Mark Brownstein

Mark Brownstein

Senior Vice President, Energy, Environmental Defense Fund, Socrates Program

Mark Brownstein is Senior Vice President of Energy at Environmental Defense Fund, and a member of EDF’s executive team. He leads the organization’s work on electricity, oil and gas, and transportation.

Mark specializes in utility-related issues, including transmission development, wholesale and retail electric market design, rate reform, and power plant siting and investment. Mark leads EDF’s team on coal and natural gas. Mark is also adjunct Professor of Energy Policy at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs. Mark was one of two EDF staff leads on the United States Climate Action Partnership, a coalition of the nation’s leading corporations and environmental groups championing immediate action on federal legislation to cap and substantially reduce greenhouse gas pollution across the US economy. He is co-author of the Carbon Principles, a set of enhanced due diligence principles for investment banks considering the financing of coal fired power plants. Prior to joining Environmental Defense Fund, Mark was Director of Enterprise Strategy for Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG), where he worked directly with PSEG’s senior leadership in crafting and implementing the corporation’s business strategy. Over his nearly ten year career with PSEG, Mark served the company in a variety of environmental management roles, including Director of Environmental Strategy and Policy. Mark was active in numerous environmental legislative and regulatory proceedings including efforts to develop federal legislation limiting emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, mercury, and carbon dioxide from power plants, and the Environmental Council of States’ (ECOS) 37-state Ozone Transport Assessment Group (OTAG) process, which developed specific recommendations to address the persistent problem of ozone transport in the eastern United States. Mark was also an active member of the US EPA’s Clean Air Act Advisory Committee and New Jersey’s Renewable Energy Task Force. Aside from PSEG, Mark’s career includes time as an attorney in private environmental practice, a regulator with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, and an aide to then-Congressman Robert G. Torricelli (D–NJ).