CBE Centennial Seminar Series: Tomás Carbonell (EPA)

Protecting Climate and Public Health Under the Clean Air Act

Biography

Since January 2021, Tomás Carbonell has been serving as Deputy Assistant Administrator for Stationary Sources within the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Air and Radiation (OAR) in Washington, DC. His responsibilities include providing leadership and policy direction on a range of climate, clean air, and public health initiatives and programs, including the development and implementation of air pollution standards for greenhouse gas pollution and other health-harming pollutants from power plants, oil and natural gas operations, chemical manufacturing facilities, and other industrial sources; national air quality standards to protect public health and well-being from common forms of harmful air pollution; implementation of Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) programs to reduce methane from the oil and natural gas sector; and Clean Air Act programs to address interstate air pollution from power plants and industrial facilities. Mr. Carbonell also serves as Chair of the Steering Committee for the Global Methane Initiative, an international partnership encompassing over 45 member countries and hundreds of private sector partners to reduce methane emissions in the energy, waste, and agriculture sectors.

From 2012 until January 2021, Mr. Carbonell was an attorney in the U.S. Clean Air Program at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), where he most recently served as Senior Counsel and Director of Regulatory Policy. His work included litigation, regulatory advocacy, and policy advocacy on a range of federal climate and clean air issues, including carbon dioxide regulations for power plants; methane regulations for the oil and gas sector; hazardous air pollution from industrial sources; and climate legislation. Prior to joining EDF, Mr. Carbonell was an Associate at Van Ness Feldman, LLP, where he counseled diverse clients on federal legal and regulatory matters related to climate change, clean air, and natural gas and electricity regulation.

Mr. Carbonell holds a J.D. from Yale Law School (2008) and M.Sc. degrees in Environmental Change and Management and Development Economics from the University of Oxford (2005). He graduated from North Carolina State University in 2002 with bachelors’ degrees in chemical engineering; economics; and multidisciplinary studies. He lives in Washington, DC with his wife (and fellow NC State graduate), Dr. Caitlin Boon, and their two sons, Felipe and Javier Carbonell-Boon.