The mission of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is to protect human health and the environment. To accomplish this mission, the EPA strives to develop and enforce regulations, provide grants, study environmental issues, sponsor partnerships, teach people about the environment, and publish information to keep the public informed.

Sanjay Seth is Chief of Staff & Senior Advisor for Climate and Equity for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 1, which is a 550-person unit of the EPA focused on the New England region. In this role, he supports the Regional Administrator to craft and implement policy, planning, operations, and personnel strategies across all programs, with a focus on climate change, environmental justice, and regional implementation of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act programs.

Show Notes:

[1:25] - Sanjay shares his background and his current role at the EPA. For him, climate work is incredibly exciting but also very challenging.
[4:12] - People who have done the least harm to our climate are experiencing the most grief about its decline.
[5:43] - How do we leverage private capital, promote energy and independence, lower costs, and help communities that have been left behind?
[6:47] - There are three components to the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. Sanjay explains how the funds are invested in the community.
[10:08] - How is the distribution structured so communities can access these grants and funds?
[13:46] - Sanjay shares some of the recent successes experienced at the EPA.
[17:37] - How does the EPA work with communities to have an impact?
[19:37] - Assisting with technology and increasing access to grants and subgrants are some of the efforts of the EPA.
[21:47] - Working in climate is living in the space between optimism and skepticism to try to figure out how we make lasting progress.
[23:59] - Sanjay discusses some of the challenges he’s seen occur that they have worked on finding solutions for.
[26:30] - There are always going to be challenges and barriers when doing impactful work.

Links and Resources:

• Environmental Protection Agency Website