The Environmental Policy Accelerator is a 6-week, part-time, unpaid program that helps individuals and teams refine and strengthen a partially developed policy solution to an environmental problem. During this short course, participants will workshop their ideas weekly, getting direct feedback from the Academy’s instructors and peers, while also learning our core framework for achieving policy impact. The course will take place virtually on Mondays from 9-11am PT / 12-2pm ET from October 20 – November 24, 2025.

Candidates should plan to spend 8-10 hours a week outside of class time completing readings and weekly assignments for the course. Strong candidates are individuals or teams of up to 4 who have a somewhat developed solution to an environmental policy problem but need support in refining it or developing an effective advocacy campaign. By the end of the program, candidates will have a concrete environmental policy solution, a set of outputs, and an advocacy plan that they can use to pitch their solution to a decisionmaker.

Before applying, please carefully review the Environmental Policy Accelerator details and eligibility below. If you are applying as a team, you only need to submit 1 application. You can view a sample application here.

Deadline
Thursday, September 11, 2025, at 11:59pm PT

Timeline
Application Open: August 14 – September 11

Participants Admitted: Late September

Program Dates: October 20 – November 24 on Mondays from 9-11am PT / 12-2pm ET

Curriculum

During the Environmental Policy Accelerator, participants will a) learn about the Policy Academy’s framework for achieving policy impact and b) workshop their own ideas with peers and the Academy’s instructors for feedback.

Each 2-hour session will be split between instruction and hands-on workshopping. The instructional portion will cover the Academy’s policy impact framework, including lessons on scoping problems, identifying stakeholders, defining alternative solutions, developing relevant outputs, and creating an advocacy plan. The workshopping portion will focus on applying these lessons: Participants will complete assignments to advance their environmental policy ideas and present them each week for feedback from peers and Academy instructors. By the end of the program, participants will have a concrete environmental policy solution, deliverables, and an advocacy plan they can use to pitch their idea to decisionmakers.

Outside of program sessions, participants should expect to spend 8–10 hours per week on readings and advancing their policy projects.

Eligibility

For the Environmental Policy Accelerator, we are looking for individuals or teams of up to 4 who have a promising idea for an environmental policy problem that still needs refining. For example, you or your team may still need to narrow your idea, assess its feasibility, identify key stakeholders, or develop an advocacy strategy.

Qualified applicants include subject-matter experts on environmental issues (e.g., environmental engineers, environmental tech start-up founders, environmental policy communications professionals, environmental lawyers) with specific ideas for broader policy change based on their expertise. They may also include community members advocating for a specific environmental policy change in their local municipality (e.g., community member applicants might have a new idea for how their city can handle composting). We especially welcome applicants with backgrounds that may be underrepresented in environmental spaces, and who work directly with communities that face marginalization.

This program is an introductory program, so it is best suited for those with little or no policy experience. Applicants with significant past policy experience (e.g., past experience working in a policy role or a master’s in public policy) are likely to be too advanced for this program.

All applicants also need to meet the following eligibility requirements for the program:

• Applicant(s) must be at least 21 years of age by the start of the program.
• Applicant(s) must be fluent in English.
• Applicant(s) live in the United States or are US citizens or permanent residents living abroad.

If you are applying as a team (maximum 4 people), you only need to submit 1 application. You will be asked to share names and contact information for all team members. 

Where and When

The virtual course will hold sessions on Mondays from 9-11am PT / 12-2pm ET from October 20 to November 24. Successful applicants are expected to attend all sessions to graduate from the program and receive a completion badge; our attendance policy allows participants to miss no more than 1 hour of programming.

Application Schedule

Admitted applicants will be notified by late September 2025. A subset of applicants may be asked to complete interviews in mid-September.