Spring 2023 Internships on the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
The Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment (CCSI), a joint center of Columbia Law School and Columbia Climate School, is accepting applications until January 15, 2023 for internship positions for the Spring 2023 semester.
These internships might be done remotely. Interns are staffed to at least one or more specific research projects depending on the background and interests of the actual applicant. Select work-study administrative positions are also available, and course credit might be granted in some cases.
CCSI is a number one applied research center and forum dedicated to the study, practice and discussion of sustainable international investment. Its mission is to develop and disseminate practical approaches and solutions to maximise the impact of international investment for sustainable development. The Center’s work is organized around three major areas of research: sustainable investments in mining and energy; sustainable investments in land, agriculture and food systems; and sustainable international investment law and policy, with cross-cutting research related to climate change, human rights, the energy transition, and business and finance.
Candidates must commit to not less than 10-15 hours per week, unless otherwise noted. Continuation into subsequent terms is feasible, and in some cases, preferred.
To apply for a Spring 2023 internship, please send a canopy letter, CV, and writing sample, (all together in a single file, in that order), by January 15, 2023to CCSI’s Executive Coordinator, Nancy Siporin (nancy.siporin@columbia.edu), unless otherwise specified. Applications will likely be considered on a rolling basis. Please indicate in the event you are work-study eligible (preferred but not required). The duvet letter should include a definite list of which internships you’re applying for (chances are you’ll include as many as you’d like).
Spring 2023 paid internship opportunities are currently available for the next:
Legal and Policy Research on Energy, Climate Change, and Sustainable Development (Native or Fluent Spanish Speaker)
CCSI is in search of an LLM or JD student intern with native or fluent Spanish skills to help with legal and policy research, writing, and other activities referring to various projects in CCSI’s energy and climate change work. Tasks will include cataloging and examining the allocation of liability for decommissioning of offshore oil and gas facilities and infrastructure in leases and contracts for extraction of fossil fuels in various jurisdictions; identifying, cataloging, and examining best practices within the relevant scholarly and practitioner literature regarding the prevention of environmental pollution and liability-shifting away from the lessee; and identifying potential statutory, regulatory, and contractual improvements to existing regimes or practice. Preference will likely be given to candidates with strong legal research and writing skills, and candidates who’ve experience or demonstrated interest in issues referring to energy or climate change.
Open Land Contracts
CCSI is in search of a highly motivated, organized, and detail-oriented undergraduate or graduate student intern to assist with the administration of CCSI’s transparency tool: OpenLandContracts.org. The intern will assist with the management of certain administrative tasks related to the web site, which goals to empower communities, civil society organizations, host governments, and other actors to higher understand the small print of deals surrounding agriculture, forestry, renewable energy, and other land-based investment projects in the worldwide south. Strong preference will likely be given to candidates native or fluent in French. Knowledge of Python script may be helpful but isn’t essential. Work study allocations are an asset but not required. Time commitment: Ad hoc, as needs arise.
Antitrust, ESG, and Sustainability Mapping
Over the past few years, there have been growing academic, political, and social debates concerning the boundaries of competition and collaboration in markets for non-economic advantages, including efforts to mitigate environmental impacts, to speed up the energy transition, to guard human rights, and to advance employee rights and prosperity. Questions and controversies have arisen each with respect to joint standard-setting and activities amongst corporations and industry-wide collaborations, in addition to with respect to coordinated engagement by investors and financial institutions. Increasingly, antitrust-related questions and challenges are said to be chilling obligatory engagement and mobilization of personal actors to deal with climate and other sustainability-related challenges. CCSI and the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law are undertaking a multidimensional mapping of this problem space, identifying the parallel and intertwined debates and legal questions, the political and other challenges and dynamics, and the range of actors at the middle of the controversy. Preference will likely be given to law students with a background in competition law.
Integrating Climate and Human Capital Management Considerations in Asset Allocation and Strategy
CCSI and the Earth Institute’s Research Program on Sustainability Policy and Management are in search of graduate student interns to help with reviews of educational and practitioner literature concerning, respectively, climate change and human capital management as relevant to investment strategy. This work will support a broader project focused on helping a big public pension fund understand the potential impact of environmental, social, and governance aspects on the long-term value creation and effective risk management inside its investment portfolio, and to attract larger lessons applicable for universal asset owners, especially ones which are intergenerational and fiduciaries to their members. Students with relevant experience in law and finance are strongly encouraged.
Operations Assistant (work study)
CCSI is in search of an undergraduate or graduate work-study student to help with quite a lot of substantive operational tasks. The work-study position primarily will entail helping with business and administrative tasks related to the operational functioning of the middle, with a chance to focus on certainly one of several areas including business operations, editing, communications, events, or workstream support. Preference will likely be given to responsible, detail-oriented undergraduate or graduate students. Those with long-term availability are preferred. To use for this operations assistant position, please send a canopy letter and resume to CCSI’s director of operations, Paulo Cunha (pcunha@law.columbia.edu).
For more information on internship opportunities and the way to apply, please see CCSI’s website.
