Providing society with affordable and reliable energy, while limiting its negative social and environmental impacts, is one of the great global challenges of the 21st century. The Harris Energy and Environmental Policy Specialization is designed to provide students with the background, concepts, and tools necessary to understand and address pressing energy and environmental policy problems.

Students who complete this specialization will be able to:

  • Understand the scientific, economic, political, and regulatory forces that govern the production and consumption of both fossil and non-fossil fuel energy resources
  • Articulate when private markets and private property are likely or unlikely to safeguard environmental quality on their own
  • Analyze the efficacy and trade-offs of environmental policies such as pollution taxation, emissions standards, renewable subsidies and portfolio standards, technology standards, innovation subsidies, emission permit markets, conservation programs, and behavioral interventions.

The specialization's menu of electives is designed to allow students to explore the multiple disciplines and fields that speak to the global energy and environmental challenge, such as industrial organization and regulation, environmental science, international development, public finance, political economy, behavioral science, and program evaluation. In addition, we encourage students pursuing this specialization to participate in events sponsored by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC) and the student organization, Harris Energy and Environmental Association (HEEA) that bring industry and government practitioners to campus.

Harris specializations function as areas of focus within the degree. Specializations assume knowledge of the 6-course Harris Core and build upon that foundation with coursework in specific policy areas or technical skills.

Application Process

The specialization is open to Harris Public Policy graduate students only. Please indicate your intent to pursue this specialization using the Harris Specialization Declaration Form.

For specialization registration questions, please reach out to harrisregistration@uchicago.edu.

Planning for the Specialization

For information on which quarter(s) each course will be offered see the Harris Courses page and filter by specialization.

Specialization Requirements

The specialization requires completion of at least two courses from the “Required courses” list, along with two additional courses that come from either the “Required courses” list or the “Elective courses” list (four courses total). Students must achieve at least a B- grade in each course.  No course may be taken on a pass/fail basis, with the exception of PPHA: 39519 Energy Law and Policy. The courses do not need to be taken in a particular order. 

Required courses

Students must complete two of the following courses:

  • PPHA 38900: Environmental Science and Policy
  • PPHA 39925: Energy Policy and Human Behavior
  • PPHA 39930: International Climate Policy
  • PPHA 41210: Science and Technology for Future Policy Wonks
  • Not offered in 24-25
    • PPHA 36930: Environmental Economics: Theory and Applications

Elective courses

In addition to courses from the core list above, students must complete enough of the below courses in order to complete four total courses in the specialization:

  • PPHA 32750 Hydropolitics: Water Policy and Conflict
  • PPHA 33510 Nuclear Policy 
  • PPHA 34600 Program Evaluation (Energy and Environment Applications) 
  • PPHA 36150 Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) and Impact Investing
  • PPHA 36160 Sustainability Principles, ESG Risk, and Value Creation in Organizations
  • PPHA 36925 Utilities and Electricity Markets: Regulation in the United States
  • PPHA 36935 The Intended and Unintended Market Implications of Environmental Regulations (must submit substitution form)
  • PPHA 38870 Sustainable Development in the Digital Age (must submit substitution form)
  • PPHA 60000 Policy Lab (with permission of the Specialization Director)
  • BUSN 33320 Financing the Grid: Valuing Transmission & Storage Capacity (must submit substitution form)
  • BUSN 42129 The Political Economy of Climate Change (must submit substitution form)
  • ENSC 24400 / BIOS 20196 Ecology and Conservation
  • GEOS 24705 / ENSC 21100 Energy: Science, Technology, and Human Usage
  • GEOS 13300 / ENSC 13300 The Atmosphere
  • LAWS 43282 Energy Law
  • LAWS 46001 Environmental Law: Air, Water, and Animals
  • LAWS 53297 / PPHA 39518 Law and the Economics of Natural Resources Markets
  • SSAD 69400 Climate Change and Human Mobility

Specialization Contact

Ryan Kellogg, Specialization Director

Ryan Kellogg photo

Ralph and Mary Otis Isham Professor, and Deputy Dean

Ryan Kellogg

Ryan Kellogg's research bridges industrial organization, energy economics, and environmental policy, focusing on the economics of energy supply and energy supply transition.