Benjamin Leffel

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Assistant Professor of Public Policy

Expertise: Sustainability, Climate change, Corporations, Cities, Global governance, Diplomacy

Biography

Ben Leffel, an assistant professor in the School of Public Policy and Leadership, is an expert on sustainability governance by cities, states, and corporations globally.

Prior to joining UNLV, Leffel served as a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Michigan’s Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise and a lecturer at the University of California, Merced. His published work focuses on world cities fighting climate change, including the role of private climate consulting and city membership in transnational environmental networks, global urban pollution abatement, and climate finance allocation to local governments.

Leffel has published op-eds in the Harvard Business Review, The Hill and the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, and has served as a climate action advisor to the City of Irvine, California.

Education

Ph.D., UC Irvine

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environment, sustainability

Benjamin Leffel In The News

Elon Musk's Vegas Loop: A Neoliberal Nightmare or Futuristic Transport?

Brit Brief

A ride on Elon Musk's Vegas Loop reveals an underwhelming, slow tunnel system far from original promises. Critics call it a private transit scam benefiting developers, not the public.

‘A neoliberal nightmare’: my ride on the Vegas Loop – Elon Musk’s answer to traffic jams

Ten years ago, after complaining that traffic was ‘driving him nuts’, Musk’s Boring Company began building underground tunnels to ease congestion on the roads. Did he overpromise and underdeliver?

In a warming world, Nevada metros top list of fastest-warming cities again

Reno and Las Vegas have again topped the list of the nation’s fastest-warming cities, according to an annual Earth Day analysis of temperatures since 1970. Climate Central, an independent nonprofit made up of scientists, says the average annual temperatures of Reno and Las Vegas have risen 7.9 and 6 degrees, respectively, during that period. It’s a challenge as those cities work to prevent heat-related deaths by increasing tree canopy, shade in public spaces and designated cooling centers.

Out of the Loop: Inside the Weird, Overhyped World of The Boring Company

Nashville Scene

For a project billing itself as “express public transportation,” little about The Boring Company’s proposed Music City Loop follows the traditional playbook. State officials, including Gov. Bill Lee, have promoted the tunneling project as fast, privately financed and built without taxpayer dollars. Critics argue that the framing may be misleading and question whether the proposed Loop project functions as public transit at all.