Dr. Stephen A. Hammer serves as an Advisor, focused on Global Partnerships & Strategy, with the World Bank's Climate Change Group in Washington DC. In this role he leads the Bank's climate-related engagement with the G7, G20, UNFCCC, and the UN Secretary General's climate team.
He previously served as Manager, Climate Policy for the World Bank Group, where he led an interdisciplinary team or 30 scientists, economists, technical experts, and support staff focused on frontier research on climate change and development topics, the mainstreaming of climate change in World Bank operations, and the provision of climate-related advisory services to clients and Bank teams. Key activities undertaken by his team during this period include: development of a Bank-wide strategy supporting implementation of the Paris Agreement, and creation of a new financing mechanism to support analytic work on the ground; development of a Bank-wide climate and health strategy; launch of the Climate Action Peer Exchange (CAPE), providing technical support on climate issues to national finance ministries; development of guidance for clients on how to manage the economic and social impacts of the transition away from fossil fuel-intensive economic activity; and preparation of flagship reports on climate-induced migration and the impacts of climate change on the poor in developing countries.
Prior to assuming that position, he led the Bank's work on urban climate resilience, low carbon city planning, and solid waste management. He was also engaged in a range of field projects in Ethiopia (focused on urban sustainability), Egypt (solid waste management practices), and Romania (low carbon planning in Bucharest and the development of a national urban climate strategy). He was heavily involved in the development of the World Bank's Low Carbon, Livable Cities (LC2) initiative, which was launched in September 2013. The LC2 initiative has several initiatives underway already, including a new city creditworthiness initiative aimed at improving financial management practices in cities around the world. The LC2 initiative also spearheaded a path-breaking new capacity building program focused on professional development by those working on climate at the local level. Finally, the Bank partnered with the C40, Bloomberg Philanthropies, WRI, and AECOM to release CURB, a scenario-based low carbon planning tool designed to help cities craft their climate action plan.
Before Dr. Hammer joined the World Bank in 2013, he was a member of the faculty at MIT's Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP), where he taught courses on a variety of energy and climate policy topics. Prior to that, he taught at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, where he founded and directed the Urban Energy Program; at the Milano Graduate School of Urban Affairs; and at the Pratt Institute.
In addition to his teaching, Dr. Hammer regularly consulted with governmental and non-governmental organizations, including:
Dr. Hammer helped co-found and (until late 2012) co-directed the Urban Climate Change Research Network (UCCRN), an international consortium of researchers interested in climate change from an urban perspective. He also was previously a member of the Energy Policy Task Force advising then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg on matters germane to PlaNYC, New York City's long-term growth and sustainability initiative.
Dr. Hammer has written on local energy policymaking, urban energy systems, distributed generation technology, and the impacts of climate change on local and regional energy networks. He continues to serve on the editorial board of the academic journals Urban Climate and Local Environment; is a reviewer for the journal Energy Policy; and was the co-editor of Climate Change and Cities, published by Cambridge University Press in May 2011.
Dr. Hammer holds a PhD from the London School of Economics, an MPP from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and a B.S. from the University of California at Davis.
He previously served as Manager, Climate Policy for the World Bank Group, where he led an interdisciplinary team or 30 scientists, economists, technical experts, and support staff focused on frontier research on climate change and development topics, the mainstreaming of climate change in World Bank operations, and the provision of climate-related advisory services to clients and Bank teams. Key activities undertaken by his team during this period include: development of a Bank-wide strategy supporting implementation of the Paris Agreement, and creation of a new financing mechanism to support analytic work on the ground; development of a Bank-wide climate and health strategy; launch of the Climate Action Peer Exchange (CAPE), providing technical support on climate issues to national finance ministries; development of guidance for clients on how to manage the economic and social impacts of the transition away from fossil fuel-intensive economic activity; and preparation of flagship reports on climate-induced migration and the impacts of climate change on the poor in developing countries.
Prior to assuming that position, he led the Bank's work on urban climate resilience, low carbon city planning, and solid waste management. He was also engaged in a range of field projects in Ethiopia (focused on urban sustainability), Egypt (solid waste management practices), and Romania (low carbon planning in Bucharest and the development of a national urban climate strategy). He was heavily involved in the development of the World Bank's Low Carbon, Livable Cities (LC2) initiative, which was launched in September 2013. The LC2 initiative has several initiatives underway already, including a new city creditworthiness initiative aimed at improving financial management practices in cities around the world. The LC2 initiative also spearheaded a path-breaking new capacity building program focused on professional development by those working on climate at the local level. Finally, the Bank partnered with the C40, Bloomberg Philanthropies, WRI, and AECOM to release CURB, a scenario-based low carbon planning tool designed to help cities craft their climate action plan.
Before Dr. Hammer joined the World Bank in 2013, he was a member of the faculty at MIT's Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP), where he taught courses on a variety of energy and climate policy topics. Prior to that, he taught at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, where he founded and directed the Urban Energy Program; at the Milano Graduate School of Urban Affairs; and at the Pratt Institute.
In addition to his teaching, Dr. Hammer regularly consulted with governmental and non-governmental organizations, including:
- the OECD (where he supported the OECD's work on urban green growth issues)
- the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (where he worked on China low carbon city development issues, including LBNL's software-based decision support tool, known as BEST-Low Carbon Cities)
- the World Bank (where he served as team leader on an energy efficiency study in DaNang, Vietnam)
- JUCCCE Energy Smart Cities Initiative, a China-based program providing energy and climate policy training to local government officials around China.
Dr. Hammer helped co-found and (until late 2012) co-directed the Urban Climate Change Research Network (UCCRN), an international consortium of researchers interested in climate change from an urban perspective. He also was previously a member of the Energy Policy Task Force advising then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg on matters germane to PlaNYC, New York City's long-term growth and sustainability initiative.
Dr. Hammer has written on local energy policymaking, urban energy systems, distributed generation technology, and the impacts of climate change on local and regional energy networks. He continues to serve on the editorial board of the academic journals Urban Climate and Local Environment; is a reviewer for the journal Energy Policy; and was the co-editor of Climate Change and Cities, published by Cambridge University Press in May 2011.
Dr. Hammer holds a PhD from the London School of Economics, an MPP from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and a B.S. from the University of California at Davis.