Dr. Esther Shears recently started a position as the Deputy Chief Economist at the Division of Petroleum Market Oversight in the California Energy Commission. She earned her PhD from the University of California, Berkeley, in the Energy & Resources Group in December 2023. During her time as a graduate student at UC Berkeley, Esther developed expertise in climate governance and decarbonization policy. Her dissertation investigates the role of institutions in science and energy policy and explores the expansion of climate risk governance into the financial sector. She also has several years of experience teaching undergraduates climate change economics and general economic analysis.
In May 2019, Esther received her Master of Science and Master of Public Policy degrees from the University of California, Berkeley. Prior to beginning her graduate studies at UC Berkeley, she worked for the U.S. Department of Justice as a statistician in the Economic Analysis Group of the Antitrust Division. Esther earned a Bachelor’s degree in Economics with honors from Occidental College where she studied industrial organization and the connection between financial markets in emerging economies and the development of renewable energy sectors.
Publications / Blog Posts:
Improving data access democratizes and diversifies science
Energy innovation funding and institutions in major economies
National models of climate governance among major emitters
Snapshots from Rwanda: Financing Green Growth
Links:
Contact:
esther_shears@berkeley.edu