The Environmental Leadership Program (ELP) is a cutting-edge program launched by the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The program is designed to prepare Illinois undergraduates for leadership roles in the sustainability field.
The ELP focuses on developing the students’ communications skills around environmental problems, mobilizing social resources, and implementing plans for sustainable change. The program also provides students with networking opportunities with leaders in various fields in the environmental domain. This will prepare students for careers in both the public and private sectors. The introduction of the ELP is one of the key educational objectives in the Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP) 2020.
After piloting two successful workshops in Spring 2021 focused on environmental policy and corporate sustainability, iSEE is launching the first version of the program in Spring 2022! Participants will learn about the policy-building process at the local and state levels, develop real-world environmental policies linked to the current legislative session, engage with local and state government officials, and present their policy proposals to an audience of legislative staff and decision-makers in Springfield and Urbana-Champaign.
