Hillary Clinton has assembled a virtual army of formal and informal advisers on energy, the environment and climate change — and the names on the list indicate she fully aims to continue President Barack Obama's push to green the economy and take on global warming.

The team of nearly 100 informal advisers, who have spent the past year compiling recommendations on everything from chemical safety and Everglades restoration to nuclear power and climate finance, includes holdovers from the Obama administration such as former White House advisers Carol Browner and Heather Zichal.


Besides offering a rough picture of who might claim high-level jobs in her administration, the massive collection of Clinton advisers contrasts sharply with Trump's campaign, which is relying on just a few outside experts such as Oklahoma oilman Harold Hamm to help chart his energy agenda.

Like Obama, Clinton is prepared to rely on her executive powers to make progress on climate change, rather than waiting on Congress to send her legislation. She also intends to make climate change a bigger focus in the general election, a campaign official who requested anonymity to talk about Clinton's strategy told POLITICO, in an effort to draw a contrast with Trump, who has scoffed that climate change is a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese.

“I think the choice is pretty clear this year for voters on this issue more than on any other issue," Clinton energy adviser Trevor Houser said during a POLITICO policy discussion in Philadelphia last month, underscoring the fact that the campaign sees climate as a general election wedge issue.

The Clinton campaign is relying on three former Obama administration energy and climate aides — Houser, Pete Ogden and Ben Kobren — to lead a behind-the-scenes effort to collect input and advice from dozens of policy veterans.

Over the past year, the trio have organized monthly conference calls and policy-focused working groups that have drilled down on specific issues, according to sources familiar with the process. The much larger team of informal advisers has been tasked with writing position papers that explore policy details in greater depth than Clinton has plumbed in her public statements.

Their goal is to counter Trump's bombastic rhetoric with detailed policy proposals that build on Obama's record of using the executive branch's authority to slash pollution and encourage a shift to renewable energy sources. And if Clinton wins the presidency, the recommendations will lay the groundwork for actual policymaking.

Along with climate change, the campaign is also expected to make a major general election theme out of environmental justice, which focuses on the way environmental problems such as dirty air and water disproportionately affect poor and minority communities. Campaign officials have been consulting with prominent figures in the environmental justice movement, including South Carolina state Rep. Harold Mitchell.

Through the working groups, the campaign has received policy recommendations from a slew of former Obama administration officials, including former White House climate advisers Zichal, Jody Freeman and Paul Bodnar; former Interior Department official David Hayes; former Energy Department chief of staff Brandon Hurlbut; and Jane Lubchenco, the former head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, among many others, sources said. The pool of advisers also includes academics, scientists, lawyers, former members of Congress and state-level energy officials.

Former EPA Administrator Carol Browner delivers remarks during an event on climate change November 2, 2015. | Getty

Browner, Obama's first-term climate adviser and Bill Clinton's former EPA chief, and former Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm have also played a major role in shaping the campaign's energy and environmental agenda, the sources said.

The Clinton campaign's policy bench starts at the very top with Chairman John Podesta, who was a leading architect of Obama's second-term climate strategy and remains involved in developing the campaign's climate and energy agenda. Podesta is also leading a separate effort aimed at planning for Clinton's transition that could draw from the energy and climate policy recommendations.

"This is a substantive issue that he himself has spent some time on," one informal Clinton adviser said of Podesta, calling him "the first stop" for advice about climate and energy issues.

Kristina Costa, a Clinton campaign policy adviser who previously worked at the White House and the Center for American Progress, has taken the lead in working with Houser, Kobren and Ogden in evaluating the recommendations and determining whether to translate them into official campaign positions.

Ogden, who worked for Clinton at the State Department and in Obama's White House before re-joining the Center for American Progress in 2013, tends to focus on environmental and conservation issues and operates as a liaison to green groups. Houser, a former State Department energy adviser who is a partner at the consulting firm the Rhodium Group, homes in on energy policy issues, including how to regulate fracking. And Kobren, a former Clinton campaign and Obama State Department communications aide, offers his expertise with media strategy and international issues.

The deluge of recommendation-swapping has sparked speculation in Democratic circles about the possibility that Clinton's formal and informal advisers are positioning themselves to serve in her administration. But participants in the working groups tell POLITICO that Clinton campaign officials are reluctant to talk about short lists for key cabinet positions even in private meetings, saying it's too early. A Clinton official said late last month that discussions about cabinet picks have not yet started.

Indeed, the cabinet spots probably will remain in flux until after it becomes clear whether Democrats will take back the Senate, the chamber tasked with approving presidential nominees.

“Depending on what happens with the Senate, that makes a big difference about who you’re going to put up," one informal Clinton energy adviser said, perhaps signaling that a Democrat-led Senate could yield more liberal nominees.

Still, in conversations with influential Democratic energy and environmental officials, a number of names have come up repeatedly as favorites to serve in a Clinton administration.

Browner, who represented the campaign on the Democratic Party's platform committee, could also opt to return to government as a lead White House climate adviser or even EPA administrator. Mary Nichols, the long-time chairwoman of the California Air Resources Board, is another possibility for EPA administrator. Nichols has discussed energy and climate issues with the campaign, as Reuters first reported earlier this month.

Chris Lehane, a Democratic strategist who has ties to the Clintons, said he thinks Hillary Clinton should break with tradition and choose a mayor or other local official who has direct experience dealing with climate change to lead the EPA. Lehane named two dark-horse possibilities: Philip Levine, the mayor of Miami Beach, Fla., who has grappled with the effects of rising seas on his oceanfront city, and Kevin De León, the president pro tempore of California's state Senate.

Another possible contender for EPA administrator is Dan Esty, a former Connecticut environmental regulator and EPA veteran who teaches environmental law at Yale University.

Granholm is seen as a possible energy secretary under Clinton, though she may have competition from former Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter, an early Clinton backer who now heads the Center for the New Energy Economy at Colorado State University. Democrats have also said Podesta should serve as energy secretary.

Deputy Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change Policy Heather Zichal holds a news briefing at the White House March 30, 2011. | Getty

Among some green-minded Democrats, pressure is growing for Clinton to keep Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy on for at least the first few months of her potential presidency. Both Moniz and McCarthy are well liked and are seen as a crucial bridge to Obama's climate agenda. And they wouldn't have to face a messy confirmation battle in the Senate. (Moniz was approved unanimously and McCarthy won the support of six Republicans.)

Zichal, who stepped down as one of Obama's top climate advisers in 2013 and has recently penned op-eds in favor of Clinton, is seen as a top contender to lead the White House Council on Environmental Quality. While CEQ has taken a backseat to other agencies during much of the Obama administration, it could be given a more central role in a Clinton White House, as it has had in previous administrations.

Ogden is seen as a possible candidate for State's special envoy for climate change, the government's lead negotiator in international global warming talks.

Several candidates have also emerged for interior secretary, including Democrats such as former Colorado Sen. Mark Udall, former Alaska Sen. Mark Begich and Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper. Hayes, who served as a top Interior official until 2013, is also thought to be seeking to rise to the role of secretary under Clinton.

But Hickenlooper, who has faced criticism from environmental activists for refusing to oppose fracking, indicated last month that he isn't interested in serving in Clinton's cabinet, despite rumors that in addition to Interior, he could be in line to lead the Commerce Department or Transportation Department

“I would say it’s pretty unlikely that I would take a cabinet position, to be pretty blunt," he said at the POLITICO event in Philadelphia.

Darius Dixon and Elana Schor contributed to this story, which originally appeared on POLITICO Pro on July 28.