Basav Sen joined the Institute for Policy Studies as the Climate Justice Project Director in February 2017. His work focuses on climate solutions at the national, state, and local level that address racial, economic, gender and other forms of inequality.

Prior to joining IPS, Basav worked for about 11 years as a strategic corporate campaign researcher at the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW). He has also had experience as a campaigner on the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), and global finance and trade issues. As a member of a grassroots neighborhood-based environmental group, he has been involved in local struggles on energy justice in Washington DC.

Latest

Let’s Honor Rosa Parks by Continuing Her Struggle for Transit Equity

Barriers to public transit access make it harder for people, particularly people of color and the poor, to get to jobs and schools.

Democratic Leaders Failed Their First Big Test on Climate

Kicking the can down the road appears to be a bipartisan sport in Washington.

The Trump Administration’s War On Science Is Worse Than the Inquisition

The White House’s crude deflections on science aren’t simply ignorant — they’re calculated to serve the fossil fuel industry at the entire planet’s expense.

Institute for Policy Studies Statement in Support of Union Drive at Buffalo, NY Tesla Facility

There Can Be No Climate Justice Without Workers’ Rights

A Half-Degree Change in Temperature, a 180-Degree Change in Thinking?

Global temperatures are rising unmanageably quick, but a shift in public consciousness could lead to the climate policy changes we desperately need.

Killing for Coal (Literally)

Shocking as this sounds, the U.S. government is — by its own admission — willing to murder up to 1,600 Americans a year to enrich a few coal billionaires.

The Inequality Crisis Hiding Behind High Utility Bills

Low-income people and communities of color are disproportionately energy insecure. Here’s how energy efficiency policy can address the divide.

Report: Energy Efficiency with Justice

How State Energy Efficiency Policy Can Mitigate Climate Change, Create Jobs, and Address Racial and Economic Inequality

Want to Create Useful Jobs? Reduce Fossil Fuel Use

Energy efficiency creates more jobs than fossil fuels – and at a faster rate and lower cost.

Brett Kavanaugh Would Be A Disaster On Climate

When a literal reading of the law makes it harder to regulate corporations, judges like Kavanaugh stick to a literal reading. When it doesn’t, they get creative.

As we Celebrate ‘Independence,’ Remember That the U.S. Left Its Colony Puerto Rico to Die

The disastrous impacts of Hurricane Maria were made worse by inequalities of race, income and access to U.S. political power.

Trump Thinks Propping Up Failing Coal Is a ‘National Security’ Emergency

Renewable resources won’t threaten America’s electric grid.

Impeach Scott Pruitt for Dismantling the EPA, Not His First-Class Flights

The petty corruptions lawmakers grilled Pruitt for pale in comparison to his actual policy record at the EPA.

A New Poor People’s Campaign Is Rising — And It Puts Climate Front and Center

Only a system premised on extreme inequality would choose fossil fuel profits over the future of humanity.

The State Department Drama Shows Just How Far Trump Will Go for Big Oil

In this White House, the most dangerous industry on earth has a stranglehold on U.S. foreign policy.

How One Coal Baron Set an Entire Administration’s Energy Agenda

In a political system awash with money, it’s Big Coal vs. democracy.

The GOP Tax Bill Assaults the Planet as Well as the Poor

It kills the modest credits for wind, solar, and electric cars, while preserving much larger ones for fossil fuels.

The U.S. Is a Climate Rogue State. The World Should Treat It Like One.

It’s time for the world to consider sanctioning the U.S. and companies who benefit from its efforts to undermine climate action.

The Brutal Racial Politics of Climate Change and Pollution

Trump administration policies are systematically making natural disasters more harmful for the poor and people of color.

Texas Is Flooded Because Our Democracy Is, Too

Our culture of legalized bribery makes climate disasters more likely, but there’s an alternative.

Project Director

Climate Policy

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    Climate and Labor, Climate Change, climate justice, Climate Organizing

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