Dr. Jennifer DiStefano

Director, Technology & Innovation, Climate & Energy

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General Information

Jennifer DiStefano leads a team in NRDC's Industry Division that uses technical analysis and advocacy to advance emerging technologies critical to NRDC's climate goals. Prior to joining NRDC in 2025, DiStefano held roles at the U.S. Department of Energy and policy research organizations, including Ernie Moniz’s Energy Futures Initiative and the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine. She has worked across a wide array of energy policy topics, including clean hydrogen, vehicle fuel economy regulation, carbon management, and technology commercialization. She has coauthored 15 peer-reviewed scientific papers and holds one patent. DiStefano received her PhD in materials science from Northwestern University in 2020, where she developed nanomaterials for energy applications. She is based in NRDC's Chicago office. 

Areas of Work
Climate Change Industrial Production

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Brad Smith, president of Microsoft Corporation, speaks during a climate initiative event at the Microsoft Corp. campus in Redmond, Washington, on January 16, 2020. Microsoft unveiled plans to invest $1 billion to back companies and organizations working on technologies to remove or reduce carbon from the earth's atmosphere, saying efforts to merely emit less carbon aren't enough to prevent catastrophic climate change.

The Carbon Removal Market Can Work—If We Build It Right

Expert BlogUnited StatesSam F. Savitz, Dr. Jennifer DiStefano
The CDR industry’s reliance on Microsoft shows the limits of voluntary climate action—and the need for government to do its part. It’s time to take the trash out of our atmosphere.