Sonia Aggarwal

Chief Executive Officer, Energy Innovation

2019 Advocacy Award Winner

Sonia Aggarwal is the Chief Executive Officer at Energy Innovation, an energy and climate policy firm that provides customized research and analysis to decision makers to support policy design that will reduce emissions at the speed and scale required for a safe climate future Aggarwal previously served two years in the Biden White House as Special Assistant to the President for Climate Policy, Innovation, and Deployment. Aggarwal helped to set the nation’s climate targets including the commitment to reduce economy-wide greenhouse gases by 50-52 percent below 2005 levels in 2030. She also co-chaired the Biden administration’s Climate Innovation Working Group and focused federal initiatives to reinvigorate clean energy manufacturing. This work, and that of her colleagues, is now included in the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, as well as other important legislative, regulatory, innovation, and manufacturing advances.

Aggarwal’s latest role marks a return to Energy Innovation, as she was formerly Vice President and a Cofounder of the firm more than a decade ago. She developed and led America’s Power Plan, a program that brought hundreds of energy policy experts together to outline the institutional and policy priorities for deep decarbonization of the electricity sector. She also led the team that created the Energy Policy Simulator, an open-source tool that lets users explore the impacts of climate policies on emissions of various pollutants and costs. Prior to founding Energy Innovation, Aggarwal managed global research for ClimateWorks Foundation, worked on the McKinsey carbon abatement cost curves, and advised clean energy companies about technology and financial communications. Aggarwal holds a BS from Haverford College in astronomy and physics and an MS from Stanford University in engineering, focused on energy.