Climate Corps Student Intern

The State University of New York or SUNY is the largest comprehensive system of public higher education in the United States with 64 colleges and universities spanning the state from Long Island to the Adirondacks to Buffalo. SUNY System Administration employees based in Albany and New York City provide critical support for SUNY campuses employees and students to advance SUNYs mission of providing high-quality affordable higher education for all.

Across a wide range of roles from finance and legal counsel to student support academic affairs IT admissions and more our employees work toward advancing the four priority pillars established by SUNY Chancellor John B. King Jr. and the SUNY Board of Trustees: student success; research and scholarship; diversity equity and inclusion; and economic development and upward mobility. SUNY System Administration is a mission-driven workplace with robust New York State benefits including health insurance retirement time off and paid family leave.

The SUNY Office of Sustainability and Climate Action seeks an intern in our Albany location that is interested in working on environmental issues across our system helping implement the SUNY Climate and Sustainability Action Plan Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act and Executive Order 22 including the development and assessment of projects and programs that lead to a reduction of carbon emissions including the development systemwide policies and goals. The intern will gain experience working in a professional environment under the guidance of experienced practitioners and will have the satisfaction of contributing to the States ambitious climate program through state-wide planning programming and policy within SUNY and in coordination with other agencies. This is also a terrific opportunity for a student to hone skills and start to develop a professional network in the sustainability field and the close-knit network of related agencies (DEC NYSERDA NYPA OGS Parks DOT and others).

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

• Assist in data collection input organization and analysis for various energy and sustainability programs across all SUNY campuses. Project examples include:
• Documenting and analyzing energy efficiency and clean energy projects;
• Inputting and analyzing data from the annual EO22 report and the SUNY Climate and Sustainability Action Plan reporting form; and
• Analyzing trends and interpreting results from projects like waste reduction increased composting food procurement trends and EV charger installation.
• Assist with documentation of projects and associated reports.
• Assist in the preparation and tracking of Zero Emission Vehicle plans to transition our light medium and heavy-duty fleet and preparing reports as needed.
• Assist in the monitoring and tracking of campus waste reduction plans.
• Participate in activities to facilitate the procurement of green supplies help develop buying guides develop tracking mechanisms and generate reports.
• Support the Climate Corps internship program.
• Develop training materials and outreach to communicate programs processes and policies to the SUNY community.
• Maintain internal SUNY Sustainability webpage with training and support.
• Support the development of sustainability social media platforms and help create content including short-form videos.
• Maintain and enhance sustainability-related listservs.
• Develop student-facing outreach.

Required Qualifications:

• Must be a currently enrolled SUNY student.
• Must be adept with Microsoft Office Suite especially Excel and PowerPoint.
• Strong data analysis and analytics abilities.
• Practical experience which may include coursework with database management systems and data analysis tools including Excel.
• Strong writing and speaking communication skills.
• Ability to deliver outputs on tight deadlines.
• A growth mindset and team player who works collaboratively and is willing to give and receive feedback.

Preferred Qualifications:

• A student enrolled in programs related to public communication policy development sustainability environmental studies or natural sciences.
• Experience with editing software including Adobe Creative Suite Canva and Capcut.
• Experience with social media platforms.
• Experience with R Arc-GIS or Python.

The internship is only open to currently enrolled SUNY students. We strongly encourage first generation college and undergraduate students to apply. Interested candidates are invited to apply by submitting a cover letter resume and confirmation of full-time SUNY enrollment to or through Interview Exchange by October 23 2026.

The hourly rate is $16 for undergraduate students and $18 for graduate students.

State University of New York System Administration is an affirmative action equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race color national origin religion creed age disability sex gender identity sexual orientation familial status pregnancy predisposing genetic characteristics military status domestic violence victim status criminal conviction or retaliation.