, though Trump has largely acted in favor of fossil fuels and quashed renewable energy projects.
Polsky is the founder and CEO of Invenergy, North America’s largest privately held renewable power company, but he began his career in the fossil fuel industry.
“My journey is America’s energy journey,” said the Ukrainian immigrant who came to the United States in the late 1970s to work on a nuclear energy project before exploring coal, oil and natural gas.
Ultimately, he said technological innovation, not any political or moral conviction, led him to invest in wind, solar and battery storage. Wind and solar energy are becoming cheaper and produced more of the United States’ power last year than coal, according to the Rhodium Group.
Polsky told the Tribune he could not imagine a more opportune time for a major investment in clean energy, citing how the country’s power demand is increasing for the first time in decades, a trend largely caused by the rapid expansion of data centers.
He’s one of the World Resource Institute’s longest-serving board members and his $75 million donation was the organization’s largest energy-focused donation to date. The resulting Polsky Center for the Global Energy Transition will begin addressing barriers to clean energy adoption and scalability in the United States and India, another country where energy demand is growing rapidly.
“Our hope in (the United States and India) is to figure out that particular solution that is kind of a tipping point solution, that would not happen without support. We will then provide in-depth technical support,” said Ani Dasgupta, president and CEO of the World Resources Institute.
Projects are expected to span critical mineral acquisition, electric grid modernization, project siting and financing and workforce development.
Eventually, Dasgupta aspires to offer similarly customized technical support around the world, and the Polsky Energy Transition Leadership Academy at the University of Chicago has been designed to develop the next generation of people who can do that.
The academy will be housed in the U. of C.’s Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth, which launched in October. The Booth School of Business, from which Polsky received his graduate degree, will also be a key partner. Polsky previously endowed the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and sits on the university’s board.
With the support of the academy, beginning in September, undergraduate students studying at the climate and sustainable growth institute will travel to places grappling with the energy transition in diverse ways, from a power-poor village in rural India to an energy boomtown in west Texas.
“The September term course is a cornerstone of the curriculum that will challenge students to hold multiple competing perspectives at once,” said Michael Greenstone, faculty director.
From there, Polsky is hopeful these students will continue the work the World Resources Institute is about to launch.
“What I felt is important is not just to have ideas but to train people who can effectuate and participate and lead these transitions,” he said.
