Environmental change is a defining strategic challenge for current and future leaders. Its impacts run through policy areas from urban planning and infrastructure investments to financial market stability and border security. The global quest to mitigate it will affect trade policy, geopolitics, business strategy, resource valuation and other aspects of political, market, and society context.

The Deitz Family Initiative on Environment & Global Affairs focuses on equipping Jackson and other professional school students with the skills that they need to accurately recognize and strategically respond to the influence of environmental change on broader political, economic, and development goals.

The initiative has three parts: 

• A core curriculum (GLBL 7165, GLBL 7155) that gives students a basic overview of key concepts in earth system science and practical analytical tools to think systematically about upgrading and redesigning institutions to manage new challenges. Students can explore more specific topics at the intersection of environmental change and global affairs through courses on energy transitions, human rights, trade, development finance, biodiversity, and more at Jackson and other parts of Yale. 
• The “Environment &” series of talks and one-day practicum sessions led by senior practitioners working at the intersection of environmental change and global affairs. Past speakers include Leslie Maasdorp, then CFO of the New Development Bank; Sandra Cavalieri, of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition Secretariat; and Denice Ross, former U.S. Chief Data Scientist at the U.S. Office of Science and Technology Policy.  
• Immersion Opportunities, including internships, field trips to engage with business, policy, and community leaders working on innovative environmental governance, and opportunities for capstone projects working with real-life clients. The Deitz Initiative is a supporter of Science-Policy Hill Day. 

It is supported by a gift from the Deitz Family Foundation.