As chief of staff for the Office of Domestic Climate Policy in the Biden Administration and special assistant to the president for climate, Maggie Thomas ’15 MEM was charged with overseeing the enactment of federal policy aimed at decarbonizing the U.S. economy. Her purview included the $550 billion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, which as the largest climate investment in U.S. history, provided more than $370 billion to address climate change and advance the clean energy transition.

There were immense challenges in enacting this legislation. Thomas said some people told her that it simply could not be done, but she worked to meet each challenge and get it to the finish line. As the federal landscape on environmental policy changes, Thomas said she is taking the lessons she learned at the White House on overcoming barriers with her in her new endeavors as a consultant on environmental issues.

“Many people did not believe that the federal government could take the action that we took as quickly as we took it. Knowing that we were able to have an impact in a short period of time gives me hope and belief that we will be able to do it again,” she said.

Thomas became interested in government and politics at early age, accompanying her parents as they canvassed door-to-do in their neighborhood in Sacramento, California, during election season. Her childhood dream was to become a marine biologist, but after earning a bachelor’s degree in environmental science from Trinity College in Hartford, she took a job with NextGen America. That job profoundly altered her career path. Founded by Tom Steyer in 2013, NextGen works to turn out millions of young people to vote on issues that matter to them. As senior advocacy manager and Pennsylvania state director at NextGen, Thomas realized she could combine her interest in political action and the environment.

“We worked to motivate young people to vote and help them understand the consequences of the election, particularly as it related to climate,” she said. “I became focused on how to create conditions so that voters will feel compelled to want to take action on environmental issues.”

After leaving NextGen America, Thomas went on to advise several presidential candidates on climate policy, including former Washington Governor Jay Inslee, whose campaign focused almost exclusively on environmental and climate issues, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.

In 2021, she was hired to build President Biden’s newly created Office of Domestic Climate Policy where she implemented the IRA and infrastructure act that created more than 300,000 clean energy jobs.

One of the accomplishments she is most proud of was launching the American Climate Corps, which was established to employ young Americans in clean energy, conservation, and climate resilience jobs. The funding for the Corps was removed in the final IRA legislation but Thomas built the program without any new money from Congress. By 2024, the corps had put 20,000 young people to work in the field.

While her positions focused on policy, Thomas said she learned that there are many paths to decarbonizing the economy.

Newsletter

Subscribe to “YSE 3”

Biweekly, we highlight three news and research stories about the work we’re doing at Yale School of the Environment.

“One of the big things I learned being in the White House is that there are a lot of different ways to wield power. It’s not just about Congress,” she said. “The climate is built on fluid systems, and we shouldn’t just take the same approaches as in the past.”

Thomas gave birth to a son on Christmas Day in 2024, and she said the desire to build a cleaner, greener world for him has given her renewed energy to tackle climate issues in her work now and in the future..

“In my positions, I wrote talking points about the work we have to do for future generations and that work hits home a little differently now — it’s about the world my son is going to grow up in,” Thomas said. 

Since his birth, Thomas has been consulting for clean energy industry and climate-related philanthropy, and she remains optimistic, despite tough obstacles. 

“We have more barriers than we did last year, but I do believe we are going to turn a corner. My work is helping to make that pivot and think about where the opportunities are now,” she said. “We’re already seeing cities, states, tribes, and the private sector coming together. We need to be as creative as possible. We need to constantly be thinking outside the box.”