Benjamin Leffel

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Assistant Professor of Public Policy

Expertise: Sustainability, Climate change, Corporations, Cities, Global governance, Diplomacy

Biography

Ben Leffel, an assistant professor in the School of Public Policy and Leadership, is an expert on sustainability governance by cities, states, and corporations globally.

Prior to joining ��ӽ紫ý, Leffel served as a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Michigan’s Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise and a lecturer at the University of California, Merced. His published work focuses on world cities fighting climate change, including the role of private climate consulting and city membership in transnational environmental networks, global urban pollution abatement, and climate finance allocation to local governments.

Leffel has published op-eds in the Harvard Business Review, The Hill and the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, and has served as a climate action advisor to the City of Irvine, California.

Education

Ph.D., UC Irvine

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environment, sustainability

Benjamin Leffel In The News

Reno and Las Vegas have again topped the list of the nation’s fastest-warming cities, according to an annual Earth Day analysis of temperatures since 1970. Climate Central, an independent nonprofit made up of scientists, says the average annual temperatures of Reno and Las Vegas have risen 7.9 and 6 degrees, respectively, during that period. It’s a challenge as those cities work to prevent heat-related deaths by increasing tree canopy, shade in public spaces and designated cooling centers.

Nashville Scene

For a project billing itself as “express public transportation,” little about The Boring Company’s proposed Music City Loop follows the traditional playbook. State officials, including Gov. Bill Lee, have promoted the tunneling project as fast, privately financed and built without taxpayer dollars. Critics argue that the framing may be misleading and question whether the proposed Loop project functions as public transit at all.

The Cool Down

An image showing dozens of private jets clustered at a Las Vegas airport was shared in the r/vegaslocals subreddit recently, quickly catching attention as users tried to make sense of the sudden surge in luxury air traffic. The post asked, "Why so many private jets? What's going on in the city?" Commenters agreed that a crowd of private jets could mean a major conference, high-profile sporting event, or entertainment event was drawing wealthy visitors into town.

The Cool Down

Regulators have hit Elon Musk's The Boring Company with fines for almost 800 different environmental violations they said have taken place as part of the company's Las Vegas tunneling project, ProPublica reported.