UT Climate Leaders Program

What is the UT Climate Leaders Program?

The Office of Sustainability launched the UT Climate Leaders Program in the fall 2022 semester. The program concluded in summer 2025. The Climate Leaders Program (Climate LEAP) offered three annual cohorts of ten interns hands-on, practical experience developing a greenhouse gas emissions reduction plan for UT colleges, schools, and units (CSU). Climate LEAP was a year-long, paid, internship program open to undergraduates of all years and majors. As part of the program, interns earned the University of New Hampshire Carbon Footprinting Certificate. Twenty-eight interns completed the program.

Climate Leaders worked in interdisciplinary pairs with one intern acting as a Data Analyst and the other as a Engagement Specialist. Each pair worked with a single CSU client. Climate LEAP cohort meetings included presentations, workshops, and discussions led by experts in diverse fields, providing interns with the broad knowledge base needed to be successful as future sustainability and climate professionals. 

Climate LEAP’s biggest impact lies in equipping undergraduate students with confidence, a professional toolkit, and relevant language to navigate climate careers. After completing the program, intern alumni cited growth in “climate and communications,” “original qualitative and quantitative research,” and “community engagement,” all critical skills for sustainability roles. Through Climate LEAP, interns cultivate transferable green skills that are both highly practical and deeply valued in today’s evolving job market. According to a Climate LEAP alumni survey conducted in fall 2024 through spring 2025, 16 Climate Leader alumni have continued in “green” career paths. All respondents said there were few, if any, comparable opportunities to the UT Climate Leaders Program at UT Austin. 

Job titles of Climate Leader Program alumni earned after completion of the program include:

• Climate Analyst
• Climate Policy Intern
• Climate Resilience Intern
• Climate Resilience & Leadership Facilitator
• Corporate Sustainability Analyst
• Communications Intern
• Energy & Sustainability Analyst
• Legislative Intern
• Political Consultant
• Sustainability and Environmental Policy Consultant
• Undergraduate Researcher
• Urban & Community Forestry Intern

Graduate programs Climate Leader Program alumni initiated after completion of the program include:

• M. Environmental Data Science (MEDS) - University of California Santa Barbara
• M.A. Science Writing - Johns Hopkins University
• M.Sc. Psychology of Economic Life - London School of Economics and Political Science
• M.Sc. Sustainability Planning - Cardiff University

Climate LEAP has worked with the following colleges, schools, and units of UT Austin to create greenhouse gas emissions inventories and emissions reduction plans:

• Academic Year 2022-2023 (Download Report)
  • School of Architecture
  • Cockrell School of Engineering
  • Jackson School of Geosciences
  • College of Liberal Arts
  • College of Natural Sciences
  • LBJ Wildflower Center
• Academic Year 2023-2024 (Download Report)
  • LBJ School of Public Affairs
  • College of Education
  • College of Fine Arts
  • McCombs School of Business
  • Moody College of Communication
  • McDonald Observatory
  • College of Natural Sciences
• Academic Year 2024-2025 (Download Report)
  • Campus Operations
    • Facilities Services
    • Utilities and Energy Management
    • Planning, Design, and Construction
    • Office of Sustainability
    • Operational Safety and Compliance

Thank you to the University Budget Council, and the Green Fund for funding this cutting-edge program for three years.

Please contact sustainability@austin.utexas.edu with any questions about the UT Climate Leaders Program.