Eva Savin is graduating from the Harvard Kennedy School in May 2026 with a Master of Public Administration. During her time at Harvard, Eva became involved in campus sustainability initiatives and programs, including the Office for Sustainability’s Council of Student Sustainability Leaders (CSSL). Learn more about Eva’s experience at Harvard.
How are you involved with the Harvard Office for Sustainability?
I joined CSSL right after starting my first semester at HKS in Fall 2025 and have been involved throughout the entire year. It has been a real pleasure and honor to be part of this community — working closely with the Harvard Office for Sustainability (OFS) team, learning from other fellows, and contributing as a student voice on climate and sustainability across the University. I fully intend to stay connected after graduation as an alumna.
What is your best memory working in sustainability at Harvard?
My best memories are of the people and the conversations. CSSL brought together students from all Harvard schools — policy, business, engineering, public health, design — who are all working on sustainability, climate, and the energy transition from very different angles. Hearing their perspectives, sharing challenges, and celebrating each other’s wins was incredibly energizing.
I also really appreciated the OFS team itself; they created so many opportunities for us to meet, reflect, hear from inspiring speakers, and feel that our ideas and contributions truly mattered.
What other sustainability experiences did you have at Harvard and beyond?
My classes related to the clean energy transition were among the most formative experiences of my time at Harvard. Taking “Managing Climate Change Risks” (API-170) with Professor Joe Aldy gave me a rigorous framework for thinking about climate risk, policy design, and real-world tradeoffs. I later had a unique opportunity to work with Professor Aldy on the course itself, contributing to research and redesigning parts of the curriculum. I highly recommend API-170 to anyone interested in climate and energy policy, especially adaptation and resilience, emissions reduction, and technologies such as carbon capture and storage (CCS) and solar geoengineering.
At HKS, courses like “Financing the Clean Energy Transition” (IGA-415) was also incredibly valuable. One of the standouts for me was “Energy, the Energy Transition, and Geopolitics” (IGA-412) with Professor Meghan O’Sullivan — truly, this course alone would have been worth moving countries for.
I also strongly encourage cross-registration, regardless of your home school. For me, taking the HBS MBA course “Global Climate Change” with Professor Gunnar Trumbull was a highlight: we examined climate change through real business cases, met with company leaders, and approached it as a driver of innovation, strategy, and opportunity.
What did you learn through your work with OFS and in the classroom?
Working with the Office for Sustainability gave me a much deeper appreciation of how Harvard operates as a campus and just how much is already happening behind the scenes on sustainability. I would never have known, for example, that Harvard has its own large renewable electricity projects — both on-site and off-site — or how ambitious the University’s Sustainable Building Standards are. I’m especially fascinated by the new David Rubenstein Treehouse Conference Center and its very high sustainability standards and impressive design!
What advice would you give to incoming students?
If you’re interested in sustainability from any angle — policy, business, design, operations — I highly recommend engaging with the Office for Sustainability during your time at Harvard, and, if you can, applying to CSSL. It’s a fantastic way to learn, contribute, and see the University from a completely new perspective.