Columbia Energy Exchange: Recent Episodes
Columbia University
Columbia Energy Exchange features in-depth conversations with the world’s top energy and climate leaders from government, business, academia and civil society. The program explores today’s most pressing opportunities and challenges across energy sources, financial markets, geopolitics and climate change as well as their implications for both the U.S. and the world.
Over the past five months, the Strait of Hormuz has been closed for extended stretches of time, disrupting roughly 10 to 15 million barrels of oil supply each day. It is the biggest energy supply shock in history, but global energy markets are defying historical expectations.
Despite lost production and heightened geopolitical instability, crude oil prices are far below the catastrophic levels many analysts predicted early on. But beneath the headline numbers, the broader energy system tells a far more complicated story. Refining margins have spiked to unprecedented levels, global coal consumption is pacing toward a new record high, and the ways energy moves around the world are changing in real time as the crisis continues to unfold.
So, why hasn't this massive disruption triggered a full-blown global economic crisis? What role are China's massive strategic stockpiles, shifting demand patterns, and the ongoing energy transition playing in dampening the shock? And what are the long-term security implications for global oil refining, shipping chokepoints, and future LNG infrastructure?
Today on the show, Jason Bordoff talks to Bloomberg opinion columnist Javier Blas about how the strait closure and Iran war have impacted global energy markets so far.
Prior to joining Bloomberg in 2015, Javier held a number of roles at the Financial Times, including Africa editor and commodities editor. He is also the co-author of The World for Sale: Money, Power and the Traders Who Barter the Earth's Resources.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
As the demand for power surges across the US, the debate over how to build energy infrastructure has reached a fever pitch. And while both sides of the aisle broadly agree that the current permitting process is broken, turning that consensus into actual legislation remains a challenge. So how do we define permitting reform, what does meaningful progress actually look like, and where do we stand today?
Alan Armstrong is keenly focused on those questions. After spending his entire career in the energy industry, he was sworn into the US Senate in March, representing Oklahoma. (Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt appointed him after Markwayne Mullin resigned to become US secretary of Homeland Security. Per Oklahoma law, Armstrong cannot run for reelection.) Senator Armstrong spent 15 years as CEO of Williams Companies, one of the largest natural gas infrastructure firms in North America. He is also the former chair of the National Petroleum Council and a founding member of Natural Allies for a Clean Energy Future.
Last week, Jason Bordoff spoke with Senator Armstrong about his legislative focus: permitting reforms aimed at streamlining energy buildouts. They discussed a bill that the senator has sponsored, the American Energy and Mineral Infrastructure Act of 2026, as well as the broader wave of reform efforts drawing bipartisan attention. The senator reflected on his time at Williams and how that informed his view on permitting policy. They discussed the role of judicial review, the power dynamic between federal and state regulators, and how growing energy affordability concerns are adding new pressure to pass meaningful permitting reform.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
Critical minerals sit at the intersection of energy technology, industrial competitiveness, and economic resilience. The issue has hit a fever pitch in the United States, driving the Trump administration to establish a $12 billion Strategic Critical Minerals Reserve and take other steps to support domestic mining projects. More broadly, G7 countries recently agreed to step up coordination to cut their countries' reliance on China for critical minerals.
All of these moves are targeted at breaking China's stronghold on the sector, which it built over decades as the US largely turned away from securing a critical mineral supply chain. And it's not just about supply dominance, China is also using its strengths in the sector as a geopolitical weapon.
Yet, questions remain over whether US investments to date, or international agreements, are stoking the level of private investment needed to compete with China. So what financial models could provide effective blueprints for quickly scaling mineral supply? Which countries are pursuing the most promising approaches? And looking beyond investments, what policy tools could help the US and its allies grow a resilient critical minerals supply chain?
Today on the show, Bill Loveless speaks to Tom Moerenhout and Tomasz Nadrowski about what it takes to build mineral supply chains as strategic infrastructure and how targeted financial instruments could lower risks for investors.
Tom Moerenhout leads the Critical Materials Initiative at the Center on Global Energy Policy and is a professor at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. Recently, he and other scholars at the center contributed to a new World Economic Forum report called "Making Critical Minerals Bankable: Policy Tools to Unlock Investment."
Tomasz Nadrowski is the co-founder and portfolio manager at Amvest Terraden, where he invests in exploration, development and mining companies that are focused on strategic minerals. He has 25 years of mining sector investment experience. He is also the author of the recently published book Mineral War: China's Quest for Weapons of Mineral Destruction.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
Nearly a month after a ceasefire, the US-Iran deal seems to have all but collapsed as both nations have slipped back into active conflict. On Sunday, Tehran announced that the Strait of Hormuz is once again closed—a move President Trump immediately countered, stating the waterway will remain open "with or without Iran." Since then, both the US and Iran have reportedly begun new attacks, and the President said the US will reinstate its blockade to become the "guardian" of the strait, even floating a controversial plan to charge commercial ships to ensure their safe passage.
We are in a critical window where both sides are aggressively trying to redefine their leverage in the Persian Gulf region, yet neither has fully abandoned the negotiating table. The U.S. can't maintain its high-stakes engagement indefinitely.
So are we right back to square one? Is this perpetual state of uncertainty the new normal for the Strait of Hormuz? What realistic leverage does Washington still possess on the nuclear front? And with senior Houthi leaders announcing their involvement, how does the collapse of this deal reverberate throughout the Persian Gulf region?
Today on the show, Jason Bordoff discusses the current and unpredictable state of affairs in the strait, and how it could play out in the coming weeks and months, with Suzanne Maloney, the vice president and director of the foreign policy program at the Brookings Institution.
Suzanne's research focuses on Iran and Persian Gulf energy. She has advised Democratic and Republican administrations on Iran policy, including as an external advisor to senior State Department officials during the Obama administration and as a member of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's Policy Planning staff during the administration of George W. Bush. Earlier in her career, she served as Middle East advisor for ExxonMobil Corporation.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
In the 23 days since the US and Iran agreed to a ceasefire, strikes have returned, following a familiar pattern: Iran attacks vessels using an internationally backed sea lane in Omani territorial waters, the US retaliates against Iranian military infrastructure, and Iran strikes back at US bases across the region. This week, alongside funeral processions for the assassinated Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, both physical and verbal attacks escalated.
Yet, both the US and Iran are still signaling they prefer diplomacy over a return to full-scale war. Despite this week's events, Brent crude oil prices are only $5 above levels that preceded the war. Some 200 million barrels of oil stranded on vessels and in storage have managed to exit the straits since late May.
But this crisis is far from over. Inventories of crude oil and oil products have been severely depleted. The trapped oil that has exited Hormuz represents only several weeks of supply, perhaps eight million barrels per day of production remain shut in, and Qatar has yet to restore its LNG production.
Today, host Daniel Sternoff sits down with Center on Global Energy Policy experts Anne-Sophie Corbeau and Karen Young to consider the near- and long-term outlook for energy markets. They discuss what's at stake for Iran, how renewed strikes impact traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, and how a sustained uptick in hostility could impact the LNG market heading into winter.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff, Bill Loveless, and Daniel Sternoff. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
Grid operators sit at the center of many of the biggest forces reshaping the global energy system. They're navigating rising electricity demand, a lack of transmission infrastructure, shifting regulatory policies, and maintaining the tricky balance between affordability, reliability, and the need for dispatchable power.
Both here in the US and around the world, operating a reliable and resilient grid—in the face of increasingly severe weather and complex interconnection demands—is more difficult than ever. And these challenges are felt well outside the power sector. Spiking utility rates in some regions have turned electricity into a major political issue.
So, what does the future of grid planning tell us about the ultimate pace of the energy transition? How can system operators manage the surge in demand from AI and data centers without compromising reliability? And how can open-source grid planning tools help both developed and developing markets build a flexible power system for the next 30 to 50 years?
Today on the show, Jason Bordoff speaks to Alice Yake about the opportunities but also the challenges in building cleaner electrical grids.
Alice is vice president of GRIDS at Breakthrough Energy, where she leads a team focused on the development of an open-source grid planning ecosystem designed to make energy system modeling transparent, accessible, and trustworthy. Previously, she spent 14 years at the utility Xcel Energy, where she rose to chief planning officer. Before that, she worked for the oil and gas company Occidental. She started her career at Enron.
And for more about the Center on Global Energy Policy's work on electricity affordability, read here.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
Concerns about the affordability of electricity in the US have been rising along with prices. And while the headlines have pointed to AI and data centers as the underlying factors, the exact causes are more complex.
The problem reflects a convergence of pre-existing structural failures, including inefficient infrastructure planning, utility incentives that are misaligned with cost efficiency, slow permitting times, and storm damage and wildfire costs. And now, higher electricity demand, including from data centers, is accelerating all of these pressures and adding some of their own.
Today on the show, Bill Loveless speaks to Doug Arent and Robin Millican about their recent reports for the Center on Global Energy Policy that examine the structural roots of rising electricity prices and look at approaches to improving grid investments and resilience.
Doug is a global fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy and the emeritus executive director at the Foundation for the National Laboratory of the Rockies, a nonprofit established to support the Department of Energy lab, where he served for nearly 30 years, rising to the role of deputy associate director.
Robin directs research programs and strategic partnerships at CGEP, leading its research agenda. Previously, she was the head of strategic initiatives and integration at Breakthrough Energy, the global organization founded by Bill Gates to accelerate the transition to affordable, reliable, and clean energy.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
The energy transition is in the midst of its own transition. Spiking electricity demand and geopolitical events are driving up energy prices, while debates over the best sources of generation play out amid supply chain constraints and questions about whether or not the energy crisis in the Strait of Hormuz will accelerate a transition away from oil and gas.
But underneath all those debates is a more basic question: do we have the data, evidence, and analytical clarity that is needed to understand where the energy world actually stands?
Today on the show, Jason Bordoff speaks with Michael Cembalest about "Fighting Words: The Energy Transition in 2026," the latest installment of Michael's annual "Eye on the Market" energy report. It takes a hard look at the state of the energy transition and the many battles shaping the energy world today, from the so-called "primary energy fallacy," which can obscure how much useful energy renewables actually provide, to China's dominance in the sector, to the economics of electric vehicles.
Michael is chairman of market and investment strategy for J.P. Morgan Asset Management. Prior to this role he was chief investment officer for J.P. Morgan's Global Private Bank, and has spent his entire career at the bank, joining the securities division in 1987.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
Yesterday, the US and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding starting the clock on a 60-day truce. The agreement intends to halt attacks, begin lifting the US naval blockade, and restore commercial traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. But deep uncertainty remains over how energy will actually flow through the waterway—and over the ultimate fate of Iran's nuclear program.
Add to this, an increasingly tense relationship between the US and Israel, which has said it does not consider itself bound by the MOU. And here in the US, political pressure could quickly shift Washington's calculations if the reopening of the Strait yields minimal strategic concessions on Iran's ballistic missiles, nuclear enrichment, and regional proxy networks.
So what happens next? How will global energy markets and regional security adjust if this temporary truce collapses? Who ultimately holds the leverage in this next phase of the crisis?
To address those and other questions about the ceasefire and the intersection of national and energy security, two people who recently sat at the very center of US foreign policy — Jake Sullivan and Jon Finer — joined Jason Bordoff for a special episode of Columbia Energy Exchange.
Jake served as National Security Advisor during the Biden Administration, where he was the chief architect of the 2022 National Security Strategy, coordinated the global response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and designed the "small yard, high fence" framework for US-China technology competition. Last year he joined the Harvard Kennedy School as the Kissinger professor of the practice of statecraft and world order.
Jon served alongside him as Deputy National Security Advisor, bringing decades of experience in high-stakes diplomacy, crisis management, and international law to the highest levels of government. Jon held a number of roles in the Obama administration, including chief of staff to Secretary of State John Kerry. And he's a former distinguished visiting fellow at CGEP.
They are also the hosts of "The Long Game," an essential podcast for anyone trying to make sense of foreign policy and national security in our world today.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
The 109-day-old Iran crisis is heading toward an off-ramp in the form of a not-yet-public Memorandum of Understanding to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. While energy markets are celebrating with a sell-off, the actual operational future of the waterway chokepoint remains unclear.
Navigable shipping corridors remain constricted by mines, hundreds of vessels are still trapped, and full recovery could take months. Furthermore, the ground rules have fundamentally shifted, according to reports that Iran intends to enforce its own regulatory protocols and collect mandatory "service fees" for passage.
The global energy map has been deeply altered by a crisis that disrupted as much as 20 million barrels a day, revealing long-term vulnerabilities. How will this 60-day ceasefire window play out as negotiations face roadblocks over nuclear and sanctions issues? And how will the region's oil producers permanently adapt to this new phase of accommodation with Tehran?
Today, host Daniel Sternoff sits down with Center on Global Energy Policy experts Karen Young, Richard Nephew, and Ira Joseph. They break down the strategic, economic, and logistical realities behind this "paper peace," and what the US-Iran deal means for the future of global energy security.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff, Bill Loveless, and Daniel Sternoff. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
The clean energy transition had real momentum at the end of 2024. It was buoyed by federal support, billions of dollars of investment in new technologies, and broad acknowledgment of the costs of climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions. But major roadblocks have emerged over the past 18 months. US support for some forms of clean energy was revoked. And rising energy costs, due in part to an urgent call for data center build-out, have made affordability a priority for many stakeholders.
The challenge is truly daunting. Despite significant clean energy investments, some 80 percent of the world's energy is still derived from fossil fuels. Tariffs and supply disruptions have made clean energy infrastructure harder to build.
So what does all of this mean for the speed and scale of the energy transition? How are businesses navigating so much instability when billions of dollars and decades-long infrastructure commitments are at stake? And what does this all say about whether the global energy system can ever be clean, accessible, and affordable?
Today on the show, Bill Loveless speaks with Jessica Uhl about the challenges of and opportunities for making energy abundant, accessible, and clean.
Jessica has held senior leadership roles in upstream oil and gas, renewables, and power technology, including serving as CFO of Shell and later as president of GE Vernova. Jessica is now a senior advisor with the Three Cairns Group, an investment and philanthropic firm focused on the climate crisis. She also serves on a number of boards, including the executive and advisory boards at the Center on Global Energy Policy.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
For years, the energy transition was discussed as a shift that would happen in steady, predictable increments. But a massive surge in electricity demand in recent years—now colliding with a fracturing geopolitical landscape—has reshaped the global race for clean, reliable power.
All this has pulled nuclear energy back to the center of the national conversation—with many policymakers from both sides of the aisle calling for a nuclear renaissance.
But past multi-billion dollar cost overruns on traditional gigawatt-scale projects still hang over the sector, even as a novel pipeline of small modular reactors and other advanced nuclear technologies promise to reshape the grid. This has put renewed attention on whether the US regulatory system is ready for the scale and speed of what's needed.
So what reforms are key to supporting the US nuclear energy sector? What needs to be done to ensure speed, safety, and predictability? And where do policymakers need to be careful to preserve the credibility, independence, and public trust that make nuclear regulation durable over the long term?
Today on the show, Jason Bordoff speaks with Ashley Finan and Amy Roma about the growing nuclear industry and evolving landscape of nuclear regulation.
Ashley is the Jay and Jill Bernstein fellow here at the Center on Global Energy Policy and previously served in senior leadership roles at Idaho National Laboratory, where she worked on nuclear energy and national security issues.
Amy is a partner at the law firm Orrick, where she advises clients on legal, business, and policy matters related to the existing nuclear fleet, as well as advanced reactors, fusion facilities, and supporting nuclear infrastructure. She is also a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council's Global Energy Center.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
Despite all the advancements we have achieved globally in recent decades, as many as 750 million people still lack access to electricity. Tackling energy poverty requires far more than linking communities to an electric grid. Closing the massive disparity in opportunity for people around the world will require building energy abundance, not just access.
Energy is prosperity, and one way to measure it is by the Modern Energy Minimum. Developed by the Energy for Growth Hub, this benchmark posits that a truly modern life requires at least 1,000 kilowatt-hours per person, per year—10 to 20 times the amount typically used to define electricity access.
Here at the Center on Global Energy Policy we're partnering with the Rockefeller Foundation to launch a High-Level Panel on Universal Energy Abundance. The panel is dedicated to providing decision-makers with the insights needed to drive industrialization, job creation, and broad-based prosperity across emerging economies.
So how can we develop and invest in energy infrastructure globally in a way that supports prosperity? What role should governments play? Do the right tools to improve access exist? And how do we navigate the tension between energy growth and climate policy?
Today on the show, Jason speaks with Katie Auth about energy's role in driving lasting economic change and why the modern energy minimum model could produce a meaningfully better standard of living in developing economies.
Katie is the deputy executive director at the Energy for Growth Hub, which works to end poverty through sustainable development and climate resilience. She's also a non-resident fellow on US-Africa relations at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a member of the Economic Advisory Council for the U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation. Previously, she spent seven years at the U.S. Agency for International Development, including as senior development finance advisor and acting deputy coordinator of Power Africa.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
For years, the energy transition was discussed as a shift that would happen in steady, predictable increments. But the last 24 months have shattered that illusion. Energy providers now face extreme industrial volatility—where companies tasked with building the future of clean energy are also grappling with multi-billion dollar losses, supply chain fragility, and a sudden, massive surge in power demand.
As the president and CEO of Siemens Energy, Christian Bruch sits at the epicenter of these contradictions. The company is a global giant, responsible for a massive portion of the world's power generation and transmission infrastructure. Yet, even a company of this scale has not been immune to the existential challenges of the modern energy market. In 2023, its wind division, Siemens Gamesa, suffered major technical and financial setbacks. Since then, Siemens Energy has staged a significant turnaround. Its wind business is back on track and Siemens Energy is seeing unprecedented demand for its gas turbines and grid technology, driven largely by demand from data centers to power artificial intelligence.
All of this makes the company a useful lens through which to understand where the global energy system is headed as energy infrastructure providers sprint to keep up with the world's thirst for electricity.
What does the "speed to power" mean for the pace of decarbonization? And how is the role of an energy CEO changing in a world where industrial strategy and geopolitics are now inseparable?
Today on the show, Jason Bordoff speaks with Christian Bruch about the opportunities and challenges that Siemens Energy is facing today, from surging electricity demand and growing infrastructure investments, to geopolitical headwinds and supply risks.
Christian is the president and CEO of Siemens Energy as well as the president and CEO of Siemens Energy Management. Earlier in his career, he worked for more than 15 years at the Linde Group, a global industrial gases and engineering company, where he held a number of leadership roles. He started his career with the German energy company RWE Group, rising to head of research and project development at RWE Fuel Cells.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
The Iran crisis is in its 80th day. Right now, roughly 1,500 vessels laden with oil, natural gas, fertilizers, and oil products sit trapped in the Persian Gulf by a dual US-Iranian blockade. One thing is certain: prolonging this standoff for another 80 days risks triggering profound global economic consequences.
Global oil inventories are depleting fast and are projected to hit critical levels by the end of June.
For the Trump administration—caught between accepting Iranian power over the Strait of Hormuz or risking a major military escalation—the path of least resistance may be to keep maintaining a naval blockade of Iranian oil sales to China. The stakes escalated further this month when Washington sanctioned Hengli Petrochemical—China's second-largest independent refiner—prompting Beijing to retaliate with unprecedented blocking rules against US sanctions.
How will this high-stakes standoff play out in the coming weeks? And how will the worsening US-China rivalry reshape the Middle East conflict?
Today, host Daniel Sternoff sits down with Cory Combs, Head of Supply Chain and Critical Minerals Research at Trivium China. Cory leads Trivium's cross-cutting research on climate, energy, and industrial policy, advising both governments and multinational corporations. He joins us to break down the volatile triangular relationship between Washington, Beijing, and Tehran, and what it means for global energy security and the Strait of Hormuz.
Credits: Hosted by Daniel Sternoff. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
Much of the world's attention today is understandably focused on conflict in the Middle East, and the immediate implications for energy markets and global security. But other regions remain strategically important because of critical minerals, emerging shipping routes, military positioning, and energy security. Among these regions are Greenland and the broader Arctic.
The far north is key to geopolitical competition among the United States, China, and Russia. Though it has fallen out of the recent news cycle, President Trump put Greenland and its resources in the spotlight last year by calling for US control of the Danish territory.
So how significant are Greenland's energy resources and geography? How should we think about its mineral resources in the context of supply chains and China? And how might the Arctic's fast-changing climate affect the region's communities, culture, and geopolitical importance?
Today on the show, Bill Loveless speaks with Iris Ferguson about Greenland's strategic significance, and how the Arctic is changing, both physically as well as geopolitically.
Iris is the president and founder of IAF Strategies and a non-resident senior associate with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. From 2022 to 2025 she served as the inaugural deputy assistant secretary of defense for Arctic and global resilience, advising the Pentagon on protecting US and allied interests in the Arctic. Previously, Iris served as an advisor to the US Air Force, where she authored the service's first Arctic strategy.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
In moments of geopolitical crisis, energy is never just a backdrop. It's often at the center of the story. Today, as conflict involving Iran sends shockwaves through global oil markets and raises fears of supply disruptions, the stakes for policymakers in Washington couldn't be higher.
Prices are rising, risks are multiplying. And as we've seen in recent weeks, there are no easy solutions when energy and national security collide. So what does effective decision-making look like inside the White House at times like these?
Today on the show, to help answer that question, Bill Loveless speaks with Bob McNally and Jason Bordoff. Both of them served as energy advisors during past US administrations. They joined Bill to reflect on what they learned about navigating energy crises from inside the White House.
Bob McNally is the founder and president of Rapidan Energy Group, an independent energy consulting and market advisory firm. From 2001 to 2003 he served on the White House National Economic Council as special assistant to President George W. Bush. And in 2003, he was the senior director for international energy on the National Security Council. His 2017 book, Crude Volatility: The History and the Future of Boom Bust Oil Prices, examines the history of oil price swings.
Jason Bordoff is Columbia Energy Exchange co-host and the founding director of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs, where he is a professor of professional practice. He is also on the faculty of the Columbia Climate School where he is co-founding dean emeritus. He previously served as special assistant to President Barack Obama and senior director for energy and climate change on the staff of the National Security Council.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
It has been a tumultuous 24 hours for the global energy landscape. Yesterday, the United Arab Emirates sent shockwaves through the oil industry by announcing its withdrawal from OPEC, marking a historic break with Saudi Arabia in the midst of the ongoing regional crisis. This move comes as the Strait of Hormuz remains almost entirely shut, with the US intensifying its naval blockade and threatening to cut off major Chinese banks from the US financial system to halt the processing of Iranian oil.
Despite a diplomatic impasse, the physical realities of the market are reaching a breaking point. Brent crude is trading over $118 a barrel, near its wartime highs, and gasoline prices in the US have climbed to an average of $4.22 a gallon—its highest level since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war. With the world burning through crude inventories and jet fuel costs in Asia more than doubling since the Iran war began, the oil market appears to be losing hope for a swift reopening of the strait, forcing a painful calibration between dwindling supply and record-high prices.
So, what does a "dysfunctional" OPEC mean for the future of market management without one of its most important shock absorbers? How much of the world's energy infrastructure has been permanently damaged by the conflict? And what does the tipping point for global demand destruction actually look like?
Today on the show, host Daniel Sternoff talks with Yasser Elguindi about the latest developments in the Middle East. They discuss the UAE's motivations for leaving the cartel, the growing dichotomy between physical and futures markets, and how a "post-Hormuz" world will fundamentally reshape the global energy industry. Yasser is a partner and co-portfolio manager at the Westbeck Energy Opportunity Fund and a veteran oil market strategist with over 25 years of experience advising institutional investors through every major market shock of the 21st century.
Credits: Hosted by Daniel Sternoff. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
In this special episode Jason Bordoff, founding director of the Center on Global Energy Policy, sits down with Robin Pomeroy, host of the World Economic Forum podcast, Radio Davos, to talk about the global and likely lasting impacts of the current energy shock.
This episode is a crosspost originally published by Radio Davos.
During the first weeks of the war in Iran, most analysis focused on the immediate energy shock it triggered. To explore the longer-term implications of the conflict, Jason and Meghan O'Sullivan, director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard's Kennedy School, recently co-authored a piece for Foreign Affairs titled, "The Iran Shock, And the Dangerous Allure of Energy Autarky".
Jason joined Robin Pomeroy to discuss the article and how the largest oil supply disruption the world has ever seen is impacting near-term energy security while fundamentally reshaping the future of the industry. (Unfortunately, Meghan O'Sullivan was unable to join the recording due to illness.)
Our thanks to Robin and the World Economic Forum for collaborating with us to share this conversation.
The global order that shaped the past several decades is giving way to a more fragmented and uncertain world. Long-standing alliances are under strain, economic integration is giving way to competition, and geopolitical risk is once again a central driver of markets and policy.
These shifts are not abstract. They are reshaping trade flows, disrupting supply chains, and contributing to volatility in energy markets and the broader economy—affecting everything from fuel prices to the cost of goods.
So, how might great power competition, geopolitical fragmentation, artificial intelligence, and global instability redefine the international landscape? And what will that mean for policymakers, businesses, and the global energy system?
This week's episode features a fireside chat between Jason Bordoff and Ian Bremmer from the Columbia Global Energy Summit 2026, which was hosted by the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University SIPA and recorded earlier today.
Jason and Ian examine the Iran crisis, the Islamabad talks, and the shifting dynamics of the Gulf region. They also address the "myth" of sovereign AI, China's strategy, and the deep structural concerns of global CEOs navigating today's volatility.
Ian Bremmer is the president and founder of Eurasia Group, a geopolitical risk advisory firm, and GZERO Media, a digital media company providing coverage of international affairs. He is the author of eleven books, including his latest work, The Power of Crisis: How Three Threats—and Our Response—Will Change the World. Ian also teaches at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
It's been a head-spinning day in the Iran war. Earlier today, following a temporary truce between Lebanon and Israel, Iran announced that the Strait of Hormuz would be "completely open" to commercial shipping during this ceasefire. Initial reactions from President Donald Trump were optimistic, but that gave way to some confusion about what "open" actually means in practice. The president later clarified that the existing U.S. blockade on Iranian vessels would remain in place.
Despite the confusion, markets responded quickly. Brent crude dropped below $90 a barrel for the first time in weeks, though prices are still meaningfully elevated relative to pre-war levels. Even with the reprieve, much uncertainty looms as the U.S.-Iran ceasefire deadline of next Tuesday, April 21, approaches
So, what does this moment tell us about the future of energy security? How durable is the current ceasefire? And what energy system will this crisis leave behind?
Today on the show, host Jason Bordoff talks with Amos Hochstein about the recent developments in the Middle East. They discuss the long-term implications of Iran's control of the Strait of Hormuz, the war's geopolitical and energy market impacts, and where Amos thinks this conflict is headed in the near and longer term.
Amos served as deputy assistant and senior advisor for energy and investment to President Biden, and as special presidential coordinator for global infrastructure and energy security. He is a managing partner at TWG Global and a distinguished fellow at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs.
Credits: Hosted by Daniel Sternoff. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc
With an April 21 deadline looming, the Middle East remains suspended in a volatile state of war and peace. Regional mediators are scrambling to broker a second round of US-Iran talks before the current two-week ceasefire expires, hoping to narrow gaps over nuclear ambitions and the Strait of Hormuz to buy critical time for a lasting truce.
In this episode of Iran Conflict Brief, Daniel Sternoff is joined by Mohammad Ali Shabani to analyze the shifts in Tehran's decision-making and the precarious future of the current diplomatic reprieve.
Shabani, editor of Amwaj.media and a veteran analyst of Persian Gulf power dynamics, provides a rare look inside the competing circles of influence in Tehran. He and Daniel address a fundamental question: if the regime survives this conflict, can the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp ever pivot away from its "resistance" ideology, or is holding global energy flows hostage now an existential pillar of its survival?
Credits: Hosted by Daniel Sternoff. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
Energy abundance means different things in today's global context than it did even a decade ago. It is about expanding electricity access while meeting rising energy demand. It is about navigating geopolitical fragmentation, limited government support, shifting development priorities, and leveraging new technologies to deliver reliable power at scale.
But the challenge is not just technological. It is institutional and financial. Many low- and middle-income countries face high capital costs, limited access to financing, and policy frameworks that struggle to keep pace with growing demand.
Solving this challenge is a priority for both the Center on Global Energy Policy and the Rockefeller Foundation, which together have launched a new high-level panel to advance universal energy abundance. This initiative positions reliable, affordable energy as a cornerstone of economic growth, industrialization, and opportunity in emerging and developing economies.
So what does it take to move from energy scarcity and toward energy abundance? Can international institutions, governments, and investors come together to mobilize the scale of investment required? And how can emerging economies balance the urgency of expanding energy access with the need for affordability, reliability, and sustainability?
Today on the show, Jason Bordoff speaks with Rajiv Shah, president of The Rockefeller Foundation, about the high-level panel on universal energy abundance and its goals.
Rajiv leads The Rockefeller Foundation's mission to promote the well-being of humanity by ending energy poverty for more than a billion people, ensuring universal access to food, and strengthening health systems. During the Obama administration, he led the US Agency for International Development as its administrator. He also served on the National Security Council, where he elevated the role of development as part of a bipartisan foreign policy. Earlier in his career, Rajiv developed programs to address climate change and global food security at the US Department of Agriculture and held leadership roles at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, Alice Manos, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
The conflict in Iran is a reminder of how quickly global energy markets can be disrupted. It also underscores why advances in things like battery technology — from electric transportation to grid-scale storage — are becoming central to energy resilience and security.
It has been about 50 years since British chemist Stanley Whittingham laid the foundation for the first lithium-ion battery at an Exxon research lab in New Jersey. In 2019, he and two other scientists, John Goodenough and Akira Yoshino, earned a Nobel Prize for the breakthrough. By then, lithium-ion batteries had transformed consumer electronics and a growing segment of the transportation sector. And today, battery storage is playing an increasing role in supplying new capacity to the eclectic power sector.
So what is the state of battery innovation today? Are there battery chemistries that could dethrone lithium-ion technology? How do mineral availability and environmental health play into the battery market? And what does the federal government's waning support for renewable energy mean for the battery industry?
Today on the show, Bill Loveless speaks with Dan Steingart about the arc of innovation in the battery space, and how different energy storage applications are evolving.
Dan is the Stanley-Thompson Professor of Chemical Metallurgy and a professor of chemical engineering at Columbia University. He also chairs the Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering and co-directs the Columbia Electrochemical Energy Center. Prior to joining Columbia in 2019, Dan was an associate professor at Princeton University.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, Alice Manos, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
On the eve of President Trump's deadline for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the global energy landscape faces a moment of unprecedented risk. With dated Brent crude already surging past $140 a barrel, the threat of tit-for-tat infrastructure strikes looms over the region.
In this episode, Daniel Sternoff speaks with Ali Ansari about what's happening in Iran, how decisions are getting made, and how the regional energy landscape is being permanently reshaped.
The conversation delves into the fractured state of Iranian decision-making following the death of Khamenei and the rise of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as both a military and a corporate hegemon. Ali explains how the IRGC's "mosaic defense" strategy has devolved operational command to local levels, creating a political system that struggles to coordinate even basic utilities like gas and water for its citizens.
Ali Ansari is a professor of Iranian history and the founding director of the Institute for Iranian Studies at the University of St Andrews. He is also a senior associate fellow with the Royal United Services Institute and the author of multiple books on the politics of modern Iran.
Credits: Hosted by Daniel Sternoff. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
While US and Israeli forces have significantly degraded Iran's military and nuclear capability, the global energy landscape remains in a precarious position. For weeks, the Strait of Hormuz has been effectively shut to tanker traffic, causing physical markets to tighten and rationing to spread across Asia. With the US considering an "off-ramp" to declare victory, the world faces a critical dilemma: can the global economy survive a peace that leaves Iran in control of the world's most vital maritime chokepoint?
In this episode of the Iran Conflict Brief, host Daniel Sternoff speaks with Robin Mills to provide a view from the ground in Dubai. They discuss the reality of living under frequent drone and missile alerts, the "tit-for-tat" targeting of industrial infrastructure, and what it would take to reopen the Gulf. They also explore the long-term threat to the GCC's economic diversification models and the potential multi-year recovery timeline for regional LNG production.
Robin Mills is a Dubai-based non-resident fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy and the CEO of Qamar Energy. With over two decades of experience in the Middle East, including roles at Shell and the Emirates National Oil Company, Robin is a leading authority on regional oil and gas business development and the author of The Myth of the Oil Crisis.
Credits: Hosted by Daniel Sternoff. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
During President Trump's second term, the administration has taken unprecedented action in the US private sector. The federal government's investments in critical mineral mining and chip manufacturing are two examples. The Trump administration has also embraced tariffs, framing them as tools for economic security and a domestic industrial revival.
This shift toward state intervention into private markets, done in the name of national security and economic security, has some bipartisan support. It also has major implications for energy security and the clean energy transition.
So how can this new form of American state capitalism be conceptualized? Is the Trump administration's use of these tools different from prior US government programs to support critical industries, like the Biden-era investments under the CHIPS Act? And what are the best strategies for aligning industrial policy with goals around energy security, supply chain resilience, and innovation?
Today on the show, Jason Bordoff speaks with Daleep Singh about how the US deploys economic statecraft and the need for a framework to guide its use.
Daleep Singh is vice chair and chief global economist at asset management firm PGIM and a thought leader on global policy and macroeconomic trends. He first joined PGIM in 2022, before serving the Biden administration as deputy national security advisor for international economics and deputy director of the National Economic Council. Earlier in his career, he held roles at the New York Federal Reserve and the US Treasury Department.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, Alice Manos, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
Today marks the last day of CERAWeek, the annual energy industry conference sometimes described as the Davos of energy. As oil and gas CEOs and government officials gathered in Houston, efforts to broker a ceasefire in Iran failed, and US oil and gasoline prices whipsawed.
Speaking at the conference, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said that the current supply disruptions would be short term, framing rising energy costs as a trade-off for the administration's goal of regime change in Iran. Meanwhile, some oil and gas CEOs warned of coming shortages and said the supply shock is not yet reflected in energy prices.
So, aside from a prevailing sense of instability, what are the takeaways from this year's CERAWeek? Where is the energy crisis headed from here? What have the supply shocks changed about how the industry thinks about risk and resource planning? How are events in the Gulf affecting the renewable, coal, and nuclear energy markets? And what does it all mean for global energy security?
Today, in a special edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, Jason Bordoff talks to Bloomberg opinion columnist Javier Blas to recap the events of the past week and to discuss how oil and gas supply disruptions are reverberating across the industry.
Prior to joining Bloomberg in 2015, Javier held a number of roles at the Financial Times, including Africa editor and the commodities editor. He is also the co-author of The World for Sale: Money, Power and the Traders Who Barter the Earth's Resources.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, Alice Manos, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
The month-long Iran conflict has rapidly expanded, drawing in actors across the Middle East and raising concerns about broader regional escalation. As a result, we're seeing impacts on energy markets around the world, including across the Indo-Pacific.
Roughly 80% of the oil and gas flowing through the Gulf is destined for Asia, and disruptions are already being felt in major importing economies like Japan and South Korea, which remain heavily dependent on Middle Eastern supplies.
But the consequences go beyond energy. The crisis is also adding a new layer of complexity to the U.S.-China relationship—reshaping how Beijing thinks about risk, security, and its role in an increasingly unstable global system.
So how is China interpreting these developments? What do they mean for the Indo-Pacific—both in the near term and over a longer horizon? And how might China's approach to energy security, supply chains, and statecraft position it in a more volatile world?
Today on the show, Jason Bordoff speaks with Kurt Campbell about what the current instability in the Gulf could mean for the Indo-Pacific. They also discuss an essay Kurt co-authored with Rush Doshi in Foreign Affairs, arguing for reorienting US diplomacy with China.
Kurt is the chairman of The Asia Group, which he co-founded in 2013. During the Biden Administration, he was deputy secretary of the United States Department of State. Before assuming his role at the State Department, Kurt served as the inaugural Indo-Pacific coordinator at the National Security Council and deputy assistant to the President at the White House.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, Alice Manos, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
Nearly a month in, the conflict in Iran appears to have hit a critical inflection point. Over the weekend, President Trump gave Iran a 48-hour ultimatum to open the Strait of Hormuz or face strikes on its power infrastructure, which Iran credibly warned would trigger reciprocal attacks on GCC energy infrastructure. President Trump then postponed those strikes after what the administration described as productive talks with Iran on ending the conflict—talks that Iran denied are happening.
Meanwhile, a supply shock of historic proportions is unfolding. Some 16% of world oil supply has been disrupted, more than double the volume disrupted during the 1970s oil shock. And a fifth of world LNG supply has been shut in, affecting 50% more volume than the 2022 Russian gas crisis. The world's largest release of strategic oil inventories will buy weeks but not months for most advanced economies.
In this episode of the Iran Conflict Brief, host Daniel Sternoff speaks with Greg Sharenow about how the energy shocks are reshaping the investment landscape.
Greg leads the commodity portfolio management group at asset management firm PIMCO. He co-manages PIMCO's Energy and Tactical Credit Opportunities strategies. Prior to joining PIMCO in 2011, he traded energy at Hess Energy Trading, Goldman Sachs, and D.E. Shaw.
Credits: Hosted by Daniel Sternoff. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, Alice Manos, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
As the conflict in the Middle East enters its 20th day, events on the ground have shifted into a critical new phase marked by direct strikes on core energy infrastructure. With the Strait of Hormuz closed for three weeks, effectively bottling up nearly a fifth of the world's oil and LNG supply, recent escalations have turned the crisis from energy flow disruptions to potentially long-term physical damage.
Following Israeli strikes on the South Pars gas field in Iran, retaliatory attacks hit Qatar's Ras Laffan—the world's largest LNG plant—and key energy assets across the UAE, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia. Crude oil and natural gas prices have surged, signaling a shrinking toolkit for policymakers struggling to contain price volatility.
In this episode of the Iran Conflict Brief, host Daniel Sternoff talks with Anne-Sophie Corbeau to analyze the impact of these infrastructure attacks on global LNG supplies and energy security.
They discuss the extent of the damage to Qatari and Iranian production facilities and the intensifying pressure on global markets. They also discuss the possibilities, and reverberations, to a scenario where this leads Europe to a return to Russian gas.
Anne-Sophie is a global research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy and a leading authority on the intersection of geopolitics and natural gas.
Credits: Hosted by Daniel Sternoff. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
The climate policy landscape in the US is in flux. Last month, the Environmental Protection Agency repealed its own power to regulate greenhouse gases. Two weeks later, the Supreme Court said it will hear a case which the city of Boulder, Colorado, brought against the oil companies ExxonMobil and Suncor that could determine the fate of lawsuits brought by cities and states against fossil fuel companies over damages from climate change.
Since its adoption in 2009, EPA's endangerment finding — which says that greenhouse gases harm public health and welfare — had formed the legal foundation for major federal climate regulations. In announcing its rescission, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin called it the largest single deregulatory event in US history. But the repeal may be held up in courts for years, and it's just one piece of a complicated regulatory puzzle.
Petitions for review challenging the EPA's rescission of the endangerment finding are due in just over a month. So how might these major policy swings play out in practical terms? What are the near- and long-term stakes at the federal and state levels? What are the reactions from and the preferences of industry? And how might all of this play out in terms of US greenhouse gas emissions?
Today on the show, Bill Loveless speaks with Michael Gerrard and Jeff Holmstead about possible legal strategies and outcomes for challenges to both the endangerment finding rescission and the Boulder case.
Michael is the founder and faculty director of the Columbia University Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. Before joining Columbia in 2009, he practiced environmental law in New York for three decades. Jeff is a partner and co-chair of the Environmental Strategies Group at Bracewell, LLP, an international law firm. From 2001 to 2005, he served as the assistant administrator for air and radiation in the EPA during the administration of President George W. Bush.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
As the US-Israeli military campaign against Iran enters its third week, the complexities of the global energy landscape are deepening by the hour. Shut-ins of Middle Eastern upstream oil production are now approaching 10 million barrels per day, 20% of the world's liquefied natural gas remains shuttered, and the Strait of Hormuz is effectively closed to normal maritime traffic. And while a historic 400-million-barrel release from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve helped blunt oil prices from rising further over a hundred dollars per barrel, flow rate limitations mean such stockpiles may only meet one fifth of the ongoing daily disruptions.
In this episode of the Iran Conflict Brief, host Daniel Sternoff sits down with Richard Nephew to give an update on the latest events in Iran. They provide an analysis of the ongoing military strikes, including the recent US targeting of Kharg Island and Iran's retaliation against the UAE's Fujairah port.
Richard is a senior research scholar at the Columbia Center on Global Energy Policy and the author of The Art of Sanctions. Over the past two decades, he has held a range of senior roles in the US government, including deputy special envoy for Iran, principal deputy coordinator for sanctions policy at the Department of State, and director for Iran at the National Security Council.
Credits: Hosted by Daniel Sternoff. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
In energy markets, all eyes are on the Strait of Hormuz. As of March 11, 2026, this vital passage is effectively closed to tanker traffic, stranding almost a fifth of world supplies of crude oil, oil products, and liquefied natural gas.
Yesterday, oil prices retreated sharply on a tweet from US Energy Secretary Chris Wright, claiming that the US Navy had escorted a tanker through Hormuz. That tweet was retracted, and was followed by reports that US intelligence had detected signs Iran had begun placing mines in the Strait.
To help sort through the quickly-changing events in the Middle East and dig into how they impact energy security, we are launching a new, limited series of the Columbia Energy Exchange podcast: the Iran Conflict Brief. To kick off the series, Daniel Sternoff, a senior fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy, speaks with Mike Knights about what needs to happen in order for oil and gas flows to resume through the Strait of Hormuz.
Mike is an expert on Gulf and Middle East security and leads research at Horizon Engage, a strategic advisory firm. For over 20 years he has advised operators and investors in the region of political and security risks. He is also an adjunct fellow at the Washington Institute for NearEast Policy, where he co-founded the Militia Spotlight, focused on Iran-backed proxies.
Credits: Hosted by Daniel Sternoff. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc
The conflict in the Middle East is evolving with incredible speed, creating a landscape where the complexities of understanding both immediate and long-term outcomes have never been greater. We'll still be here every Tuesday for our deep-dive conversations on the global energy landscape. But the speed of events in Iran and across the region demands a different kind of coverage. That's why we're launching a new limited series: the Iran Conflict Brief. It's a rapid-response podcast hosted by Daniel Sternoff and other experts from Columbia University SIPA's Center on Global Energy Policy. In conversations with other leading voices, we're going to help answer the biggest questions of the day in 30 minutes or less. From the latest on policy shifts to global energy markets and geopolitical dynamics—we're tracking it all. Look for the first episode of the Iran Conflict Brief right here in your Columbia Energy Exchange feed.
Since the US-Israeli bombing campaign began in Iran, energy markets around the world have been on edge as the conflict threatens immediate and long-term energy supplies. We've seen major disruptions throughout the Gulf region, with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and massive price spikes and swings in oil and natural gas.
This is of course exposing serious vulnerabilities across global energy markets and it's putting a spotlight on what's happening in the deeply integrated markets of Russia and China.
Even before the conflict started, Russia's energy sector was struggling under the weight of infrastructure damage inflicted by Ukrainian forces. But now Russia has emerged as an unlikely safety valve for the market, benefiting from the massive supply shortages.
Meanwhile, China finds itself in a precarious balancing act; it is being forced to look at alternative markets for relief and is reportedly reviving discussions around major energy projects, such as the Power of Siberia 2 natural gas pipeline with Russia.
So how is Russia responding to the current crisis? And how is it impacting China, which is particularly exposed to disruptions in Gulf energy flows? How might this crisis change Russia's approach to the European energy market? And is the conflict accelerating a deeper fragmentation — moving toward a world of competing energy blocs rather than a single global energy market?
Today on the show, Jason Bordoff speaks with Erica Downs, Tatiana Mitrova and Sergey Vakulenko about how the crisis in the Middle East is impacting Russia and China and what each country stands to gain or lose.
Tatiana is a global fellow at CGEP. She has deep expertise in Russian and global energy markets, including production and pricing.
Erica is a senior research scholar at CGEP, where she focuses on Chinese energy markets and geopolitics.
Sergey is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center. Prior to this, he led strategy, innovations, and sustainability at the Russian oil producer Gazprom Neft.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
On February 28, the United States and Israel launched a campaign against Iran targeting military infrastructure and the regime's core leadership. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several senior officials died in the attacks, which triggered a leadership crisis and inflamed tensions throughout the Middle East.
In the immediate aftermath, Iran launched extensive barrages of drones and ballistic missiles aimed at Israel, US military bases, and other targets in neighboring Gulf states. Energy prices rose sharply.
This regional shift carries immediate and enduring consequences for global geopolitics and the stability of international energy flows. The outcome of the conflict—and the ultimate fate of the Iranian regime—remains deeply uncertain. Even with these open questions, the trajectory of this escalation will likely redefine the future of Middle Eastern security, global power dynamics, and the world's energy markets.
How is the conflict evolving, and how might it end? What are the impacts on Gulf states and what are some of the possible paths forward? And how is this all impacting oil and gas markets across the globe?
Today on the show, Jason Bordoff speaks with four experts from the Center on Global Energy Policy—Anne-Sophie Corbeau, Richard Nephew, Daniel Sternoff, and Karen Young—to discuss the escalating conflict and its impact on energy and geopolitics.
Anne-Sophie is a global research scholar at CGEP, where she focuses on hydrogen and natural gas. She previously worked as a senior analyst at BP and the International Energy Agency.
Richard is a senior research scholar at CGEP and formerly served as the US deputy special envoy for Iran under the Biden administration, where he played a key role in negotiations over the Iran nuclear deal.
Daniel is a senior fellow at CGEP and heads its corporate partnership strategy.
Karen is a senior research scholar at CGEP with expertise in the Middle East focusing on geopolitics, the political economy of Gulf states, and energy policy.
The Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University SIPA is closely following the escalating conflict in Iran and its implications for US national security, Middle East geopolitics, and global energy markets. See all of our coverage here.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
President Trump has aggressively used tariffs as an economic tool, but a US Supreme Court decision on Friday struck down his sweeping tariffs, bringing new uncertainty. The court, in a 6-to-3 decision, ruled that the president had exceeded his authority when he imposed tariffs on nearly every US trading partner last year.
President Trump moved swiftly to work around the court by imposing levies using other trade powers. On Saturday, Trump said that he would raise the new global tariff rate to 15%, using a provision in a law that allows him to impose an across-the-board tariff. This measure can only be enacted for 150 days unless Congress agrees to extend it. Trump also said he would use the act to investigate other countries' unfair trade practices, which could result in additional tariffs.
What does the Supreme Court ruling mean for the president's ability to wield tariffs for geopolitical pressure? How will this impact US trading partners and existing trade deals? And what about the impact on the energy sector, from oil and gas to clean energy products?
Today on the show, Jason Bordoff speaks with two researchers from the Center on Global Energy Policy, Richard Nephew and Trevor Sutton, to unpack the ruling.
Richard formerly served as the US deputy special envoy for Iran under the Biden administration, where he played a key role in negotiations over the Iran nuclear deal. From 2013-2015, Richard also served as the Principal Deputy Sanctions Coordinator at the US Department of State.
Trevor focuses on the intersection of trade, climate, and industrial policy. He leads the center's program on trade and the clean energy transition. Trevor previously served as research director of the Remaking Trade for a Sustainable Future project.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
Under the second Trump administration, the US Department of Energy significantly shifted its priorities to align with its "energy dominance" agenda. But one significant point of continuity with the Biden years is a continued emphasis on energy security.
Energy security means different things today than it did even a decade ago. It's about competing in the global race for artificial intelligence, reshoring manufacturing supply chains, and keeping the lights on as extreme weather events become more frequent and more destructive. But the administration's efforts to bolster energy availability at a time of surging load growth has included emergency orders to keep coal-fired power plants operating. And it has pulled back funding for new energy transmission projects that it says will not quickly lower energy costs for US consumers.
So when it comes to the administration's energy dominance agenda, what are the trade-offs between security and speed? What does the administration's waning support for renewables and low-carbon industries mean for American clean energy innovation in the coming decades? And how will the US build out new power capacity, including advanced nuclear, quickly and safely?
Today on the show, Jason Bordoff speaks to the acting under secretary of energy at the US Department of Energy, Alex Fitzsimmons, about the second Trump administration's energy policy priorities.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
The Trump administration has prioritized nuclear energy expansion, aiming to increase US nuclear capacity fourfold by 2050. This nuclear energy resurgence in the US is a rare issue with bipartisan support, and tech companies have poured billions of dollars into sustaining nuclear power plants and building new reactors to supply AI data centers.
But accelerating nuclear power could mean changing environmental and safety reviews. And small modular reactors and other innovations in nuclear energy are likely years from commercial readiness.
So is there a way to reinvigorate nuclear energy in the US that's safe and fast? What would that mean for the power sector and the communities that support plants today, and future sites? Are there any signs that new technologies could address the perennial questions around nuclear safety? And what does all of this mean for national security and energy policy?
Today on the show, Bill Loveless speaks with Laura S. H. Holgate, Ambassador (ret.) about the state of nuclear energy innovation, safety, and governance.
Laura is the president of LSHH International Advisors and a distinguished visiting fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy. She twice served as ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency. She has held multiple positions in and out of government, including vice president at the Nuclear Threat Initiative, special assistant to the president at the White House National Security Council, and a senior official at the departments of Energy and Defense.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
As political support for clean energy has waxed and waned over the past twenty years, so has the government's financial backing. In the 2010s, critics pointed to the failed solar startup Solyndra, which the Department of Energy had backed to the tune of half a billion dollars, as a poster child of wasteful spending.
But under President Biden, in addition to major clean energy incentives passed in the Inflation Reduction Act, the DOE's Loan Programs Office borrowing authority grew ten-fold. Now, under a second Trump administration, the tide turned again. The loan office, and clean energy spending, have scaled back significantly.
So how has federal support of nascent clean energy technologies evolved? What could be done today to lower energy costs while boosting the reliability of the electric grid? Where is domestic manufacturing headed and how does that impact both energy and national security? And what could be done today to lower energy costs while boosting the reliability of the electric grid?
Today on the show, Jason Bordoff speaks with Jigar Shah to discuss the current state of clean energy investing and innovation.
Jigar is the co-managing partner at the clean tech advisory firm Multiplier and co-hosts the Open Circuit podcast. He directed the DOE's Loan Programs Office during the Biden administration. Before that, he co-founded and was the president of the investment firm Generate Capital. Early in his career he co-founded the solar service company SunEdison.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
With electricity prices on the rise, the future of our power grid is attracting a lot more attention. Surging demand is at the center of the story, but the power sector is also grappling with supply chain bottlenecks and aging infrastructure – all while trying to balance capacity growth with reducing emissions.
This isn't just a technical challenge. Energy affordability and equity are reshaping debates about energy policy, permitting reform, and climate goals.
So, what's really behind rising prices? What are the best ways to balance the need to build capacity with the interests of communities? What role can research play when it comes to steering energy policy? And what lessons can Texas teach us about all of these concerns?
Today on the show, Jason Bordoff speaks with Michael Webber about the costs of energy; the challenges of permitting reform; and the need to build more energy faster.
Michael Webber is a professor at the University of Texas at Austin. He's the author of multiple books on energy, including Power Trip and Thirst for Power, both of which were adapted into award-winning PBS documentary series. In addition to his academic post, Michael previously served as CTO of the venture fund Energy Impact Partners, and as chief science and technology officer at ENGIE.
Note: This conversation was recorded in early December.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
From the affordability crisis and the data center boom, to the US government's campaign to reinvigorate the Venezuelan oil market, energy is dominating headlines in unusual ways.
And that's all happening against a backdrop of upheaval in federal energy policy, which started on day one of the second Trump administration. As we begin the new year and head into midterm elections, there's a dizzying number of crucial energy policy issues at play.
So what issues are shaping US climate and energy policymaking in 2026? How might upcoming court rulings change things? As high utility bills persist, how is the public responding to changes in energy policy? And what stories or trends are not being told amid all of these important energy storylines?
Today on the show, Bill Loveless speaks with reporters Maxine Joselow and Josh Siegel about covering energy and climate policy, and what key stories and trends they're covering in 2026.
Maxine Joselow is a reporter for The New York Times where she covers climate policy from Washington D.C. Before joining The Times Maxine covered climate change and the environment for The Washington Post. Earlier, she was a reporter at E&E News.
Josh Siegel is an energy reporter for POLITICO, where he focuses on Congress. He also hosts the POLITICO Energy podcast. Previously, he covered the energy beat for the Washington Examiner where he wrote the Daily on Energy newsletter.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
Great power competition—particularly between the United States and China—is intensifying. This rivalry is reshaping everything from technology supply chains and energy security to the future of artificial intelligence.
This is happening at a time when US relations with India and Europe are under strain, largely due to policy uncertainty and the administration's new trade strategies.
So how should the US navigate this new era of great power competition? How do we balance economic competitiveness with security and energy objectives? Where do critical technologies like AI and clean energy fit into this geopolitical chess match? And what can cooperation, dialogue, and diplomacy do to address all of these issues?
Today on the show, Jason Bordoff speaks with Anja Manuel about the state of global competition and the critical intersection of energy and national security.
Anja is a co-founder and partner at Rice, Hadley, Gates & Manuel LLC, a strategic consulting firm. She's also the executive director of the Aspen Strategy Group and the Aspen Security Forum, one of the premier bipartisan assemblies for foreign policy in the United States. Previously, Anja served as special assistant to the undersecretary for political affairs in the U.S. Department of State. She's the author of "This Brave New World: India, China, and the United States."
Note: This episode was recorded in mid-December and does not reflect the most recent events in Venezuela.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
Early on January 3, 2026, the United States apprehended Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife and removed Maduro from power. Maduro was transported to New York, where he now faces federal charges of narco-terrorism and drug trafficking.
The situation in Venezuela remains highly fluid, as does the US policy response. President Trump has signaled a dramatic expansion of US objectives. He has suggested the US will be "running" the country during a transition and is seeking direct access to Venezuela's massive oil reserves.
In Caracas, interim President Delcy Rodríguez condemned the operation but has expressed a willingness to negotiate. Meanwhile, the role of democratic opposition leader María Corina Machado remains unclear.
Venezuela possesses the largest oil reserves in the world and these developments raise important questions for global energy markets at a time of ongoing geopolitical uncertainty. What's the future of Venezuelan oil? And how might US sanctions and foreign policy decisions reshape energy flows in the region and beyond?
Today on the show, Jason Bordoff speaks with three leading experts at the Center on Global Energy Policy, Luisa Palacios, Richard Nephew, and Daniel Sternoff, about the recent events in Venezuela and their wide-ranging implications.
Luisa previously served as chairwoman of Citgo Petroleum Corporation, the US refining arm of Venezuela's state-owned oil company, PDVSA. Richard formerly was the US deputy special envoy for Iran among several other government roles focused on sanctions and foreign policy. Before joining the Center, Daniel led Energy Aspects' executive briefing service.
The Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University SIPA is closely following recent US actions in Venezuela and their impact on geopolitics, policy, and global energy markets. Follow us @ColumbiaUEnergy for more insights and updates. See all of our coverage here.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
This has been a crucial year for US energy policy. The passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act eliminated many of the clean energy incentives that were centerpieces of Biden-era climate policy.
The rollback of key climate provisions from the Inflation Reduction Act led to contentious debate over America's energy future. With so many shifting priorities and questions around the direction and the pace of the energy transition, it's unclear what 2026 will bring.
So how are policymakers facing these challenges and working to accelerate clean energy deployment in a shifting political environment? What does pragmatic energy policy look like in an era of deep partisanship? And what should the policy response be to rising electricity demand and costs in the United States?
Today on the show, we're revisiting a conversation that Jason Bordoff had back in September with Illinois Congressman Sean Casten. They discussed the state of clean energy deployment in the US.
Congressman Casten represents Chicago's western suburbs and serves on both the House Financial Services Committee and the Joint Economic Committee. He's also vice chair of the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition. Before entering Congress, Rep. Casten was a clean energy entrepreneur and consultant, serving as CEO of Turbosteam Corporation and as founding chairman of the Northeast CHP Initiative.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
Over the past week, President Trump has intensified pressure on Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro by targeting the regime's economic lifeline—oil. The United States has seized two oil tankers and is in pursuit of another, following President Trump's declaration of what he called a "total and complete blockade" of vessels carrying Venezuelan crude subject to US sanctions.
The move places one of Venezuela's most valuable and strategic assets squarely at the center of the conflict. The country holds an estimated 17 percent of the world's oil reserves and produces nearly one million barrels per day, nearly all of which is exported. Targeting these exports and the use of a naval blockade carries serious implications, raising questions about the potential for further escalation.
How is the standoff between Washington and Caracas evolving? What diplomatic or economic off-ramps—if any—remain? And what does all of this mean for global energy markets already navigating a fragile balance of supply, sanctions, and geopolitical risk?
This week, Jason Bordoff speaks with Luisa Palacios and Eddie Fishman about the Trump administration's strategy in the region.
Luisa leads the research team and is a scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy. Previously, she served as chairwoman of CITGO Petroleum Corporation, the US refining arm of Venezuela's state-owned oil company, PDVSA.
Eddie is a senior research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy. He is the author of the bestselling book Chokepoints: American Power in the Era of Economic Warfare, which was named a finalist for the Financial Times Business Book of the Year.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
If it seems like you're hearing a lot more about geothermal energy lately, that's because this clean, firm energy source is at a technological turning point.
With roots in the 1970s, enhanced geothermal systems aren't exactly new. But they're finally hitting paydirt — or rather, steam — thanks to improved drilling techniques borrowed from the fracking boom.
These advances have made geothermal energy production potentially viable outside of the Western states in the US, where it's long been a small but steady source of power.
So what is the state of geothermal energy and what's behind the current surge in innovation? How are falling costs and sustained policy support helping geothermal producers gain more traction right now? And what are the next technical frontiers that could lead to even more productive geothermal wells?
This week, Bill Loveless speaks to Roland Horne about the state of geothermal technology, particularly enhanced geothermal systems.
Roland is the Thomas Davies Barrow professor of earth sciences, professor of energy science and engineering, and director of the geothermal program at Stanford University. He's also a senior fellow at Stanford's Precourt Institute for Energy. Over his career, he has made significant technical contributions to the field of geothermal energy production
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
Investment in clean energy technologies is on course to hit a record $2.2 trillion this year, according to the International Energy Agency. That's more than twice the amount invested in fossil fuels.
But 2025 also brought lots of geopolitical, economic, and political uncertainty to clean technology investing. Waning enthusiasm for climate action in some governments and intensifying trade wars have created more risk for many investors.
So how much are these policy shifts impacting climate investment strategies? How have investors in the United States reacted to the roll-back of some key incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act? What technologies are most promising? And where is the climate investing landscape headed in the next decade?
This week, Jason Bordoff talks to Emmanuel Lagarrigue about the state of renewables and clean tech investing.
Emmanuel is a partner and the global co-head of KKR's climate transition strategy. Before that, he was a founding partner of BeyondNetZero, a General Atlantic fund focusing on decarbonization technologies. Emmanuel spent the first two decades of his career at Schneider Electric, where he held a number of leadership roles. He is also an advisory board member here at the Center on Global Energy Policy.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
The national conversation around climate change is shifting. There's more focus on energy affordability and demand, as well as on the dual role artificial intelligence plays as both a climate problem and potential tool for lowering emissions. Likewise, there's been a shift in how the media covers these issues.
Research shows that news coverage of climate has declined in recent years — as have the number of local newsrooms. Yet, surveys indicate that news consumers want more coverage of climate change. So do reporters and editors, based on strong interest in the Energy Journalism Fellowship at the Center on Global Energy Policy.
So what's the state of energy and climate journalism? How have shrinking newsrooms, eroding trust in news institutions, and the rise of AI impacted this beat? And what are the most powerful levers energy and climate reporters can use right now to reach wider audiences and cover the energy transition thoroughly and with integrity?
This week, Bill Loveless talks to Amy Harder about the state of energy and climate journalism.
Amy is the national energy correspondent for Axios and has been covering energy and climate for more than 15 years. She was among the first reporters to join Axios after its launch in 2017, but from 2021 until earlier this year she was founding executive editor of Cipher News, backed by Breakthrough Energy, a network of clean energy organizations. She began her career at National Journal, and then worked for The Wall Street Journal.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission regulates the United States' energy transmission, pipeline networks, and wholesale rates for electricity. For much of its history, FERC was a little-known federal agency. But that's changing.
Today, topics like energy affordability and the urgent build-out of data centers to support AI are putting FERC in the spotlight. The Trump administration is also exerting pressure on the agency. This fall, Energy Secretary Chris Wright directed the commission to fast-track grid connections for certain large loads, such as data centers. But many communities have pushed back against new energy infrastructure.
So how is this independent agency handling pressures to reform its policies? How might politics play out — or not — in its rulings and in key court decisions that impact the agency? Outside of the agency, what are some solutions to building more energy infrastructure faster?
This week, Jason Bordoff talks to Neil Chatterjee about FERC's role in energy policy.
Neil is a former commissioner of FERC, where he also twice served as chairman. Neil recently joined the Center for Global Energy Policy as a distinguished visiting fellow. He also currently is an advisor and investor in a number of organizations and is the chief government affairs officer at residential clean energy company Palmetto. Early in his career, Neil worked for Senator Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., as his energy policy advisor.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
Around the globe, and here in the United States, energy markets face huge uncertainties. They include everything from rising geopolitical tensions to a wave of new liquefied natural gas supply, and from concentrated critical mineral supply chains to growing demand for electricity.
These uncertainties are reflected by the International Energy Agency in this year's World Energy Outlook, which explores a range of possible energy futures — particularly around oil and gas demand.
So how have energy policies at the country level, growing economic warfare, and rising prices impacted the IEA's outlook? How should we understand the role of energy security and geopolitical risk? Here in the US, how have energy policy shifts impacted the outlook? And what role do the transition to electric mobility and the pace of energy innovation play?
This week, Jason Bordoff talks to Tim Gould about this year's World Energy Outlook, the IEA's flagship annual report. It projects a world with as much as 3 degrees of warming by 2100, under current policies, or with as little as 1.5 degrees of warming by 2100 if global energy systems quickly decarbonize.
Tim is the International Energy Agency's chief energy economist. As part of this role, he co-leads the World Energy Outlook. Tim joined the IEA in 2008 as a specialist on Russian and Caspian energy. Before joining the agency, Tim worked on European and Eurasian energy issues in Brussels.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
Elected officials face huge challenges when it comes to energy policymaking. They have very little time to learn complicated, nuanced issues. They're bombarded by information — some of it from organizations that are tightly aligned with ideological or political movements.
Whether it's from industry or civil society, the information policymakers receive, even if accurate, can often come with an agenda. Plus, translating academic research into policy comes with its own challenges. All of this makes building energy policy based on independent, trusted expertise difficult, especially in a time of deep partisanship.
So how can evidence and analysis best be used to design and build good energy policy? How can philanthropy drive innovative solutions to pressing challenges, like the energy transition? Where are the disconnects between high-quality research and thoughtful policymaking, and how can those efforts be bridged?
This week, Jason Bordoff speaks with John Arnold about the hurdles and opportunities for building energy infrastructure and the power of evidence-based policymaking.
John Arnold is co-founder and co-chair of Arnold Ventures, a philanthropic organization that supports initiatives in a range of sectors. He is also co-founder of Grid United, which develops high-voltage transmission projects. Previously, John was the CEO of Centaurus Energy. He started his career at Enron, where he oversaw the trading of natural gas derivatives. John is also an advisory board member at the Columbia Center on Global Energy Policy, and serves on the board of other organizations, including Meta.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
The ten years since the Paris Agreement was signed at the UN Climate Change Conference, COP 21, have been the ten hottest years on record. And the outcome that the Paris Agreement sought — limiting global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels — is now widely considered unattainable.
There are other hurdles as well. Many nations have not submitted climate action plans, or nationally determined contributions, to the UN. And President Trump says he plans to re-withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement. Still, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change marches on. Next week, delegates, activists, and journalists will converge in Belém, Brazil, for the 30th Conference of the Parties, or COP30.
So what are some of the possible outcomes of this year's climate summit? Will the absence of the United States even matter? Will the issue of climate equity and financing garner much attention? And what could come from a new forum that Brazil is planning, where governments will discuss how climate policy affects trade?
This week, Bill Loveless speaks with Elliot Diringer about the issues that are likely to dominate the upcoming COP.
Elliot is a global fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy directing its International Dialogue on Climate and Trade. He brings decades of experience in climate diplomacy as a negotiator, journalist, and policy strategist. He first engaged with the topic as a reporter covering the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro and later served in senior roles in the Clinton administration, the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, and more recently as a senior policy advisor to Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry during the Biden administration.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
Last week, President Trump announced that he was imposing significant new sanctions on Russia. It's an effort to cut off revenue Russia needs for its war in Ukraine. This comes at a time when Russia's oil industry is also under pressure from intensifying Ukrainian attacks on refineries, crude pipelines, and export terminals.
It's also happening as producers have been ramping up output amid signs of cooling demand growth. Yet the sanctions could still bite. Especially given that the Treasury sanctions announcement came with the explicit warning that secondary sanctions—targeting buyers of Russian crude oil from these companies—could be coming next.
So why did Trump take this step now? Will these sanctions be strongly enforced? What's the point of these sanctions? And what do they mean for global energy flows, energy markets and geopolitics?
This week, we are sharing a recording of a Rapid Response webinar from Monday, October 27, in which Jason Bordoff spoke with three experts from the Center on Global Energy Policy — Richard Nephew, Tatiana Mitrova, and Daniel Sternoff — about these new Russian oil sanctions.
Richard Nephew is senior research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy and a former U.S. Deputy Special Envoy for Iran. Tatiana Mitrova is a global fellow at the Center and has deep expertise in Russian and global energy markets. Daniel Sternoff is a senior fellow at the Center. He also leads Energy Aspects' executive briefing service.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
Energy has long been used as a weapon. The United Kingdom blocked oil exports to Germany during World War I. Hitler's fall was due in part to losing access to oilfields in the Caucasus. And the most recent example: the 1973 Arab oil embargo, which shocked the global economy.
During the following fifty years, the energy weapon largely receded from the geopolitical stage, and in many countries energy security started to feel like a given. But developments including Russia's weaponization of natural gas against Europe, China's restrictions on critical minerals, and growing trade tensions around the world have brought energy back to the center of great-power competition.
So is this a new age of energy weaponization? What would that mean for global energy security? What new vulnerabilities are emerging as the clean energy transition accelerates and electricity demand surges? And how can countries protect themselves in this new age of fragmentation and rivalry?
This week, Bill Loveless speaks with Jason Bordoff and Meghan O'Sullivan about "The Return of the Energy Weapon," a Foreign Affairs essay published today, in which they explore how, after a fifty-year period of relative stability, the use of energy as a coercive tool of statecraft is making a comeback.
Jason is the founding director of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs, where he is a professor of professional practice. He is also on the faculty of the Columbia Climate School, where he is cofounding dean emeritus. He previously served as special assistant to President Barack Obama and senior director for energy and climate change on the staff of the National Security Council.
Meghan is the Jeane Kirkpatrick Professor of the Practice of International Affairs, director of the Geopolitics of Energy Projects, and director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University's Kennedy School. She has served in multiple senior policymaking roles and has advised national security officials in both Republican and Democratic administrations.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
Trade tensions between the US and China have hit a new high mark. Last week, after China announced plans to ratchet up its export controls of some rare-earths and magnets with strategic uses, President Trump threatened to retaliate with 100% tariffs, which would go into effect on November 1 or sooner. But the competition between these two world powers goes far beyond trade disputes and tariffs. It's a contest between fundamentally different approaches to governance, technology, and economic development.
China, of course, dominates critical supply chains for clean energy technologies. But many of the innovations that spawned those technologies were born here in the US. China builds, and governs through strong state control. The US innovates, but struggles to build.
How did these two nations develop such different capabilities? What does China's dominance in manufacturing mean for American competitiveness and national security? And can the United States learn from China's approach to building at scale without sacrificing democratic values and individual rights?
This week, Jason Bordoff speaks with Dan Wang about his recent book Breakneck: China's Quest to Engineer the Future. They discuss the book's framing — that China is an engineering state and America as a lawyerly society — and how those orientations undergird what, and how, these world powers produce.
Dan is a research fellow at Stanford University's Hoover History Lab and studies China's technological capabilities. He was previously a fellow at the Yale Law School's Paul Tsai China Center and a lecturer at Yale University's MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
Industrial policy, supply chain security, and economic competitiveness are central to how we think about clean energy deployment. As the Trump administration pulls back federal support for the clean energy transition, there are more and more calls for pragmatism and realism.
The shifting conversation around clean energy is visible in other ways, too. During last month’s Climate Week in New York, there was more focus on a broader set of energy policy goals that included not only decarbonization but also energy security, energy affordability, and energy for economic development.
So what does effective energy policy look like in this new era and under new pressures? How should we balance climate ambitions with energy security and economic competitiveness? And what does all of this mean for domestic leadership and investments in things like manufacturing and modernizing the electricity grid?
This week, Jason Bordoff speaks with Sarah Ladislaw about the risks and opportunities they both see in this evolution towards building a better energy system.
Sarah is managing director of the US Program at Rocky Mountain Institute, where she leads work on federal, state, and local energy policy, and runs the New Energy Industrial Strategy Center. Previously, she worked in the Biden White House, leading climate and energy efforts within the National Security Council. Before that, she was senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O’Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
Last year, an energy permitting reform bill sponsored by Senators Joe Manchin and John Barrasso passed out of committee but failed to gain full support in the US Senate. Since then, rising energy costs and infrastructure backlogs have only heightened pressure on Congress to take another run at reforming the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
As a result, momentum behind permitting reform is building again. Several legislative efforts are underway, most notably the bipartisan SPEED Act, which would change NEPA requirements in order to streamline the permitting process. It would also set limits on judicial review.
So how likely is meaningful permitting reform, this time around? How would it enable timely development of energy infrastructure without jeopardizing environmental concerns? And what might make it feasible to supporters of fossil and renewable energy alike?
This week, Bill Loveless speaks to Jim Connaughton about shifting motivations for permitting reform in DC, and whether policymakers can find enough common ground to push reforms forward.
Jim is the CEO of JLC Strategies and the former chairman and CEO of Nautilus Data Technologies. During the George W. Bush administration, he served as chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality and directed the White House Office of Environmental Policy.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O’Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
Following the rollback of key climate provisions from the Inflation Reduction Act, the debate over America's energy future is increasingly contentious. The passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act has eliminated, or at least cobbled, many of the clean energy incentives that were centerpieces of Biden-era climate policy.
This week, climate policymakers, business leaders, investors, and advocates are converging in New York City for Climate Week. With so much happening and many questions around the pace of the energy transition, it’s a crucial moment in US energy policy.
So how are policymakers facing these challenges and working to accelerate clean energy deployment in a shifting political environment? What does pragmatic energy policy look like in an era of deep partisanship? And what should the policy response be to rising electricity demand in the US?
This week, Jason Bordoff speaks to Congressman Sean Casten about the current state of clean energy deployment in the US.
Congressman Casten represents Illinois's 6th congressional district and serves on both the House Financial Services Committee and the Joint Economic Committee. He's also vice chair of the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition. Before entering Congress, Rep. Casten was a clean energy entrepreneur and consultant, serving as CEO of Turbo Steam Corporation and as founding chairman of the Northeast CHP Initiative.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O’Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
Everyone from energy executives to traders on Wall Street to policymakers across the US depend on accurate, timely information about energy production, consumption, and trends. At the heart of this critical infrastructure sits the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). Daniel Yergin, vice chairman of S&P Global, has called EIA’s data the “gold standard.”
But while the amount and complexity of energy data is growing, federal support for ensuring robust energy data collection is waning. The agency underwent substantial staffing cuts this spring — part of the Department of Government Efficiency’s reductions. After the EIA’s most recent Annual Energy Outlook forecast the growth of renewables, the Department of Energy criticized the findings.
So how vulnerable is the agency to losing more support from the administration? What’s at stake if EIA cannot retain or recruit people with expertise in not only traditional energy but emerging fields, like critical minerals? And who else stands to lose if the agency that provides national energy data collection and objective analysis falters?
This week, Bill Loveless speaks to former EIA Administrator Adam Sieminski about the state of play at the EIA and what is at risk if support for the agency continues to erode.
Adam is a senior advisor to the board at KAPSARC, a non-profit energy, economics, and sustainability think tank in Saudi Arabia, where he earlier served as president. He was the administrator of the EIA from 2012 to 2017. Prior to joining the government, Adam spent years as Deutsche Bank's chief energy economist and integrated oil company analyst.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O’Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
Before it invaded Ukraine, Russia was Europe's single largest supplier of imported natural gas. But now that the European Union is considering an outright ban on all Russian gas by the end of 2027, Russia is pivoting to Asia, courting China as both a crucial new market for its gas and an important geostrategic ally.
When Russian President Vladimir Putin traveled to China at the end of August, the visit produced a series of cooperation agreements. Among them: a deal between Gazprom and the China National Petroleum Corporation to advance the long-discussed Power of Siberia 2 pipeline, a massive project that, if completed, could send 50 billion cubic meters of Russian natural gas to China each year. But the announcement is short on many details, including pricing, financing, and a timeline.
So what — beyond symbolism — does this deal actually deliver for both Russia and China in the short term? What prompted China to sign the agreement after years of delays? And what does it tell us about China's efforts to diversify its energy imports?
This week, Jason speaks with three scholars from the Center on Global Energy Policy (CGEP), Anne-Sophie Corbeau, Tatiana Mitrova, and Erica Downs, about the possible impacts of the Power of Siberia 2 pipeline agreement. The trio also recently co-authored a post about the PoS2 news on the CGEP website.
Anne-Sophie is a global research scholar at CGEP, where she focuses on hydrogen and natural gas. She previously worked as a senior analyst at BP and the International Energy Agency. Tatiana is a CGEP research fellow with twenty five years of experience dealing with Russian and global energy markets. Erica is a senior research scholar at CGEP, where she focuses on Chinese energy markets and geopolitics. Earlier in her career she held senior roles in the China Studies program of the CNA Corporation and at Eurasia Group.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O’Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
The rollback of the Inflation Reduction Act through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act has reshaped America's climate and energy landscape by cutting tax incentives for wind and solar power and electric vehicles while maintaining some federal support for sources like nuclear reactors and geothermal plants.
While there is some uncertainty about how those policy changes will play out, there are even broader questions about what this all means for the Republican Party’s energy policy agenda and approach to climate change.
So where is the party headed and what could bipartisan cooperation on energy policy look like in today's Washington? Can Republicans and Democrats still find common ground on issues like climate adaptation, energy security, and permitting reform? And what is shaping the Republican Party’s approach to energy policy?
This week, Jason talks to Carlos Curbelo about the current state of Republican thinking on energy and climate policy.
Carlos is a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives. He served Florida's 26th congressional district from 2015 to 2019. During his time in Congress, Carlos was a leading Republican voice on climate policy, co-founding and co-chairing the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus. After leaving Congress, Carlos served as a distinguished visiting fellow at the Center for Global Energy Policy. He also co-founded Vocero, a communications and strategic consulting firm based in South Florida.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O’Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
Jensen Huang, who founded NVIDIA in the early 1990s and built it into one of the most valuable companies in the world today, has thought a lot about AI's impact on global energy and climate systems.
Jensen has much to say about AI's potential benefits for energy innovation, power demand for AI, and a range of related topics, as David Sandalow — the inaugural fellow here at the Center on Global Energy Policy — learned when interviewing him.
Today, we’re bringing you their conversation in full from the AI Energy and Climate podcast which originally aired in April of this year.
Jensen and David explore why AI requires so much energy, but also how the technology can actually reduce energy consumption in applications from weather forecasting to manufacturing. Jensen describes innovations like silicon photonics that could save megawatts of power in data centers, and he shares a few ideas for using AI to improve efficiency in the industrial and power sectors. Moreover, he explains his vision for what he calls “AI factories” — and how they could be powered in ways that can reduce strain on the grid.
Jensen Huang is the president of NVIDIA, which he founded in 1993 to advance accelerated computing. In 1999, NVIDIA released the GeForce 256 which it called “the world’s first GPU”. It became a key enabler of PC gaming and computer graphics, and ignited the era of modern AI.
In July, the Trump administration released what it calls an AI action plan. In it, along with several executive orders, the White House lays out its vision for building and expanding the country’s AI infrastructure.
Key tenets of that vision include removing regulatory hurdles and accelerating US dominance in the industry. It also has broad energy and security implications.
So how could the administration's high-risk, high-reward approach increase US market share in AI? Will it create tensions with major AI companies while potentially democratizing access to AI capabilities? And how does the plan diverge from Biden-era AI support, especially around environmental and energy considerations?
To discuss the action plan, we convened some of the leading AI experts at the Center for Global Energy Policy in early August, and this week on Columbia Energy Exchange we are sharing an audio recording of their discussion.
David Sandalow, CGEP’s inaugural fellow and the host of the AI, Energy and Climate podcast, moderated the panel. David also co-directs the Energy and Environment Concentration at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University and was the lead author of the “Artificial Intelligence for Climate Change Mitigation Roadmap” report for the Innovation for Cool Earth Forum.
Aaron Bartnick, Jared Dunnmon, and Ashley Finan joined David on the webinar.
Aaron Bartnick is a global fellow at CGEP, where he focuses on technology and economic security. He also serves as chief of staff at the neural engineering company Science Corporation and as a fellow at Carnegie Mellon University’s Critical Technology Initiative.
Jared Dunnmon is a non-resident CGEP fellow and the co-founder and chief scientist of a maritime logistics startup. He previously served in the Department of Defense as technical director for artificial intelligence at the Defense Innovation Unit, was vice president of future technologies at battery firm Our Next Energy, and was an early team member at Snorkel AI.
Ashley Finan is a CGEP global fellow who previously served in senior leadership roles at Idaho National Laboratory, where she worked on nuclear energy and national security issues.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O’Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
After President Trump and Indian Prime Minister Modi met in the White House back in February, US-India relations appeared to be on solid ground. Back then, Trump was still confident he could broker a quick resolution in Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Then, last week, the Trump administration said that if India continues to import Russian oil, the US will double tariffs on Indian goods, starting August 27. This move threatens to undermine relations between the US and India — and it could impact more than India’s energy imports. The dispute is forcing bigger questions about India’s approach to foreign policy and the country’s long-standing policy of strategic autonomy.
So will India bow to US pressure and reduce its Russian energy imports? Or will India continue to import a significant amount of oil from Russia? And what does all of this mean for global energy markets and the use of coercive economic tools like tariffs or sanctions in the years ahead?
In this special episode of Columbia Energy Exchange, Jason speaks with Richard Nephew, Tatiana Mitrova, and Shayak Sengupta about this latest development in President Trump’s trade war.
Richard Nephew is a senior research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy (CGEP) and former US Deputy Special Envoy for Iran, where he played key roles in economic sanctions policy.
Tatiana Mitrova is a global fellow at CGEP and former deputy director general of the National Energy Security Fund in Moscow. She brings deep expertise on Russian energy markets.
Shayak Sengupta is a senior research associate at CGEP and leads its India program. He’s an expert in South Asian energy policy and US-India relations.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O’Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by James Rowlands.
President Trump’s threat to double tariffs on Indian goods, to 50%, as punishment for the country’s continued purchase of Russian oil, puts India in an untenable position. The US is its top export market, but India is deeply reliant on importing energy to support the needs of its 1.4 billion people.
As the world's most populous nation and one of its fastest-growing economies, India faces unprecedented energy demands and also pressure to meet that demand with clean energy. Today, around 70 percent of the country’s electricity comes from coal — a major contributor to air pollution in India’s large cities.
So how can India meet its fast-growing energy needs while also ensuring energy affordability, equity, and public health? Where is India in making progress toward deploying clean energy? What role might conventional energy continue to play? And how does India’s relationship with China factor into its decarbonization efforts?
This week, Jason talks to Sunita Narain about the state of India’s clean energy transition.
Sunita is executive director of the Centre for Science and Environment, a research and advocacy center where she has worked since 1982. In 2016, Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O’Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
The US Environmental Protection Agency plans to rescind the foundation of its authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act.
Eliminating the so-called “endangerment finding” is a key part of President Trump’s efforts to reverse Obama- and Biden-era climate policy. The finding was also targeted in the conservative Project 2025 strategy to reshape the federal government. But the rollback won’t happen without a fight, and the endangerment finding has held up to past legal challenges.
Meanwhile, international courts are moving in the opposite direction. The International Court of Justice recently ruled that countries have legal obligations to address climate change and that fossil fuel subsidies could constitute "internationally wrongful acts."
So what would overturning the endangerment finding mean for US climate policy? What legal and scientific arguments is the administration using? And how do these conflicting domestic and international trends shape the future of energy and climate policy?
This week, Bill speaks to Michael Gerrard about how the EPA is rescinding its own ability to regulate greenhouse gases.
Michael is the founder and faculty director of Columbia’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. Before joining Columbia in 2009, Michael practiced environmental law in New York for three decades.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O’Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
Six months in, President Trump’s trade war has entered a new phase. Just this weekend, the European Union agreed to a trade deal that includes a promise to buy $750 billion worth of American energy products over the next three years. And this week, with the August 1 tariff deadline looming, the US and China have restarted negotiations.
Trump has been using tools of economic warfare since his first term. And the Biden administration embraced policies such as steep tariffs on electric vehicle imports from China, and levying sanctions against Russia aimed at stifling its energy sector.
These economic chokepoints are part of a broader shift of the global economy. Countries are weaponizing economic power through sanctions, tariffs, and export controls — tools that were designed before the complex geopolitical competition we see today.
So how did we get here? What does this new age of economic warfare mean for global stability and the global economy? And how might these tools reshape everything from energy markets to global banking systems in the years ahead?
This week, we’re revisiting a conversation Jason Bordoff had with Eddie Fishman about his book "Chokepoints: American Power in the Age of Economic Warfare," which came out in February. The book traces the evolution of economic warfare from the “War on Terror” to today's great power competition.
Eddie is a senior research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy and an adjunct professor at Columbia University SIPA. He also serves as an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security and a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O’Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Additional support from Martina Chow and Richard Nephew. This episode was engineered by Sean Marquand and Gregory Vilfranc.
Note: This episode is a re-run. It was originally published on February 11, 2025.
Countries around the world, including the US, are rushing to secure critical mineral supply chains. As these essential resources, which are key to building clean energy infrastructure, become a major focus in policy and trade discussions, Latin America sits at the center of the competition. It is home to vast lithium reserves in the Lithium Triangle and it holds nearly 40% of the world's copper deposits.
But recent price volatility and geopolitical concerns have created new challenges. Early this month, President Trump announced a 50% tariff on copper imports, further jolting markets as copper prices jumped over 13% in a single day.
So how are countries in the region navigating these new trade and market realities? Can Latin America build mineral supply chains that are more resilient to geopolitical shocks? And how are these governments responding to the environmental and economic concerns of Indigenous and local communities?
This week, Jason speaks with Juan Carlos Jobet, Tom Moerenhout, and Diego Rivera Rivota about Latin America’s critical mineral supply chain.
Juan Carlos is the dean of the School of Business and Economics at Adolfo Ibáñez University and Chile's former Minister of Energy and Mining and a former distinguished visiting fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy.
Tom leads the Critical Materials Initiative at the Center on Global Energy Policy and is a professor at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs.
Diego is a senior research associate at the Center on Global Energy Policy.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O’Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
Many parts of the US have experienced brutal, deadly heat in recent weeks—and there’s plenty of summer left. Intense rainfall, made more likely by warming, dropped more than 15 inches of rain in central Texas, claiming more than 130 lives. In addition to the devastating human toll these weather events take, they expose critical vulnerabilities in our energy infrastructure.
Power grids are seeing tremendous demand from air conditioning, not to mention other factors including data centers. And of course, extreme weather events cause shocks that go well beyond power outages; they damage transmission lines and cascade across other critical infrastructure like water systems and healthcare facilities.
The question isn't whether climate change is reshaping energy security—it's how quickly we can adapt. As traditional definitions of national security expand to include climate threats, what will it take to build truly resilient energy systems.
This week, Bill Loveless speaks with Kate Guy about how extreme summer weather events are redefining energy security.
Kate is a senior fellow and managing director of the geopolitics of climate change and the energy transition at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia SIPA.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O’Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
Artificial intelligence is transforming our world — and the energy sector. Earlier this year, the International Energy Agency (IEA) released a comprehensive report examining both AI’s projected energy demands and how it might reshape energy systems. But while headlines often raise alarms around electricity demand growth, the reality is more nuanced and complex.
While data centers currently account for just 1.5% of global electricity use, that share is expected to double by 2030, driven largely by the growth of AI. In some regions, particularly in the US, data centers could account for nearly half of all electricity demand growth in the coming years.
So how should we understand the relationship between AI and energy? What does this mean for power systems around the world? Is artificial intelligence a friend or foe to the clean energy transition?
This week, Jason Bordoff speaks with Laura Cozzi, about the IEA's findings on AI's energy demands.
Laura is the chief energy modeler at the International Energy Agency, and its director of sustainability, technology, and outlooks. She oversees the IEA's analytical work on energy, climate, and economic modeling, and led the team that produced the agency’s report on artificial intelligence and energy.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O’Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
The global energy landscape is shifting right now. Geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, debates about peak oil demand, and waning support for climate action in some parts of the world are challenging long-held assumptions about the pace and scale of the energy transition.
Confronting these complex challenges requires an understanding of the forces that drive energy markets and prices.
So where is global energy consumption headed? Are reports of oil's demise exaggerated? And as countries prioritize energy security and economic growth, what does "pragmatism" really mean for the energy transition?
This week, Jason Bordoff speaks with Arjun Murti about the state of global energy markets and of the energy transition.
Arjun is a partner with Veriten, an energy research and investment firm. He also publishes the Super-Spiked newsletter. Previously, Arjun served as co-director of Americas equity research for Goldman Sachs. Prior to that, he was a buy-side equity research analyst at J.P. Morgan Investment Management. He also serves on the Center on Global Energy Policy advisory board.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O’Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive producer.
Just two days after President Trump deployed America’s military to attack Iranian nuclear development sites, a shaky ceasefire between Israel and Iran brokered by President Trump emerged. So far, this deal appears to be holding, but there’s no formal ceasefire agreement in place—at least not yet.
It is clear that Iran’s nuclear infrastructure has suffered significant damage, but it’s not clear just how extensive that damage really is. That uncertainty leaves a lot of unanswered questions about where things go from here.
Will there be a formal ceasefire in the coming days? How did energy markets react to the rapid de-escalation? And is this conflict really over?
To help unpack the latest, leading experts at the Center on Global Energy Policy, Columbia University SIPA joined Jason Bordoff for a special rapid response episode to discuss what we know so far about the ceasefire between Israel and Iran, how oil markets reacted, and the status of American sanctions on Iran.
Richard Nephew is a senior research scholar at CGEP. He formerly served as the US deputy special envoy for Iran under the Biden administration where he played a key role in negotiations over the Iran nuclear deal.
Karen Young is a senior research scholar at CGEP and a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, where she focuses on the political economy of the Gulf states and energy policy.
Daniel Sternoff is a non-resident fellow at CGEP. He is also the head of Energy Aspects’ Executive Briefing Service.
Richard, Karen and Daniel joined Jason on the afternoon of June 25 to discuss the current state of Iran’s nuclear program, the broader geopolitical and economic implications of this unfolding crisis, and where it all goes from here.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O’Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.
California has long led the nation in pioneering clean air regulations, from grappling with smog to setting ambitious zero-emission vehicle mandates. The Golden State's unique authority under the Clean Air Act has allowed it to set emissions standards that exceed federal requirements. Around a dozen other states have followed California’s lead.
But that leadership now faces an unprecedented challenge. Last month, Congress voted to revoke three Clean Air Act waivers that the Biden administration had granted California. It was the first time in over sixty years that federal lawmakers blocked any of California's dozens of car and truck rules, and the state quickly responded with a lawsuit.
So what happens next? Can California slash emissions from the transportation sector without this federal support? If not, how can it reach its overall climate goals? And what does this political battle mean for the future of clean transportation—and states’ abilities to regulate emissions—nationwide?
This week, Bill Loveless speaks with Mary Nichols about California’s role in clean air policy, the impact of losing its vehicle emission waivers, how the auto industry is reacting, and what all of this means for the future of climate action in America.
Mary is a distinguished environmental lawyer and policy expert with over five decades of experience in clean air regulation. She held a number of senior posts in federal and state government, including a long tenure as chair of the California Air Resources Board. She is also a former distinguished visiting fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy, Columbia SIPA.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O’Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive producer.
In the growing conflict between Israel and Iran, many questions now loom, including the extent of US involvement, the potential for regime change, and the status of Iran’s nuclear program. All this uncertainty and speculation is having some impact on energy markets and potentially much more in the weeks to come.
While there have been some attacks on energy infrastructure, there has not been a significant disruption in oil or gas supply to the global market. Some energy traders are seemingly anticipating that the conflict will remain contained in the months to come, but this is far from certain.
How is the conflict evolving? What are the paths for a ceasefire or diplomatic resolution to end the conflict? How is all of this impacting energy markets?
In response to the events on June 12, we pulled in Daniel Sternoff and Richard Nephew, two leading experts at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University SIPA to discuss what we know about Israel’s attack on Iran, the backdrop of a volatile energy market, and what could happen in the coming days and weeks.
Daniel is non-resident fellow at CGEP. He is also the Head of Energy Aspects’ Executive Briefing Service.
Richard is a senior research scholar at CGEP. He formerly served as the US Deputy Special Envoy for Iran under the Biden administration where he played a key role in negotiations over the Iran deal.
Daniel and Richard joined Jason Bordoff on the afternoon of June 18 to unpack the escalating conflict in the region. They discussed the current state of Iran’s nuclear program, the scenarios for conflict escalating in the Middle East and how oil prices fit into and might be affected by all of this.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O’Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Gregory Vilfranc of Franc Village Studios engineered this show.
Climate imperatives, national security, and the need for reliable, carbon-free, dispatchable power to meet rising electricity demand are all contributing to a resurgence in nuclear energy. The United States is taking a leading role in this industry’s growth. Tech companies are signing major deals for nuclear energy to meet their growing energy needs. And President Trump recently signed four executive orders aimed at dramatically increasing nuclear power generation — an issue with rare bipartisan support.
But significant challenges remain. Cost overruns and delays, as seen with the troubled Vogtle project in Georgia, are hampering power plant construction in the US. Meanwhile, China and Russia are dominating global nuclear construction and fuel, raising questions about American competitiveness and national security.
So can the United States become a leader in nuclear energy deployment, without sacrificing safety? What role will new technologies and policy play in changing the trajectory? And what part should the US government play in financing, regulating, and promoting nuclear energy both domestically and internationally?
This week, Jason Bordoff speaks with Ashley Finan and Matt Bowen about the drivers behind this nuclear resurgence and why, as they argue in a recent Foreign Policy article, it is vital to meet rising electricity demand.
Ashley recently joined the Center on Global Energy Policy as a global fellow after serving in senior leadership roles at Idaho National Laboratory, where she worked on nuclear energy and national security issues. Matt is a senior research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy, where he focuses on nuclear energy policy, economics, and regulation.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O’Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive producer.
On June 12th, Israel carried out overnight airstrikes targeting Iranian nuclear facilities, military infrastructure, military leaders, and nuclear scientists. While the full scope and implications of the attack are still emerging, energy markets responded immediately. Oil prices spiked in the aftermath, although they subsequently eased.
What are the regional implications of this conflict? How might Iran retaliate and how might the US respond? How will this impact ongoing negotiations between the US and Iran over Iran’s nuclear program? And what are the possible impacts on energy markets?
For this special episode, we pulled in two leading experts from the Center on Global Energy Policy to discuss what we know so far about Israel’s attack on Iran and what could happen in the coming days and weeks.
Richard Nephew is a senior research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy. He formerly served as the US Deputy Special Envoy for Iran under the Biden administration where he played a key role in negotiations over the Iran nuclear deal.
Karen Young is a senior research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy and a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, where she focuses on the political economy of the Gulf states and energy policy.
Karen and Richard joined host Jason Bordoff to unpack the escalating conflict in the region. They discussed the current state of Iran’s nuclear program, the potential consequences of the unfolding crisis, and what key developments to watch for.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O’Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Gregory Vilfranc of Franc Village Studios engineered today’s show.
Congress is rushing to enact what could be the most significant energy policy reversal in decades. The US Senate has begun work on an enormous budget reconciliation bill that would extend President Trump's tax cuts while all but eliminating clean energy programs to help pay for them. The House version substantially repeals nearly all tax credits from the Inflation Reduction Act—affecting everything from solar and wind development to hydrogen and carbon capture projects.
According to the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School/Columbia Climate School, approximately $9.65 billion in unobligated IRA funds are at risk of rescission. Critics of the cuts say this could kill progress toward decarbonization, and pull the plug on US clean energy manufacturing. But supporters argue it's necessary fiscal discipline.
So what's really happening in the Senate? Can moderate Republicans preserve some clean energy provisions? And with a Fourth of July deadline looming, what wildcard events could change the political calculus?
This week, Bill Loveless speaks with energy analyst Kevin Book about the massive budget reconciliation bill currently moving through Congress and what it could mean for US energy policy.
Kevin is managing director of research at ClearView Energy Partners. He has tracked congressional energy legislation and its real-world impacts for years. In addition to leading ClearView’s research team, he is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the National Petroleum Council, an advisory body to the Secretary of Energy. He’s also a non-resident senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O’Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive producer.
In today's polarized political landscape, energy policy has become increasingly partisan.
States rich in both fossil fuels and renewable resources must confront growing electricity demand and aging infrastructure. Meanwhile, the Trump administration is pushing to defund critical energy projects under the Inflation Reduction Act while also opening new fossil energy development on public land. And congressional efforts at energy permitting reform have stalled despite broad agreement on the need to streamline approvals.
So what will it take to move beyond four-year election cycles and develop an enduring energy strategy? How can lawmakers build coalitions in this divided environment? And can we craft energy policies that serve both economic and environmental goals?
This week, Bill Loveless speaks with former Senator Joe Manchin about the state of US energy policy.
Following his tenure as governor of West Virginia, Joe Manchin served as a US Senator from 2010 to 2024. As chairman of the Senate Energy Committee, he played a pivotal role in shaping major energy legislation, including the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act and the Inflation Reduction Act. Today, he serves on the Bipartisan Policy Center's Energy Council and is writing a memoir, titled Dead Center, which is set to be released in September.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O’Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive producer.
President Trump's recent visit to the Gulf region marked a dramatic shift from the previous administration’s Middle East diplomacy. In his visit to Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar, Trump focused on securing significant investment commitments and commercial partnerships to support the region's AI and other ambitions.
The trip showcased Trump’s transactional approach to foreign policy—one focused on bilateral deals rather than regional frameworks, and economic partnerships over military interventions. It also raised important questions about oil markets, geopolitical competition with China, nuclear agreements, and the future of energy prices.
So what are the likely impacts of massive investment pledges from Gulf nations? Do low oil prices limit the ability to make good on them? What is the outlook for oil prices with uncertainty over OPEC+ policy, a possible Iran deal, and possible new sanctions on Russia? And what does Trump's transactional diplomacy mean for traditional alliances and regional stability?
This week, Jason Bordoff speaks with Helima Croft, Joe McMonigle, and Karen Young about how the Trump administration is reshaping U.S. relations with Middle East countries and the long- and short-term implications it will have on energy markets and geopolitics.
Helima is managing director and global head of commodity strategy at RBC Capital Markets, where she leads the coverage of energy markets and geopolitical risk. Joe is a distinguished visiting fellow here at the Center on Global Energy Policy and the founder and president of the Global Center for Energy Analysis, an independent research and analysis firm. Karen is a senior research scholar here at the Center on Global Energy Policy and a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute where she focuses on the political economy of the Gulf States and energy policy.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O’Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive producer.
We often associate energy poverty with developing nations, but the reality is that tens of millions of Americans struggle to pay their monthly energy bills. Oftentimes, they forgo heating or cooling their homes in order to pay rent or buy food. And ultimately, they risk losing access to energy altogether, through utility shutoffs.
For families living in inadequate housing with poor insulation and inefficient appliances, energy insecurity impacts health, comfort, and quality of life. For some, government assistance programs are a lifeline. Yet, despite rising energy rates, the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) is in danger of losing funding.
So what policy solutions could address the systemic causes of energy insecurity? How can government assistance be reframed to better support and empower energy insecure households? And will the transition to clean energy alleviate or worsen energy insecurity?
This week, Jason Bordoff speaks with Diana Hernández about her recent book that seeks to answer those questions and proposes a framework for energy equity.
Diana is an associate professor at Columbia University and co-directs the Energy Opportunity Lab at the Center on Global Energy Policy. Her book, "Powerless: The People’s Struggle for Energy," which she co-authored with Jennifer Laird, an assistant professor at Lehman College, was released in April.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O’Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive producer.
For years, Japan set aggressive decarbonization targets, positioning itself as a climate leader despite limited domestic resources. But recent geopolitical earthquakes like the ongoing war in Ukraine, increasing energy demand, and a near-blackout in Tokyo have forced Japan to reassess its priorities.
Japan's new strategic energy plan, approved by the nation’s government in February, represents this shifting calculus. While maintaining long-term carbon neutrality goals, it elevates energy security concerns. And it introduces a "Plan B" that acknowledges technological deployment might not match ambitious timelines.
So how can a resource-poor nation like Japan pursue both climate goals and energy security? What role will energy sources like LNG and nuclear power play in this new strategy? And as nations everywhere face similar pressures, does Japan's approach offer a model for pragmatic energy planning in an increasingly unstable world?
This week, Bill Loveless speaks with Tatsuya Terazawa about Japan’s new strategic energy plan.
Tatsuya Terazawa is the chairman and CEO of Japan’s Institute of Energy Economics, a think tank that provides analyses and policy recommendations based on Japan’s goals of carbon neutrality and energy security. Before joining the Institute, he served as the senior advisor of Japan’s cabinet office and held a number of roles at Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O’Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive producer.
From oil pipelines crossing the border to integrated electricity grids, energy trade has long been a key part of the economic relationship between the United States and Canada. Now, President Trump’s trade policies are upending longstanding cooperative norms on both sides of the border.
Last week’s snap election has brought a significant change in Canada’s leadership. Former central banker Mark Carney edged past Conservative Pierre Poilievre — a surprising win for the Liberal Party. This narrow margin of victory reflects a deeply divided electorate grappling with issues of economic security, climate policy, and Canada's place in a changing world. Carney has boldly declared the traditional U.S.-Canada relationship "over" and his victory signaled support for a more independent path.
So can Carney balance both clean and conventional energy development amid provincial tensions, particularly with oil-rich Alberta? How will Canada respond to Trump's proposed tariffs when nearly all of its crude oil exports flow to the United States? And will Carney use his experience as a champion of climate finance to help Canada achieve its goal of net-zero emissions by 2050?
This week, Bill Loveless speaks with Andrew Leach about the climate and energy policy battles Carney faces within Canada, a place Carney is eager to turn into an energy superpower.
Andrew Leach is an energy and environmental economist. He is a professor at the University of Alberta, with a joint appointment in the department of economics and the faculty of law. His research spans energy and economics, but he is particularly interested in climate change policies and law. His 2023 book, “Between Doom & Denial: Facing Facts about Climate Change,” explores the challenges Canadians face as they confront climate change.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O’Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive producer.
After more than three years of intense fighting following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the path to end the war has been challenging. President Trump has been aggressively pushing both Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin toward a peace deal as part of Trump's campaign promise to quickly end the war. Meanwhile, energy has emerged as a critical factor, functioning both as a weapon and target in this war.
The peace deal Trump envisions would reportedly include U.S. control of the Ukrainian electrical supply and its nuclear power plants. And separately, the Trump administration has been working on a mineral deal with Ukraine for months. But developing any of those resources would take time because Ukraine's energy infrastructure has been severely crippled by war. In parts of Ukraine blackouts have become the norm.
So what are the potential paths for peace ahead for Ukraine and how might sharing its mineral or energy resources with the U.S. play into those options? How has Ukraine's energy infrastructure fared during the war? And what energy security lessons can other countries learn from this conflict?
This week, Jason Bordoff talks with Kyiv-based climate and energy reporter Tim McDonnell about the role that energy has played in the war in Ukraine and how it could factor into its resolution.
Tim is the climate and energy editor for Semafor, where he writes the Net Zero newsletter, and is also a reporter for Quartz. He has covered the business and science of climate change for more than 10 years and has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Economist, among other publications. Tim lives in and reports from Kyiv and is writing a book about the role of energy in the Ukraine conflict. He joined the podcast to talk about the role energy plays in this conflict.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O’Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive producer.
As President Biden’s national security advisor, Jake Sullivan laid out a strategy for what he called a “foreign policy for the middle class.” Using the metaphor of a small yard and a high fence, the Biden administration’s approach focused on reshoring critical industries and manufacturing, supporting innovation, and protecting strategic technologies.
The strategy relied on industrial policy, tariffs, and sanctions — some of the same economic tools the Trump administration is now using to launch a global trade war. The broad shift on both sides of the aisle to focus on national security, economic security, and supply chain resilience has enormous implications for the clean energy transition, from critical minerals and solar panels to batteries and EVs.
So how should we think about the relationship between economic resilience, energy security, and climate action? What lessons can we draw from the Biden administration's approach to countering China? And looking ahead, what should the U.S. prioritize when it comes to energy security?
This week’s episode features a fireside chat between Jason Bordoff and Jake Sullivan from the Columbia Global Energy Summit 2025, which was hosted by the Center on Global Energy Policy, at Columbia University SIPA earlier this month.
Jake Sullivan recently became the Kissinger professor of the practice of statecraft and world order at the Harvard Kennedy School. He served as President Biden’s national security advisor from 2021 to 2025. In the Obama administration, he was then Vice President Biden’s national security advisor and deputy chief of staff to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O’Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive producer.
It’s hard to overstate how consequential President Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs have been for American economic policy. While the administration has paused the steep reciprocal tariffs it announced on trading partners other than China, a flat across-the-board 10% tariff remains. And China has raised tariffs on all U.S. goods to over 100% in retaliation.
Some economists fear this trade war could have a seismic impact across the American economy, including on clean energy. The exceptionally high tariffs on China in particular could have a significant bearing on clean tech products — things like batteries, solar panels, and wind turbines.
So what are the possible outcomes? Do our trade deficits or national security imperatives necessitate this trade war? What would a turn away from globalization mean for efforts to confront climate change? And what does all of this mean for the future of industrial policy in the U.S.?
This week, Jason Bordoff talks with Jason Furman about the flurry of Trump administration tariffs and how they could play out for the energy industry.
Jason Furman is Aetna professor of the practice of economic policy at Harvard University. Prior to his appointment at Harvard, he served as a key economic advisor to President Obama, including as the chair of the Council of Economic Advisors. Jason played a key role in implementing the major economic policy initiatives of the Obama administration, including the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the Affordable Care Act.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O’Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Additional support from Trevor Sutton. Engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive producer.
In energy policy circles, the word “resilience” often refers to future-proof systems or infrastructure designed for the transition away from fossil fuels. But resilience means something different to the communities that have been built on those conventional energy sources.
Without a policy strategy, communities whose economies are dependent on fossil fuels aren’t well positioned to thrive in – or perhaps even survive – a clean energy transition.
So how can economic resilience improve livelihoods in fossil fuel dependent communities? Are the near-term risks and economic impacts these communities face underappreciated? And what does this all mean in today’s political environment?
This week host Bill Loveless talks to Emily Grubert and Noah Kaufman, two scholars at the Resilient Energy Economies initiative, a collaboration between the Bezos Earth Fund, Resources for the Future, and the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University SIPA.
Emily is a civil engineer and environmental sociologist. She is an associate professor of sustainable energy policy in the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame. She also worked in the Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management at the Department of Energy under the Biden administration.
Noah is an economist who has worked on energy and climate change policy. He is a research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy. He also served as a senior economist at the Council of Economic Advisers under President Biden and as the deputy associate director of energy and climate change at the White House Council on Environmental Quality under President Obama.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Erin Hardick, Mary Catherine O’Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive producer.
The European Union’s energy landscape is transforming rapidly, as the bloc works to reduce emissions, lower energy prices, and decrease dependence on Russian fuel—three goals proving to be a challenge.
Though renewables now generate nearly half of Europe's electricity, significant challenges remain. Lengthy permitting processes are stalling the deployment of new clean generation and infrastructure and the continent requires improvements in energy system interconnections between countries. And questions remain about the role of certain forms of energy, like nuclear power and hydrogen, in Europe's future energy mix.
So how is Europe addressing these competing priorities? And what do certain trade-offs mean for energy affordability, security, and economic competitiveness?
This week host Jason Bordoff talks with Dan Jørgensen, the new European commissioner for energy and housing.
Commissioner Jørgensen previously served as Danish minister for development cooperation and minister for global climate policy. He is a member of the Social Democratic Party of Denmark and was a member of the Danish parliament from 2015 to 2024.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Erin Hardick, Mary Catherine O’Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive producer.
Across America, energy policy is often driven by short-term politics over long-term planning. Despite record-breaking U.S. oil production in recent years, partisan battles continue over fossil fuels and climate action.
States like North Dakota illustrate this tension perfectly. Rich in both oil and wind resources, they navigate between traditional energy production and renewable development. But nationwide, critical energy infrastructure faces roadblocks—from pipelines stalled by local opposition to transmission lines needed for clean energy expansion.
So what will it take to develop a nonpartisan national energy strategy? How do we balance immediate economic needs with climate goals? And as electricity demands grow while the power grid faces new challenges, what will it take to develop an energy strategy beyond the politics of four-year election cycles?
This week host Bill Loveless talks with Heidi Heitkamp about crafting enduring energy policies that serve both economic and environmental goals.
Heidi served as a U.S. senator from North Dakota from 2013 to 2019, becoming the first woman elected to represent the state in that chamber. Before her time in the Senate, Heitkamp served as North Dakota's attorney general and state tax commissioner. Today, she is director of the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and works with the university's Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Erin Hardick, Mary Catherine O’Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive producer.
Last week, energy industry leaders gathered in Houston for CERAWeek by S&P Global, one of the most important annual industry events focusing on the current state of energy markets, policy, and technology.
This year's conference took place against a backdrop of shifting global energy dynamics — declining oil prices, the Trump administration's "drill baby drill" agenda, growing concerns about energy security, geopolitical tensions, and ongoing debates about the pace and direction of the energy transition.
So what were the week’s key takeaways? How are energy leaders reacting to a second Trump administration? And what does the future of global energy markets look like?
This week host Jason Bordoff talks with two energy reporters — Bloomberg’s Javier Blas and Axios’s Ben Geman — about their takeaways from CERAWeek and what they heard on and off stage.
Javier is an opinion columnist for Bloomberg, covering energy and commodities. He was previously at the Financial Times where he held various positions including roles as the Africa editor and the commodities editor.
Ben is an energy and climate reporter at Axios. He is the co-author of the daily Axios Generate newsletter and covers the world of energy business and policy. He previously covered these topics for National Journal, The Hill, and E&E News.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Erin Hardick, Mary Catherine O’Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive producer.
Energy and climate change are becoming ever more central to America's national security. It used to be that foreign policy and national security discussions related to energy focused primarily on oil prices and Middle East relations. Now, these conversations also include topics like critical mineral supply chains, clean energy competition with China, climate instability, and more.
The Biden administration navigated this increasingly complex terrain for four years. It confronted Russia's weaponization of energy following its invasion of Ukraine; managed climate negotiations with difficult diplomatic relationships; and reshaped America's approach to energy security in a warming world.
So how should we think about the intersection of energy, climate, and national security going forward? And what lessons can we draw from the Biden administration's experience?
This week host Jason Bordoff talks with Jon Finer about the intersection of energy, climate change, and national security.
Jon is a distinguished visiting fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University SIPA. He recently served as deputy national security advisor in the Biden administration, where he was a key architect of the administration's foreign policy. Prior to that role, Jon served in the Obama administration for seven and a half years in various positions, including chief of staff to Secretary of State John Kerry. Jon began his career in journalism, first covering Major League Baseball before moving to the security beat, covering conflicts in Iraq and other regions for the Washington Post.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Erin Hardick, Mary Catherine O’Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Additional support from Caroline Pitman, Jon Elkind, Kevin Brennan, Luisa Palacios and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive producer.
The Biden administration took office with ambitious plans to accelerate America's clean energy transition. Over four years, it enacted major climate legislation, poured billions into new clean energy manufacturing, built partnerships with global allies on clean energy, and navigated a global energy crisis after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
With President Trump’s return to office, what happens now?
The clean energy transition is proving to be more complex than some expected, with challenges around affordability, security, and balancing climate goals with other economic priorities. In this increasingly challenging geopolitical landscape, how should we think about America's energy policy going forward? And how should we think about the legacy of the Biden administration’s energy agenda?
This week host Jason Bordoff talks with David Turk about the Biden administration's energy policy legacy and the challenges of balancing affordability, security, and climate goals.
David is a distinguished visiting fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University SIPA. He recently completed his service as deputy secretary of energy in the Biden administration, where he was the number-two official and chief operating officer at the Department of Energy. Prior to this role, David served as deputy executive director of the International Energy Agency. During the Obama administration, he worked at the Department of Energy, where he led the launch of Mission Innovation – a global effort to accelerate clean energy innovation.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Erin Hardick, Mary Catherine O’Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive producer.
The race to power artificial intelligence is dramatically reshaping America's electricity landscape.
Recent analysis from the power-consultancy firm Grid Strategies shows that between 2024 and 2029, U.S. electricity demand will grow at five times the rate predicted in 2022. This surge comes as artificial intelligence and data centers reshape power markets, with tech giants like Microsoft and Amazon pursuing direct power purchase deals, sometimes bypassing traditional utility structures entirely.
At the same time, President Trump's declaration of an energy emergency and appointment of new leadership at key agencies like the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission signal potential upheaval in how we approach grid reliability, renewable energy integration, and climate goals.
So how do we meet this demand growth while navigating a complex political environment? And what role will emerging technologies like advanced nuclear, enhanced geothermal, and energy storage play in our energy future?
This week host Bill Loveless talks with Michelle Solomon about the challenges and opportunities facing the U.S. electricity sector.
Michelle is a senior policy analyst at Energy Innovation, focusing on electricity policy. She brings a distinctive background combining technical and policy experience. Before joining Energy Innovation, she earned her Ph.D. in materials science and engineering from Stanford University. She also served as a Congressional Science and Engineering Fellow working on energy policy in the Senate.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Erin Hardick, Mary Catherine O’Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive producer.
Europe is facing a challenging year as natural gas prices surge. While the continent seemed to weather the initial shock of losing Russian gas supplies, it’s now clear many were declaring victory too soon. Storage levels are dropping this winter, and the loss of Russian pipeline gas through Ukraine has left Europe increasingly dependent on global LNG markets.
Meanwhile, in the U.S., President Trump's administration has promised to "unleash American energy dominance" by lifting restrictions on new permits for LNG exports. But questions remain about domestic gas production capacity, infrastructure constraints, and the impact on U.S. prices.
How are these developments reshaping global gas markets, and what do they mean for Europe's industrial competitiveness? How might geopolitical tensions affect the future of global gas trade? And what does all of this mean for reducing greenhouse gas emissions?
This week on the show, Jason Bordoff talks with gas market experts Anne-Sophie Corbeau and Ira Joseph about the outlook for LNG and its geopolitical and environmental implications.
Anne-Sophie is a global research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy, where she focuses on hydrogen and natural gas. Her career in the energy industry spans over 20 years, including stints as the head of gas analysis at BP, senior gas analyst at the International Energy Agency, and research fellow at the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center.
Ira is a senior research associate at the Center on Global Energy Policy. Previously, he headed global generating fuels and electric power pricing at S&P Global Platts. Before that, he was the global head of gas and power analytics at Platts.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Erin Hardick, Mary Catherine O’Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive producer.
At the start of February, President Trump launched a trade war.
The president announced sweeping tariffs on goods imported from China, Canada, and Mexico. Although he temporarily backed away from the highest penalties, Trump clearly indicated that tariffs will be central to his policy agenda. This follows the Biden administration’s embrace of steep tariffs on electric vehicle imports from China, and sanctions against Russia aimed at stifling its energy sector.
These economic chokepoints are part of a broader shift of the global economy. Countries are weaponizing economic power through sanctions, tariffs, and export controls — reflecting a shift away from decades of global economic integration.
So how did we get here? What does this new age of economic warfare mean for global stability and the global economy? And how might these tools reshape everything from energy markets to global banking systems in the years ahead?
This week, Jason Bordoff talks to Eddie Fishman about his upcoming book "Chokepoints: American Power in the Age of Economic Warfare," which comes out on February 25th. The book traces the evolution of economic warfare from the “War on Terror” to today's great power competition.
Eddie is a senior research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy and an adjunct professor at Columbia University. He also serves as an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security and a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Erin Hardick, Mary Catherine O’Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive producer.
Over the past month, the Trump administration has declared a national energy emergency, launched an ambitious agenda aimed at transforming the nation's energy landscape, and pulled back from America’s climate commitments.
At the heart of Trump’s “Unleashing American Energy” strategy lies a complex balancing act: maximizing domestic energy production and infrastructure development while also navigating concerns about the cost of energy, grid reliability, and economic competitiveness. And there are open questions about the implications for the Biden administration’s energy and climate initiatives, including the Inflation Reduction Act, and more broadly for America’s energy transition.
How will this reshaping of American energy policy affect domestic markets? What role will technological innovation play in bridging competing priorities? And how might this transformation impact the delicate balance between energy security and climate considerations?
This week host Jason Bordoff talks with Paul Dabbar about the Trump administration’s energy agenda, and its focus on national security and energy affordability.
Paul is the chairman and CEO of Bohr Quantum Technologies and a non-resident fellow at Columbia’s Center on Global Energy Policy. He has spent the last few months leading the efforts of the incoming Trump administration to put together the U.S. Department of Energy. Paul served as the fourth undersecretary of energy for science during the first Trump administration.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Erin Hardick, Mary Catherine O’Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive producer.
Last week, President Trump wasted no time in making good on a long list of energy-related campaign promises. Declaring a national energy emergency, he issued executive orders that could undo several Biden- and Obama-era climate policies. Carbon emissions standards are now in limbo, as are electric vehicle incentives and building energy efficiency standards. Trump wants to lift barriers to fossil fuel and mineral exploration and production. And once again, he has ordered the U.S. to withdraw from the Paris Agreement.
What are the likely near- and mid-term impacts of these seismic shifts in policy? How are last week’s executive orders likely to play out in the courts? What changes are afoot for the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy, and the Department of the Interior? What role will the Treasury Department play in energy policy, given its responsibilities with tariffs, tax credits, and sanctions?
This week, Bill Loveless talks with reporters Jennifer Dlouhy and Maxine Joselow about the year ahead and the stories they’re chasing.
Jennifer is an energy and environmental policy reporter for Bloomberg News. Before joining Bloomberg in 2015, she was the Washington correspondent for the Houston Chronicle where she covered energy and environmental policy with a special focus on oil and gas.
Maxine covers climate change and the environment for The Washington Post, focusing on US climate policy and politics. Before joining the Post in 2021, she was at E&E News, where her investigative reporting was honored with a Dateline Award from the D.C. Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.
President Donald Trump’s administration is promising an energy policy overhaul that would fundamentally reshape America's climate and energy policies. Trump and Republican leaders have pledged to pull back from many of the Biden administration’s climate actions, including parts of the Inflation Reduction Act, and surge domestic oil and gas production and exports.
Meanwhile, global energy markets face mounting uncertainties including an escalating U.S.-China trade war, new sanctions on Russian energy and Europe's continued dependence on Russian energy, and growing tensions between rich and poor countries over how the energy transition is unfolding. In both the United States and Europe, energy security, competitiveness, and costs are top priorities now, along with climate change. With climate targets and energy security needs often pulling in opposite directions, nations are facing difficult choices about how to balance competing priorities in an increasingly complex world.
How will energy politics and policy change under a second Trump administration? And how will shifts in U.S. policy impact global energy geopolitics?
This week host Jason Bordoff talks with Frank Fannon about what to expect from the Trump administration's energy agenda.
Frank is the founder of Fannon Global Advisors. He previously served as America's first Senate-confirmed assistant secretary of state for Energy Resources during the first Trump administration, where he led major energy and infrastructure initiatives across the globe, and elevated the critical role of minerals in the clean energy transition. Earlier in his career, he served as counsel to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
The year 2024 ended with a sobering milestone: it was officially the hottest year ever recorded. That pattern of extremes continues around the world, especially in Southern California, which is suffering from one of its worst disasters in history. First responders are battling lethal wildfires that have consumed more than 12,000 buildings and homes, and forced more than 100,000 people to evacuate.
But beyond these headlines about rising temperatures and intensifying disasters lies a critical question: How can we better predict and prepare for extreme weather events in a warming world?
Recent breakthroughs in AI-powered weather forecasting have produced new models that not only match but sometimes outperform traditional prediction systems. These advances couldn't come at a more crucial time – in 2023 alone, the US suffered $95 billion in damages from 28 separate extreme weather events.
So, how do we ensure these powerful new tools reach the communities that need them most? How can advances in weather forecasting enhance energy resiliency? And what role should public agencies play as private companies push the boundaries of prediction technology?
This week host Bill Loveless talks with Alice Hill and Colin McCormick about AI in weather forecasting. Together, they authored a chapter on extreme weather response in the Innovation for Cool Earth Forum’s report Artificial Intelligence for Climate Change Mitigation Roadmap.
Alice is the David M. Rubenstein senior fellow for energy and the environment at the Council on Foreign Relations. She previously served as special assistant to President Obama and senior director for resilience policy on the National Security Council.
Colin is a principal scientist at Carbon Direct, where he provides expertise across carbon removal methods and industrial decarbonization. He previously served as senior advisor for R&D at the US Department of Energy. He is currently an adjunct professor at Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service.
Climate change isn't just an environmental threat—it's becoming a catalyst for conflict.
Over the past decade, rising temperatures, water shortages, and other environmental disruptions have fueled tensions from the deserts of Iraq to the mountains of Nepal. And according to journalist Peter Schwartzstein, we're witnessing the emergence of a new, dangerous phenomenon: climate-related violence.
In his new book, "The Heat and the Fury: On the Frontlines of Climate Violence," Schwartzstein takes readers on a harrowing journey, revealing how climate change is fundamentally reshaping human conflict.
What happens when water becomes scarce? How do extreme weather events transform recruitment strategies for terrorist groups? And are even wealthy democracies vulnerable to this emerging form of societal stress?
Peter is an award-winning journalist specializing in climate security with extensive reporting experience across the Middle East and Africa. His work has been featured in publications including National Geographic, The New York Times, and Foreign Policy. As a journalist who has been chased by kidnappers and has navigated dangerous environments to tell critical stories, Schwartzstein offers a unique, ground-level perspective on how climate change is reshaping global security.
Energy is fundamental to economic development. It propels manufacturing, transportation, and construction, and throughout history, it’s been the driver of human prosperity. But as global population continues to increase, and countries develop, energy use could double by the end of this century—with much of that increase concentrated in the developing world.
Meeting that demand while ensuring we stay on track to reach a net- zero future is a massive challenge. It means leveraging both new innovations and scaling up the technologies that are already available. It also means increasing investment, as emerging markets and developing economies outside China account for only around 15% of clean energy spending.
Why is energy a critical enabler of development? What would it mean to electrify everything, and is that even possible? And what role will existing technologies like nuclear power play in a net-zero world?
This week, a re-run of host Jason Bordoff’s conversation with Eric Toone from July of this year where they discussed the challenges of increasing energy access in the developing world while rapidly cutting emissions.
Eric is the technical lead on the Investment Committee at Breakthrough Energy Ventures. Before joining Breakthrough in 2017, he was the vice provost and director of the Duke University Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative, and a professor of chemistry and biochemistry. From 2009 to 2012 he was detailed to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency, where he served as program director and deputy director for Technology.
In Brazil, the energy transition is pushed and prodded by conflicting forces.
Its government is taking significant steps to cut emissions. For example, in August, it passed a much-anticipated low-carbon hydrogen framework; and in November, a law to create a regulated carbon market. And since taking office in 2023, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has spearheaded significant reductions in deforestation of the Amazon rainforest.
But Brazil is also Latin America’s biggest producer of oil, and it has been ramping up its output.
In light of Brazil’s strategic role in climate – it currently holds the presidency of the G-8, and in 2025 it will host COP30 – we’re rerunning an episode from February digging into Brazil’s energy transition.
How is the energy transition in Brazil unfolding amid these conflicting pressures? And how can the country balance environmental protection and energy security?
Bill Loveless talks with Thiago Barral about how Brazil plans to build up clean energy technologies, and how geopolitics shapes that strategy.
Thiago is the national secretary of planning and energy transition of the Ministry of Mines and Energy for Brazil. Before his role as secretary, he was the president of the Energy Research Company, a Brazilian institution responsible for energy planning studies and official state energy statistics. Thiago joined the Energy Research Company in 2007, and also served as director of energy economics and environmental studies.
The headline from this year’s World Energy Outlook released by the International Energy Agency says, “The world is on the brink of a new age of electricity.” In the United States, electrification is set to transform the energy landscape, and the nation is expected to see a rapid rise in power demand.
Questions remain over how this demand will be met, and if this means increasing carbon emissions from the power sector. These questions are further complicated by the rise of artificial intelligence and an antiquated and fragmented electric grid.
So how do efforts to decarbonize the century-old power system impact both reliability and the cost of electricity? And what does this new era of rising electricity demand mean for domestic manufacturing, AI data centers, and other industries?
This week host Jason Bordoff talks with Cheryl LaFleur and David Hill about the incoming Trump administration, its impact on FERC, and the status of permitting reform measures.
Cheryl is an advisory board member at the Center on Global Energy Policy. Previously, she was one of the longest-serving commissioners on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission from 2010 to 2019, and served twice as FERC’s chair. Since 2019, Cheryl has served on the board of directors of the Independent System Operator of New England (ISO-NE).
David is a non-resident fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy. He served as general counsel of the U.S. Department of Energy during the George W. Bush administration. From 2012 to 2018, he served as executive vice president and general counsel of NRG Energy, Inc.
The international climate negotiation process stands at a critical juncture. At the recent COP29 summit in Azerbaijan, nations struggled to find common ground on financial support and carbon market strategies, all while grappling with the persistent influence of fossil fuel industries.
Industrialized countries did pledge $300 billion to help developing nations adapt to climate change, but scientists say the commitment is still far short of the trillion dollars needed to prevent catastrophic environmental impacts.
So, how can global leaders close the financing gap? And what practical approaches can ensure meaningful progress in climate negotiations amid rapidly changing political landscapes?
This week host Bill Loveless talks with Elliot Diringer about the COP process and what the outcome of this year’s summit means for the global energy transition.
Elliot is a global fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University SIPA, directing the Center's International Dialogue on Climate and Trade. He served as a senior policy advisor to Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry and led the establishment of the Energy Transition Accelerator under the Biden administration. Elliot also spent more than 20 years at the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, serving as the head of the international program. He has attended 26 Conference of the Parties summits, most recently attending COP29 in Azerbaijan.
The energy transition is transforming how we power our world – clean energy systems are becoming more interconnected, automated, and reliant on digital infrastructure. But with this transformation comes a new vulnerability: cyberattacks. As our grid becomes smarter and our system more digitized, the potential for disruption grows.
Earlier this year, the FBI warned of a serious threat that Chinese hackers had infiltrated U.S. critical infrastructure systems, raising the possibility of a “devastating blow” to energy and other vital services.
The stakes are clear. As we move forward with the energy transition – and increasingly digitizing and electrifying our systems – we are increasingly vulnerable to cyber attacks.
This week, host Jason Bordoff speaks with Harry Krejsa about the cybersecurity risks at the intersection of operational technology and information technology in the clean energy transition, the destructive capabilities of China and Russia on American critical infrastructure, and what we should be doing about it.
Harry is the director of studies at the Carnegie Mellon Institute for Strategy & Technology. He was previously in the Biden White House’s Office of the National Cyber Director. There, he led development of the Biden-Harris administration’s National Cybersecurity Strategy, established national clean energy security priorities, and represented the U.S. government in technology security consultations with foreign partners and the global private sector.
Prior to that, Harry worked at the intersection of technology, industrial strategy, and U.S.-China competition for the Department of Defense, the Cyberspace Solarium Commission, and the Center for a New American Security.
The clean energy transition has a dirty underside. To move away from fossil fuels and toward solar, wind, batteries, and other alternative sources of energy, we have to intensify mining operations for critical minerals like lithium, copper, and cobalt.
According to a Global Witness analysis of S&P Global data, copper mining will increase more than 25% between 2021 and 2028. Cobalt mining will be up more than 100%. Lithium, more than 300%. And all that mining has serious environmental and social impacts, particularly in developing countries.
This week, host Bill Loveless talks with Vince Beiser about his latest book “Power Metal: The Race for the Resources That Will Shape the Future.”
Vince is an author and journalist whose work has appeared in Wired, Harper’s Magazine, The Atlantic, and The New York Times, among other publications.
They discuss cleaning up the chase for critical minerals, advancing the clean energy transition while minimizing mining impacts globally, and what role the U.S. government can play, particularly with an incoming Trump administration.
Rising electricity demand. Heightened geopolitical tension. Fragility in energy markets. These are some of the big stories shaping the energy transition outlined in the International Energy Agency’s newest World Energy Outlook.
Even as the IEA says the world is shifting from the "Age of Oil" to the "Age of Electricity," we are still far from achieving net-zero targets. And the tensions highlighted in the latest Energy Outlook illustrate how difficult the transition will be.
This week, host Jason Bordoff talks with Tim Gould about the 2024 World Energy Outlook, published in October. They discuss the significant progress countries have made on the energy transition, and the structural shifts in economies and energy use that lie ahead.
Tim is the International Energy Agency's chief energy economist. As part of his role, he co-leads the World Energy Outlook. Tim joined the IEA in 2008 as a specialist on Russian and Caspian energy. Prior to joining the IEA, he worked on European and Eurasian energy issues in Brussels.
In passing and signing the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, Congress and the Biden administration infused hundreds of billions of dollars into the energy transition. It was the largest investment in energy and climate in U.S. history.
At the same time, the law left many countries worried over provisions requiring domestic manufacturing, which some see as protectionist. It’s a friction that’s part of ongoing green trade tensions. As other countries implement their own major climate action plans, some include industrial policies that challenge international trade rules and norms.
Two years in, how are other countries responding to the Inflation Reduction Act? Can trade policy catalyze investment in and around clean energy in emerging markets and developing economies? And what does the concept of “friendshoring” mean?
This week host Jason Bordoff talks with Sarah Bianchi about her work in the Biden administration and how climate policy and trade policy intersect.
Sarah is a senior managing director and chief strategist of international political affairs and public policy at Evercore ISI. She is a distinguished visiting fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy and is on the advisory board of CGEP’s new Trade and Clean Energy Transition Program to examine the intersection of climate action, trade policy, national security, and industrial strategy.
She has nearly 30 years of experience in both the public and private sector. Most recently, she served as deputy U.S. trade representative from 2021 to 2024, overseeing critical trading relationships across Asia and Africa. Her portfolio covered all aspects of trade, including the energy transition and the implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act.
In 1953, the New York Yankees beat the Brooklyn Dodgers in the World Series, “From Here to Eternity” won the Academy Award for Best Motion Picture. And on May 24 deep in the education section of The New York Times, there was a short piece titled “How Industry May Change Climate.”
In the years after, scientists went from writing about the possible impacts of pollution on climate to warning U.S. presidents. And energy policy expert and scholar Jay Hakes says there’s much more to the story.
From scientists who quietly worked to address growing environmental threats, to lawmakers who deliberated in Congress and the White House over what to do about them, Jay says there’s a history that hasn’t been told. In his new book, Jay looks at these early climate change pioneers and asks about the challenges they faced.
What was it like trying to influence the White House? What solutions did these pioneers offer? And how can their stories further our discourse around climate change today?
This week, we go back to a conversation from August between host Bill Loveless and Jay Hakes about his book “The Presidents and the Planet: Climate Change Science and Politics from Eisenhower to Bush.”
Jay is a scholar and author on U.S. energy policy. From 2000-2013 he served as the director of the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library. He also served in both the Obama and Clinton administrations, including a seven-year stint as director of the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Jay’s other books include “Energy Crises: Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Hard Choices in the 1970s” and “A Declaration of Energy Independence.”
Emerging markets and developing economies are set to account for the largest source of emissions growth in the coming decades, according to the International Energy Agency. As population growth in developing countries around the world increases, so will their demand for energy. And historically, these countries have looked to fossil fuels to support their demand growth.
But even though emissions from these countries are increasing, their historical cumulative emissions pale in comparison to those emitted by a few wealthy countries – including the U.S. It’s an imbalance that has major implications when it comes to equity and the energy transition.
This week host Jason Bordoff talks with Rahul Tongia about his work on climate equity and his views on net-zero emissions commitments. They also discuss carbon pricing, as well as his approach to establish a system that incentivizes low-emissions countries to keep their emissions lower, even as they use fossil fuels for longer.
Rahul is a senior fellow with the Centre for Social and Economic Progress in New Delhi, where he co-leads the Energy, Natural Resources, and Sustainability group. He helped establish the Smart Grid space in India and is founding advisor of the India Smart Grid Forum. Rahul is a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a professor at Carnegie Mellon University.
The artificial intelligence boom is fueling a massive uptick in energy demand globally.
A Goldman Sachs report from earlier this year claimed that processing a single ChatGPT query requires almost ten times the amount of electricity as a single Google search.
But it’s not just ChatGPT queries driving up demand. As we transition to more renewable energy sources, AI is becoming critical to managing and improving efficiency across our electric grid.
So how are some of the biggest American tech companies securing the power they need to meet demand? They’re going nuclear.
Tech giant Microsoft recently secured a deal to restart the last functional reactor at Three Mile Island with access to 100% of the power generated. And Amazon announced a $500 million investment to develop small modular nuclear reactors. It’s a sign that large tech companies see data centers – and the AI they enable – as critical to their futures.
This week, host Bill Loveless talks with Jason Bordoff and Jared Dunnmon about their latest co-written column for Foreign Policy, titled “America’s AI Leadership Depends on Energy.”
Jason is founding director of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. He’s also a professor of professional practice in international and public affairs, the co-founding dean emeritus at the Columbia Climate School, and a former senior director on the staff of the U.S. National Security Council.
Jared is a nonresident fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy. He’s also a former technical director for artificial intelligence at the U.S. Defense Department’s Defense Innovation Unit.
Escalating tensions between Israel and Iran, the world’s seventh-largest producer of crude oil, have fueled concern over oil price volatility for the past few weeks.
But the oil market isn’t reacting to geopolitical tensions in the Middle East as dramatically as it has in the past. Despite an ongoing war in Gaza and Israel, Israel’s attack on Hezbollah, and attacks by Houthis in the Red Sea, the price of oil hasn’t changed much. China’s slowing economy and the U.S.’ increased domestic production of oil seem to be keeping prices down… at least for now.
Still, renewed fighting between Israel and Iran has oil markets feeling nervous. A regional war could drive up prices, impacting the global economy.
In an interview recorded yesterday, host Jason Bordoff talks with Helima Croft and Javier Blas about the current state of oil markets, and how global instability could impact their future.
Helima is a managing director and head of global commodity strategy and Middle East and North Africa research at RBC Capital Markets. Helima joined RBC Capital Markets from Barclays, where she was a managing director and head of North American commodities research.
Javier is an opinion columnist for Bloomberg covering energy and commodities. Javier is coauthor of the 2021 book “The World for Sale: Money, Power and the Traders Who Barter the Earth’s Resources.”
Europe is facing a critical challenge. When it comes to advanced technology innovation, labor productivity, and affordable energy, it's not keeping up with the U.S. and China. At least that’s the take from Mario Draghi, former European Central Bank president, in his European Commission report last month titled, “The Future of European Competitiveness.”
The last five years for the European Union have been tumultuous – from the pandemic to an energy crisis sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, to the European Green Deal. How Europe moves forward in the face of these challenges will directly impact its short and long-term energy security, and the pace of its transition to clean energy. And it’s all playing out against the backdrop of an ever-worsening climate crisis.
This week, host Jason Bordoff talks with Kadri Simson. Kadri has been the European Commissioner for Energy since 2019. Before that, she was the Estonian minister for economic affairs, and held various other positions in the Estonian government.
Kadri visited the Columbia campus during Climate Week in New York City.
They discussed the impact of Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, Europe’s progress in weaning itself off Russian gas, and member states’ attitudes toward nuclear power, among other topics.
According to recently released data, Norway is the first country in the world with more electric vehicles than gas-powered ones on the road. At the same time, the country is western Europe's largest oil and gas producer, with a total output of over four million barrels of oil equivalents per day.
While the country aims to be carbon neutral by 2030, Norwegian oil and gas investments are expected to hit a record high this year and will remain strong in 2025.
This week, host Jason Bordoff talks with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre in a live event recorded at the Columbia World Leaders Forum in New York during Climate Week.
They discussed Norway’s progress toward becoming a green energy hub in Northern Europe and spoke about the obstacles the country faces in its pursuit of a green and secure energy future. Columbia students then joined the conversation, asking questions about everything from Norway’s role in the global energy transition to insights the country could offer the rest of the world.
Back in 2012, the Department of Defense issued a first-of-its-kind “Climate Change Adaptation Roadmap.” It was designed to prepare the U.S. military for increasing threats to national security in the form of rising sea levels, increasing global temperatures, and growing conflicts over basic resources like food and water. It stated that “Climate change is expected to play a significant role in the DOD’s ability to fulfill its mission in the future.”
Fast-forward to today, and Sherri Goodman says the DOD now sees combating climate change as central to its mission.
Sherri was appointed the first-ever deputy undersecretary of defense focusing on environmental security. One of her first assignments was cleaning up nuclear weapons development and production sites. And in 1998, she helped develop the military’s first climate change plan, focused mainly on reducing emissions.
This week, host Bill Loveless talks with Sherri about her latest book, “Threat Multiplier: Climate, Military Leadership, and the Fight for Global Security.” Sherri explains how far the military’s approach to climate change has come over the past 25 years.
Sherri is secretary general of the International Military Council on Climate and Security and a senior fellow at the Wilson Center. She’s also founder and former executive director of the Center for Naval Analyses Military Advisory Board and is board chair of the Council on Strategic Risks, which includes the Center for Climate and Security.
It’s no secret that Republicans and Democrats don’t see eye to eye on climate change.
According to a Pew Research Survey conducted earlier this year, just 12% of Republicans and Republican-leaners think climate change should be a top priority for the president and Congress. Meanwhile, the official 2024 Democratic party platform states there’s “nothing more important than addressing the climate crisis."
Energy and environmental law professor David Spence says today’s news and social media are partly responsible for the divide.
In his new book, “Climate of Contempt: How to Rescue the U.S. Energy Transition from Voter Partisanship,” David argues it’s all but impossible for the government to take significant action to address global warming in a media environment focused on persuading more than educating.
This week host Bill Loveless talks with David about his book and his perspective on the ideological polarization and negative partisanship that’s been building in the U.S. in the past 10-15 years. And how he believes getting us all offline and engaging with each other in person can help push regulatory politics forward.
David is the Rex G. Baker Chair in Natural Resources Law in the School of Law at the University of Texas at Austin. He’s also a professor of business, government, and society in the McCombs School of Business at UT Austin, where he teaches courses in energy and environmental regulation. And he’s co-author of a leading casebook “Energy, Economics, and the Environment.”
Thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act, the Department of Energy has been flush with cash for the past couple of years. Between the two measures, the DOE now has nearly $100 billion to put toward clean energy and grid development projects around the country through funding and loans.
There’s an expectation that these contributions will drive private investment—and they have been. This July, the DOE reported nearly $50 billion in funding awards already, with more than $60 billion in private investments matching federal dollars.
This week, host Bill Loveless talks with David Crane about where these funds have been going and what effects they’re having on clean energy applications around the country. They also discuss how the DOE is addressing nationwide energy challenges like transmission line permitting, storage, and other hurdles to decarbonization.
David is the under-secretary for infrastructure at the Department of Energy. He previously served as director of DOE’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations. He was also CEO of Climate Real Impact Solutions, as well as NRG Energy.
China’s dominance of global supply chains for many goods, including clean energy technology, is increasing concerns about resilience, security, and geopolitical influence in today’s new era of great power competition. At the same time, efforts to curb China’s dominance are raising concerns about the cost of clean energy at a time when its rapid deployment is needed.
So are we in a new Cold War with China? Should American policymakers try to decouple from China? And how should policymakers address China’s supply chain dominance of the materials needed for the energy transition?
This week, host Jason Bordoff talks with Dmitri Alperovitch about his new book “World on the Brink: How America Can Beat China in the Race for the 21st Century.” They discuss what the strategic challenges from China mean for American policymakers, how the U.S. can diversify critical supply chains away from China, and the security of America’s energy infrastructure.
Dmitri is the co-founder and chairman of Silverado Policy Accelerator. He is a co-founder and former CTO of CrowdStrike. Dmitri previously served as special advisor to the Department of Defense and currently serves on the Department of Homeland Security Advisory Council and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency's Cyber Safety Review Board.
In 1953, the New York Yankees beat the Brooklyn Dodgers in the World Series, “From Here to Eternity” won the Academy Award for Best Motion Picture. And on May 24 deep in the education section of The New York Times, there was a short piece titled “How Industry May Change Climate.”
In the years after, scientists went from writing about the possible impacts of pollution on climate to warning U.S. presidents. And energy policy expert and scholar Jay Hakes says there’s much more to the story.
From scientists who quietly worked to address growing environmental threats, to lawmakers who deliberated in Congress and the White House over what to do about them, Jay says there’s a history that hasn’t been told. In his new book, Jay looks at these early climate change pioneers and asks about the challenges they faced.
What was it like trying to influence the White House? What solutions did these pioneers offer? And how can their stories further our discourse around climate change today?
This week, host Bill Loveless talks with Jay Hakes about his book “The Presidents and the Planet: Climate Change Science and Politics from Eisenhower to Bush.”
Jay is a scholar and author on U.S. energy policy. From 2000-2013 he served as the director of the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library. He also served in both the Obama and Clinton administrations, including a seven-year stint as director of the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Jay’s other books include “Energy Crises: Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Hard Choices in the 1970s” and “A Declaration of Energy Policy Independence.”
With her historic victory in Mexico’s presidential election in June, Claudia Sheinbaum will be the country’s first-ever female leader. And because of her background as a climate scientist who contributed to influential UN climate reports, many hope she will reverse Mexico’s drift away from climate leadership.
But it’s not simple. Sheinbaum is a political protégé of outgoing president Andrés Manuel López Obrador. In his six years as president, López Obrador was a popular leader, but failed to advance climate policy. In fact, Mexico is one of just two countries out of the G20 without a net-zero target for carbon emissions.
Even as López Obrador propped up the oil sector, the primary state-owned petroleum company Pemex is deep in debt and seeing four-decade lows in production. And Mexico’s heavy dependence on the U.S. for natural gas is a growing energy security issue for the country.
Sheinbaum has promised to boost clean energy – how effective will she be? Will she be able to address the country’s growing power demands and energy infrastructure challenges? And will she break from her predecessor’s lagging record on climate change?
This week, host Bill Loveless talks with Carlos Pascual about what a Sheinbaum presidency could mean for Mexico’s addressing the country’s energy issues, and encouraging more investment in clean energy in Mexico.
Carlos is senior vice president for Global Energy and International Affairs at S&P Global Commodity Insights, where he leads all business lines in Latin America. He was previously at IHS Markit, where he concentrated on worldwide energy issues and international affairs.
Carlos served as U.S. ambassador to Mexico from 2009 to 2011 and to Ukraine from 2000 to 2003. From 2011 to 2014 he was a special envoy and coordinator for international affairs at the U.S. Department of State, where he established and directed the agency’s Energy Resources Bureau. He was also a former resident fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy, Columbia SIPA.
Global clean energy investment has risen by 40% since 2020, reaching an estimated $1.8 trillion in 2023, according to the International Energy Agency.
The cost of wind, solar, and batteries have fallen rapidly, often competing with fossil fuels, thanks to tech innovations, manufacturing scale, and policy support.
But the world still isn’t on track to reach its emission reduction targets. And now new forms of demand, such as data centers running artificial intelligence, are raising concerns about rising energy use and emissions.
So how do we encourage more innovation in clean energy? How do we mobilize investment to scale-up and commercialize emerging technologies? What is the role of the private sector and what kinds of policies do we need?
This week, host Jason Bordoff talks with Arun Majumdar about some of his views on emerging technologies and energy policy. They also discuss how higher education can adapt to provide the knowledge and skills needed in the clean energy economy.
Arun is the inaugural Dean of the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. He also serves as the Jay Precourt Provostial Chair Professor at Stanford University and Senior Fellow and former Director of the Precourt Institute for Energy. Formerly, he served as vice president for energy at Google.
In the Obama administration, Arun served as founding director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy and as the acting under secretary of energy. He also served as a Science Envoy for the U.S. Department of State and currently serves as the chair of the U.S. Secretary of Energy Advisory Board.
Following decades of economic integration, the costs of clean energy technology have fallen sharply. But the rising costs of fragmentation, industry-friendly policies, and geopolitical tensions risk slowing the energy transition.
With the recent launch of the Trade and Clean Energy Transition initiative, the Center on Global Energy Policy has prioritized navigating the tensions between climate and trade and focused on the potential to use trade policy as a tool to accelerate the pace of clean energy deployment.
So how can the rules of trade be better aligned with climate goals and policies? How can the international trading system be modernized to tackle a challenge like climate change? And how can countries reconcile low-cost, clean energy technologies, often made in China, with concerns about economic competitiveness, security, and supply chain resilience?
This week, we return to a conversation from earlier this year between host Jason Bordoff and Dan Esty focused on Dan’s career, his recent work at the World Trade Organization, and the intersection of climate policy and trade policy.
Dan is the Hillhouse Professor at Yale University and director of the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy. He has written numerous books on environmental responsibility and economic progress, including Green to Gold and Greening the GATT. Dan also served as commissioner of Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection from 2011 to 2014.
So far this summer, politics has dominated the news. Which makes sense – it’s a presidential election year after all.
But climate change and its effects haven’t gone anywhere and are getting worse. Just last week, Europe’s climate change service Copernicus announced that earth hit the hottest temperature ever recorded for two consecutive days.
The same service also said we’ve lived through more than a year now of record-breaking temperatures.
During the June presidential debate, climate change did take center stage – but only for a moment. CNN moderators asked former President Donald Trump what he would do, if re-elected, to slow the climate crisis. His answer deviated quickly to other topics.
For his part, President Joe Biden – who has since announced he’s leaving the race and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris – played up his landmark Inflation Reduction Act, the largest investment in clean energy and climate action in U.S. history.
But where is the American public in all this?
How worried, frustrated, or hopeful are people feeling about global warming? And how do those sentiments compare to other countries around the world?
This week we return to a conversation from last fall, when host Bill Loveless talked with Anthony Leiserowitz about Yale’s Climate Change in the American Mind surveys, and what they reveal about public opinion around climate change both here in the U.S. and around the world. They also discussed the current discourse in American politics, and how attitudes differ among registered voters.
Anthony is the founder and director of the Yale University Program on Climate Change Communication, and a senior research scientist at the Yale School of the Environment. He has worked with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the National Academy of Sciences, the World Economic Forum, and many other major organizations to understand the psychological, cultural, and political factors that shape climate change beliefs. Anthony also hosts “Climate Connections,’’a daily 90-second podcast about the climate crisis.
Since Bill’s interview, Anthony’s program at Yale has released its Spring 2024 Climate Change in the American Mind survey results for Beliefs & Attitudes and Politics & Policy.
Russia’s energy exports, including its significant natural gas capacity, are geopolitical currency for the country. Before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Russia was Europe’s single largest supplier of imported natural gas. But since the global fallout after the invasion, Russia is setting its sights on China as a new market for the country’s gas and as an important ally.
The proposed Power of Siberia 2 pipeline would transport Russian natural gas to China via Mongolia. The project is a window into Russia’s energy export strategy and the evolving relationship between China and Russia.
So what is the strategic importance of Chinese-Russian energy diplomacy? How significant was Russia’s loss of the European gas market? And has Europe left its energy crisis behind?
This week host Jason Bordoff talks with Erica Downs, Akos Losz, and Tatiana Mitrova about their recent CGEP commentary, The Future of the Power of Siberia 2 Pipeline. They discuss the geopolitical significance of the proposed pipeline and the evolving Russia-China relationship. They also cover a range of other topics including the outlook for European energy security and climate goals, China’s energy demand, and the global gas market.
Erica is a senior research scholar at CGEP focusing on Chinese energy markets and geopolitics. She previously worked as a senior research scientist in the China Studies program of the CNA Corporation.
Akos is a former senior research associate at CGEP where he specialized in natural gas markets and the role of gas in the energy transition. He recently left CGEP and is returning to the International Energy Agency as its lead natural gas analyst.
And Tatiana is a research fellow at CGEP. She’s spent her career focusing on Russia and global energy markets. Tatiana previously served as the executive director of the Energy Centre of the Moscow School of Management and the head of research in the Oil and Gas Department in the Energy Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. She is also an independent director of SLB, the large energy services firm.
(Note: This conversation was taped prior to President Joe Biden’s July 21, 2024 announcement that he was suspending his campaign for a second term in office.)
Energy is central to economic development, and access to energy is intrinsically linked to prosperity. As standards of living improve, energy use could double by the end of the century with a majority of this growth occurring in the developing world. Meeting this demand with zero-carbon, affordable energy is a herculean task.
Powering economic growth with zero and low-carbon energy resources will require both the development of new technologies and the rapid deployment of existing technologies. But reinventing the global energy mix continues to be extremely challenging, and there are open questions regarding the affordability and feasibility of new technologies.
Why is energy so important for development? And where are the opportunities for innovation in the energy transition?
This week host Jason Bordoff talks with Eric Toone about the intersection of energy and economic development, and the challenge of increasing energy access in the developing world while rapidly cutting emissions.
Eric is the technical lead on the Investment Committee at Breakthrough Energy Ventures. Before joining Breakthrough in 2017, he was the vice provost and director of the Duke University Innovation and Entrepreneurship Initiative, and a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Duke.
On June 28, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a 40-year precedent established in the landmark 1984 case, Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council.
The precedent, commonly referred to as the “Chevron Doctrine,” gave federal agencies considerable discretion to interpret laws passed by Congress when implementing regulations and policy. But with the court’s new ruling, federal agencies no longer have the final say on how laws are interpreted. Instead, the judiciary will hold that power.
So, how will the new ruling impact energy policy and environmental regulation? What are both proponents and opponents saying about the court’s decision? And what does this mean more broadly for the modern administrative state?
This week host Bill Loveless talks with Michael Gerrard and Jeff Holmstead about the implications of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the Chevron Doctrine.
Michael is the founder and faculty director of Columbia’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. From 2012 to 2018, he was the chair of the faculty of Columbia University’s Earth Institute. Before joining Columbia in 2009, Michael practiced environmental law in New York for three decades.
Jeff is a partner and co-chair of the Environmental Strategies Group at Bracewell LLP. From 2001 to 2005, he served as the assistant administrator for air and radiation in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Throughout the world, climate change is influencing human mobility.
In a 2022 report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that devastating floods and storms have triggered the displacement of 20 million people per year since 2008. While migration is influenced by many factors, including socio-economic status and political stability, research by the IPCC and others tells us that climate change is increasingly significant.
So, how is climate change impacting human mobility? And what can policymakers do to address climate migration?
This week host Bill Loveless talks with Shana Tabak about how climate change influences migration both within and across borders.
Shana is a human rights lawyer and the director of immigration strategy at the Emerson Collective, where she leads engagement at the intersection of global migration and the climate crisis. She is also an adjunct professor of human rights at the Georgetown University Law Center and an affiliated scholar with Georgetown’s Institute for the Study of International Migration.
Demand for the critical minerals needed for batteries, solar panels, and other forms of clean energy will grow rapidly under the International Energy Agency's “net zero by 2050” scenario. And this gives mineral rich countries like Chile an outsized role in the energy transition.
Chile currently holds more than a third of the world's lithium reserves, and the country is already the world's second largest producer of lithium, with an approximately 25% share of world production. Chile also is the world's largest producer of copper, which will also be needed for a much more electrified economy.
So what is Chile's role in the energy transition more broadly? How will Chile's plans to nationalize its lithium industry play out? And how will the country be impacted by an escalating trade war between the U.S. and China?
This week host Jason Bordoff talks with Juan Carlos Jobet about Chile’s role in the global energy transition.
Juan Carlos is Chile’s former minister of energy and mining. He was recently appointed dean of the School of Business and Economics at Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez and is a distinguished visiting fellow at Columbia’s Center on Global Energy Policy. Throughout his career, he has held several positions in both the public and private sector. He served as undersecretary of housing and minister of labor and social security, and previously worked as an investment banker and in private equity.
Recent elections in the European Union shook up the continent’s climate politics. Far-right parties performed well in both the EU’s parliament and national governments, and the Greens lost nearly all of their gains over the past five years in the European parliament. Voters pointed to energy costs, security, and economic competitiveness as key factors in their decision-making.
So what do these elections indicate about the shifting political ideology of the European Union? How will they impact Europe’s relations with the U.S. and China? And what do these elections mean for European climate and energy policy?
This week, host Jason Bordoff talks with Ann Mettler, vice president for Europe at Breakthrough Energy, a network of investment funds, philanthropies, and nonprofits dedicated to scaling low-carbon technologies. She previously served as director-general at the European Commission, where she ran an in-house think tank called the European Political Strategy Centre. Prior to that, she was the executive director of the Lisbon Council, an economic policy think tank she founded in 2003.
Jason and Ann discuss the results of the recent European elections, the economic competitiveness challenges facing the European Union, and Ann’s views on Europe’s new tariffs on China.
In the next few months, heat waves, droughts, thunderstorms, and hurricanes will wreak havoc on regions around the world. Climate scientists say these events are becoming more extreme and dangerous thanks in part to the changing climate.
For example, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s outlook for the 2024 hurricane season, which just started June 1, anticipates an exceptionally high number of storms this year.
So, why are extreme weather events worsening? How is climate change contributing to this development? And what measures are being taken to adapt to this new reality?
This week host Bill Loveless talks with Radley Horton about the outlook for extreme weather events across the globe this summer, and why the intensity and severity of them is expected to increase.
Radley is a professor at the Columbia Climate School, where he teaches and researches climate extremes, risks, impacts, and adaptation. He was a convening lead author for the United States’ Third National Climate Assessment, and he is currently a principal investigator for NOAA, focusing on climate risk in the urban U.S. Northeast.
The elections for the European Parliament will take place in a couple of days, and polls currently suggest the Parliament will undergo a rightward shift.
The last elections five years ago in 2019 saw major electoral gains for the environmentalist parties and popular support for ambitious energy transition plans. But the upcoming elections come following a tumultuous few years for the continent that included an energy crisis and an economic crisis.
So how will the upcoming elections impact Europe's energy transition? And how will Europe balance the needs for more rapid climate action, energy security and economic competitiveness?
This week host Jason Bordoff talks with Dominique Ristori about how Europe will accelerate its clean energy progress and enhance its energy security.
Dominique is the former director general energy of the European Commission. He currently is a senior advisor at Dentons Global Advisors. Dominique began his career at the European Commission in 1978 and held several senior positions throughout his career. Prior to his role as director general energy, he was director-general of the Joint Research Center.
On May 8th, the U.S. Department of Energy proposed ten new “national interest electric transmission corridors” – a designation that allows the federal government to accelerate projects in areas where consumers are harmed by lack of transmission.
Days later, on the 13th, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission released Orders 1920 and 1977. Both of the new rules aim to expedite the build out of the nation’s electric grid by tackling major issues such as cost allocation and long-term planning.
So, how will these actions from the federal government impact transmission projects? What are critics of the FERC rules saying? And why are these long-awaited reforms happening now?
This week host Bill Loveless talks with Rob Gramlich about the impact the new FERC rules will have on current and future transmission projects. Rob is the founder and president of Grid Strategies, a consulting firm focused on transmission and power markets. He has co-founded multiple organizations focused on power systems reliability and sustainability, including Americans for a Clean Energy Grid and the Working for Advanced Transmission Technologies Coalition. From 2001-2005, Rob served as an economic advisor to FERC chairman Pat Wood.
Industry accounts for one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions, a share that will only increase in the coming years.
Other high-emission sectors, like electric power and transportation, are cutting emissions through renewables and electrification. But the pathways to reducing emissions from manufacturing materials such as iron, steel, chemicals, cement, and concrete are still unclear.
A new book by Jeffrey Rissman, titled Zero-Carbon Industry: Transformative Technologies and Policies to Achieve Sustainable Prosperity., dives into the nuances of industrial decarbonization and lays out a roadmap for eliminating greenhouse gas emissions between 2050 and 2070.
So, what are some of the pathways for reducing manufacturing emissions? And how can policy support decarbonization?
This week host Bill Loveless talks with Jeffrey about his book and its look at the workings of heavy industrial polluters and the ways to affordably decarbonize manufacturing.
Jeffrey is the senior director of the industry program at Energy Innovation, a nonpartisan energy and climate policy firm, where he leads the company’s work on technologies and policies to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions from the industry sector.
Zero-Carbon Industry is part of the Center on Global Energy Policy’s book series, and is published by Columbia University Press.
In April, the Environmental Protection Agency passed four new rules to reduce pollution from fossil fuel-fired power plants.
One of the new rules requires many new gas and existing coal power plants to control 90 percent of their carbon pollution if they plan to operate beyond 2039. The other three rules specifically target coal, requiring the industry to clean up various parts of the value chain including toxic metal emissions from power generation, wastewater pollution, and coal ash management.
And while the Biden Administration and other proponents consider the new rules a step in the right direction, opponents argue they will undermine the reliability of energy systems.
So, how will the EPA’s new regulations impact the energy industry? What makes these standards different from previous attempts to regulate energy emissions? And how might opponents try to overturn them?
This week host Bill Loveless talks with Jody Freeman about the technicalities of the new EPA power plant rules, and the legal avenues opponents might pursue to overturn them.
Jody is the Archibald Cox professor of law and the founding director of the Harvard Law School Environmental & Energy Law Program. From 2009-2010, she served as a counselor for energy and climate change in the Obama White House. Jody has also previously served on the Advisory Council of the Electric Power Research Institute and as an independent director of ConocoPhillips.
Indonesia’s economy is closely tied to its natural resources. It’s the world’s fourth largest producer of coal, and Southeast Asia’s largest gas supplier.
But even with its connection to fossil fuels, the country’s population strongly supports climate goals. In this year’s presidential election, every candidate advocated for the energy transition and more renewables.
At the same time, like many developing countries, Indonesia needs energy security, increased access to energy, and affordability. These factors complicate the energy transition, and could prolong the use of existing fossil fuel infrastructure and abundant coal resources.
So, how can Indonesian policymakers balance economic development and the energy transition? What is the role of renewables in meeting the country’s growing energy demands? And how can Indonesia collaborate in energy with other Asian nations?
This week host Bill Loveless talks with Mari Pangestu about the efforts to build a clean energy economy in Indonesia.
Mari is a distinguished visiting fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy. From 2020 to 2023, she served as the managing director of development policies and partnerships at the World Bank. Prior to joining the World Bank, Mari served as Indonesia’s minister of trade and as minister of tourism and creative economy.
Across the U.S., large scale renewable energy projects, transmission lines, and mining sites for critical minerals are built on or near tribal lands. For example, the federal government plans to loan billions of dollars to Lithium Americas to develop a lithium mine in Nevada at a location known as Thacker Pass, sacred to local Paiute and Shoshone people.
With the tumultuous history of energy development on indigenous lands, many tribes are pushing back on citing new infrastructure on their land.
So, how is the energy transition impacting Native American communities? And what are advocacy groups and the federal government doing to protect indigenous rights and lands?
This week host Bill Loveless talks with Kate Finn about the contentious history of energy projects on Native American lands, how that history influences energy development today, and how her organization is working to ensure Native Americans have a seat at the table in determining how best to use indigenous lands.
Kate is the executive director of First Peoples Worldwide, an organization focused on upholding the rights, sovereignty, and economic power of Indigenous People around the world. She was the inaugural American Indian Law Program Fellow at the University of Colorado Law, where she worked directly with tribes and Native communities. Her recent work focuses on the impacts of development in Indigenous communities, and embedding respect for Indigenous peoples into routine business operations.
Geopolitics looms large over the global economy. A recent client survey by Goldman Sachs found geopolitics is the top investment risk of this year, overtaking inflation and the upcoming U.S. presidential election.
The market impacts by the wars in Europe and the Middle East, and the rising tension between China and Taiwan, are hard to predict. And the rise of protectionism, economic fragmentation, and industrial policy are inflaming tensions in a new era of great power competition.
So, how should we understand this shifting world order? What is coming next in the Middle East following Iran’s attack on Israel? And how do energy and climate change impact national security?
This week’s episode features a fireside chat between Jason Bordoff and Tom Donilon from the Columbia Global Energy Summit 2024, which was hosted by the Center on Global Energy Policy, Columbia SIPA last week at Columbia University in New York.
Tom is chairman of the BlackRock Investment Institute. From 2010 to 2013, he served as national security advisor to President Barack Obama. He has worked closely with and advised three U.S. presidents since his first position at the White House in 1977, working with President Carter. He later served in senior roles in the Pentagon and the State Department.
Cleaner alternatives to the oil and gas that power vital industries are necessary for economy-wide decarbonization. E-fuels, or electrofuels, are touted as a carbon neutral solution for the hard-to-decarbonize sectors that rely on energy dense fossil fuels.
E-fuels are made by combining hydrogen with carbon dioxide. Through the electrolysis process, water is split into oxygen and hydrogen atoms. The hydrogen is then combined with CO2 through a process called synthesis. The outcome is an energy-dense liquid, synthetic fuel.
But currently, the e-fuels production process makes these alternatives more expensive than fossil fuels. And when burned, they release CO2, making critics question the claims of climate neutrality.
So, what is the climate impact of e-fuels? What industries are turning to these alternatives for decarbonization? And how can policy and tax incentives make them cost competitive with conventional oil and gas?
This week host Bill Loveless talks with Meg Gentle about the use of e-fuels for transport.
Meg is the executive director of HIF Global, an e-fuel company developing some of the largest projects around the world. Before joining HIF, Meg served as the director of Ovintiv, an independent petroleum company, and as the president and CEO of the natural gas company Tellurian. She also spent ten years working for Cheniere Energy, helping grow their LNG marketing and trading company into a world-wide business.
From methane monitoring to integrating more renewables into the power mix, artificial intelligence has the potential to transform the energy transition. It can be used to reduce emissions from food systems, and hard-to-abate sectors, like steel and cement manufacturing.
But the amount of energy AI will require is generating interest, uncertainty and concern. And this is in addition to the need for more electricity to help decarbonize multiple sectors.
So what are the high potential opportunities for using AI to combat climate change and what are the risks? How will AI exacerbate existing stress on the power sector? And what are some of the opportunities to lower costs and increase efficiencies?
This week host Jason Bordoff talks with two of the authors of the “Roadmap on Artificial Intelligence for Climate Change Mitigation,” David Sandalow and Alp Kucukelbir.
David Sandalow is the inaugural fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy. Previously, David served at the U.S. Department of Energy and was a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. He has served as assistant secretary of state for oceans, environment, and science, and as a senior director on the National Security Council staff.
Alp Kucukelbir is the co-founder and chief scientist at Fero Labs. He is an adjunct professor of computer science at Columbia University and leads the entrepreneurship efforts at Climate Change AI.
On March 6, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted new rules to standardize climate-related disclosures for public business and public offerings. Hoping to provide investors with consistent and comparable information, the Commission’s new rules require companies to disclose emissions and the expenses and losses associated with climate risks in annual filings and reports.
But critics immediately balked at the rules, questioning its legality and effectiveness.
So, how does the SEC define climate-related risks? How do their disclosure requirements compare to similar rules passed in the EU and California? And what are the critics saying?
This week host Bill Loveless talks with Shiva Rajgopal about the SEC’s climate disclosure ruling and his Forbes’ column on the topic, “The SEC’s New Climate Rule Is A Reasonable Political Compromise In An Election Year”.
Shiva is the Kester and Byrnes Professor of Accounting and Auditing at Columbia Business School. His research interests span financial reporting, earnings quality, fraud, executive compensation and corporate culture. From 2017-2019, Shiva served as the vice dean of research for Columbia Business School and has been a faculty member at Duke University, Emory University, and the University of Washington.
Methane leakage is one of many issues at the forefront today over how the oil and gas industry is engaging in the clean energy transition. Importantly, this industry includes not only some of the better-known energy companies, but also many national oil companies. Collectively they produce about half the world’s oil and gas.
During last year’s COP28, these companies committed to cutting methane emissions and working towards decarbonizing the industry. But the energy transition for these companies is a delicate balance, as they are responsible for generating revenue and ensuring energy security for their countries.
So, how will global pledges to decarbonize impact the oil and gas industry? What is the role for cleaner fuels like hydrogen in meeting growing energy demand? How much progress is being made to curb methane emissions? And what is the role of national oil companies in the transition?
This week host Jason Bordoff talks with Mark Brownstein about the importance of reducing methane emissions and what the transition looks like for national oil companies.
Mark is the senior vice president of energy transition at the Environmental Defense Fund. He has been with EDF for almost two decades, working to halt the rise of global oil and gas emissions and accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels. Before joining EDF, Mark worked for Public Service Enterprise Group, a large electric and gas utility holding company in the U.S. He has also taught energy policy at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.
To limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, emissions should already be decreasing and need to be cut by almost half by 2030. Although this target is just six years away, fossil fuels experienced continued demand and revenue growth in 2023.
At CERAWeek by S&P Global, one of the world’s largest annual energy conferences, the energy transition is at the forefront of conversations. But energy security and different pathways to net-zero goals is also the theme of the conference, and many companies are recommitting to their traditional oil and gas businesses even as they invest more in clean energy.
How do we navigate the path to a clean energy future? What is the outlook for energy prices and markets? What impact will today’s geopolitical challenges have on the transition? And what effects will the many elections around the world have on the energy sector?
This week host Jason Bordoff is at CERAWeek talking with Javier Blas about the path to a clean energy future.
Javier is an opinion columnist for Bloomberg covering energy and commodities. He was previously at the Financial Times, where he held various positions, including his roles as the Africa editor and the commodities editor. Javier is a coauthor of the book The World for Sale: Money, Power and the Traders Who Barter the Earth’s Resources released in 2021.
For more than a century, extractive industry and capitalism have dominated the developed world’s economies. Some of the biggest companies in the world produce and sell oil and gas, and those commodities have made countries and people very wealthy. But they’re also a major source of pollution and contributor to the climate crisis. In response, many of these companies have started investing in renewable energy, others have completely shifted their focus to clean solutions.
Akshat Rathi’s new book Climate Capitalism delves into this shift and argues that saving the earth is economically more advantageous than destroying it.
So, what is climate capitalism? How can this new approach facilitate climate innovation and economic growth? And what will it take to move away from traditional capitalism?
This week host Bill Loveless talks with Akshat about his new book and how reforming the current economic system can address climate change and be profitable.
Akshat is a senior climate reporter for Bloomberg News. Prior to Bloomberg, he was a senior reporter at Quartz and a science editor at The Conversation. His new book, Climate Capitalism: Winning the Race to Zero Emissions and Solving the Crisis of our Age has been named one of the best books of the year by the The London Times and The Economic Times.
Batteries are finding their way into everything – from cars to heavy equipment to the electric grid. But scaling up production to meet the demands of a net-zero economy is complicated and contentious.
Season 4 of The Big Switch, a Columbia University podcast hosted by Dr. Melissa Lott, digs into the ways batteries are made and asks: what gets mined, traded, and consumed on the road to decarbonization?
This is part one of “The Great Battery Boom,” a five-part series on global battery supply chains. Find the rest of Season 4 of The Big Switch on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
The success of the energy transition hinges on the availability of affordable capital to fund clean energy projects. The rise of green industrial policy in wealthy economies has mobilized public capital to fund clean energy projects, and attracted private capital through subsidies and tax incentives.
But in emerging and developing economies, there are many more barriers to deploying capital for clean energy at the scale and speed needed. The International Monetary Fund projects that of the $5 trillion in annual investments needed globally by 2030 to meet the world’s net-zero emissions goals, $2 trillion will need to be made in emerging markets and developing economies.
So, what is the role of private capital in accelerating the clean energy transition in economies around the world? And how can private sector coalitions advance the energy transition amidst anti-ESG backlash and higher cost of capital?
This week host Jason Bordoff talks with Nigel Topping about the pace of technological innovation to scale the energy transition, and the role of private capital in meeting global climate commitments.
Nigel is a distinguished visiting fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy and a global advisor to governments, financial institutions, and private companies on climate and industrial strategy. He served as the United Kingdom’s High-Level Climate Action Champion for COP26. In this role, he mobilized the global private sector and local government to take action on climate change by launching the Race To Zero and Race To Resilience campaigns and, together with Mark Carney, launched the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero. Nigel is also a non-executive director of the UK Infrastructure Bank and an honorary professor of economics at Exeter University.
In a new partnership with Google, the Environmental Defense Fund has developed a satellite that will orbit the Earth fifteen times a day and monitor methane emissions. The satellite, called MethaneSAT, will provide specific data on which parts of oil and gas infrastructure are the biggest methane emitters. Using artificial intelligence, MethaneSAT will overlay emissions data on oil and gas infrastructure maps to pinpoint the components that are responsible for methane leaks.
So, what are the implications of this new methane detection technology? And can it be expanded to detect other greenhouse gasses?
This week host Bill Loveless talks with EDF’s Steve Hamburg about the capabilities of MethaneSAT, and how they differ from other satellites that detect methane.
Steve is the chief scientist and a senior vice president at the Environmental Defense Fund. He leads the organization’s work to quantify methane emissions and understand the impacts on air pollution and human health. Before joining EDF in 2008, he was an environmental science professor at University of Kansas and Brown University, where he was the founding director of the Global Environment Program. He has also served as a lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and was acknowledged as one of the contributing recipients of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.
Brazil is in a strategic position when it comes to energy and climate issues. It holds the presidency of the G20 nations this year and the UN climate talks – or COP30 – in 2025.
This comes as the nation sees a significant reduction in deforestation in the Amazon rainforest under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and new commitments to pursue low-carbon technologies, such as hydrogen, and establish a regulated carbon market. At the same time, Brazil, the biggest producer of oil in Latin America, is planning to ramp up its output.
So, how is the energy transition unfolding in Brazil? And how can the country balance environmental protection and energy security?
This week host Bill Loveless talks with Thiago Barral about how Brazil plans to build up clean energy technologies, and how geopolitics shapes that strategy.
Thiago is the national secretary of planning and energy transition of the Ministry of Mines and Energy for Brazil. Before his role as secretary, Thiago was the president of the Energy Research Company, a Brazilian institution responsible for energy planning studies and official state energy statistics. He joined the Energy Research Company in 2007, and also served as director of energy economics and environmental studies.
Against the backdrop of climate change, a global debt crisis is raising concerns about the cost of the energy transition. Countries in the Global South — which are trying to balance economic development and climate adaptation — are calling for reforms to the global financial system to get more access to cheaper capital.
The World Bank, which provides loans and grants to emerging and developing economies, is a major financier of international development. Last year, it delivered $38.6 billion in climate finance. But because of its significant capacity, the organization is often scrutinized for how it manages and allocates funds.
So, how can the global financial system better support emerging and developing economies amid a changing climate? And how is the World Bank under a new president, Ajay Banga, working to meet these challenges?
This week host Bill Loveless talks with Axel van Trotsenburg about the World Bank’s climate agenda.
Axel is the World Bank’s senior managing director, responsible for development policies and partnerships. As such, he is the second in command at the bank. He directs the organization’s core work on sustainable development, with a focus on climate change, fragility, human capital, and sustainable debt. Axel has been with the World Bank for more than 30 years, having also held various senior positions there.
For more than three decades, the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has prepared comprehensive scientific assessments about the drivers and risks of climate change. The assessments, released every five to seven years, also explain how mitigation and adaptation could reduce those risks.
To confront the growing urgency of the climate crisis, governments around the world turn to the IPCC for guidance on emissions reductions strategies. That said, the organization makes clear that its research is not meant to be prescriptive.
So, how do its findings support climate policy and action around the world? And what role does science play in shaping global climate negotiations?
This week host Bill Loveless talks with IPCC’s Jim Skea about how the organization’s research contributes to public policy.
Jim is the chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Before his election as chair in July 2023, he was the co-chair of Working Group III of the IPCC, which focuses on climate change mitigation. Jim also served as the chair of Scotland’s Just Transition Commission from 2018 to 2023 and was a founding member of the United Kingdom’s Committee on Climate Change.
Within days of taking office, President Joe Biden signed an executive order to create the Justice40 Initiative. The policy aims to allocate 40% of the benefits of federal clean energy and climate investments to frontline communities.
For the energy sector, it’s helping to shine a growing light on “energy justice.” Historically, the current energy system has negatively impacted disadvantaged communities the most – communities that often lack access to affordable energy, are excluded from potential benefits of a clean energy economy, and suffer the greatest harms from climate change. The Energy Opportunity Lab at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs is working to address these challenges, among many others.
So, what progress has been made in ensuring energy justice for frontline communities? And with the energy transition continuing to accelerate in size and scale, how do we make sure disadvantaged communities aren’t left behind?
This week host Jason Bordoff talks with Shalanda Baker about the historical inequities of energy systems, and the Biden administration’s agenda on energy equity and climate justice.
Shalanda is the director of the Office of Energy Justice and Equity in the U.S. Department of Energy, and the secretarial advisor on equity. She also serves as chief diversity officer for the agency. Prior to her Senate confirmation in 2022, Shalanda served as the nation’s first-ever deputy director for energy justice. Before joining the Biden administration, she co-founded and co-directed the Initiative for Energy Justice, which provides technical law and policy support to communities on the front lines of climate change.
Around the world, new policies like the Inflation Reduction Act or the European Union's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism aim to accelerate the pace of decarbonization. But these same policies have also fueled trade tensions and raised concerns about protectionism.
A successful clean energy transition means much more trade in clean energy technologies and products, according to the International Energy Agency. A rules-based global trading system, governed by the World Trade Organization, underpins much of that trade. But increasingly the WTO has faced challenges and calls for reform, particularly around issues of sustainability and climate change.
So what reforms are needed to align the global trade framework with climate goals and policies around the world? And how can the World Trade Organization support both economic progress and sustainable development?
This week host Jason Bordoff talks with Dan Esty about how climate policy and trade policy intersect.
Dan is the Hillhouse Professor at Yale University and director of the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy. He just finished public service leave working at the World Trade Organization and is co-leading the Remaking Global Trade for a Sustainable Future Project. Dan has written numerous books on environmental responsibility and economic progress, including Green to Gold and Greening the GATT. He previously served in a number of leadership roles at the Environmental Protection Agency, and as the Commissioner of Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection from 2011 to 2014.
The Department of the Interior is a key player in the energy transition in the U.S.. The federal government owns about 28% of the 2.3 billion acres of land in the country. The Department is responsible for permitting oil and gas drilling, renewable development, and mining on its vast land holdings.
At the same time, the DOI is tasked with protecting America’s national parks and wilderness holdings for future generations. As the urgency of the climate crisis grows, the agency is at the heart of the difficult trade-offs between conservation and energy development that will define the energy transition.
What does an environmentally and socially responsible approach to the energy transition look like? And how does the federal government weigh the impacts and benefits of energy development on public lands?
This week host Jason Bordoff talks with Tommy Beaudreau about the DOI’s effort to protect public lands and support the development of a domestic clean energy economy.
Tommy is the co-chair of WilmerHale’s energy, environment, and natural resources practice, and a distinguished visiting fellow at Columbia’s Center on Global Energy Policy. He recently served as deputy secretary of the Department of Interior from 2021-2023. Tommy served in senior leadership roles in the Department for nearly a decade across two administrations, including as the first director of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management in 2011.
As 2024 kicks off, energy and climate policy discussions loom large in Washington. With the added complexity of the November presidential elections in the U.S., it remains uncertain what will happen regarding the increasingly partisan issues of environmental regulation and green industrial policy.
The Biden administration plans to continue implementing the Inflation Reduction Act, but Republicans in Congress could take action to hinder further progress. And government agencies, like the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency, could be significantly impacted by the Supreme Court’s ruling on a case that questions agencies’ ability to enact regulations.
So, what can we expect to happen in the nation’s capital on the energy and climate front this year? And where are the reporters who follow this beat going to focus their attention?
This week host Bill Loveless talks with journalists Jennifer Dlouhy and Justin Worland about what they’re keeping an eye on this year, and how Democrats and Republicans might approach major energy policy issues.
Jennifer is an energy and environmental policy reporter at Bloomberg News. Before joining Bloomberg in 2015, she was the Washington correspondent for the Houston Chronicle where she covered energy and environmental policy with a special focus on oil and gas.
Justin is a senior correspondent at TIME, where he covers climate change and the intersection of policy, politics, and society. In 2022, he received Covering Climate Now’s inaugural Climate Journalist of the Year Award.
The passage of the Inflation Reduction Act last year marked not only significant climate action but efforts to shape industrial policy. Through billions of dollars of subsidies, the IRA aimed to quicken the pace and scale of the energy transition and also bolster domestic manufacturing and the economy. While providing an infusion of capital to America’s clean energy economy, the legislation heightened trade tensions around the world, with other countries vying to capture their share of clean energy supply chains.
How does this green industrial strategy fit within the Biden Administration’s climate and economic goals? What potential impacts could policy have on the trade risks to the energy transition? And how might the energy transition affect the economy or economic inequities in American society?
This week for our second and final holiday rerun, we’re featuring host Jason Bordoff’s interview with Heather Boushey about the Biden Administration’s climate and economic policies and the case for green spending.
Heather is a member of the Council of Economic Advisors for the Biden administration and chief economist to the Biden administration’s “Invest in America” cabinet. Heather works on domestic investment and implementation of infrastructure and clean energy laws. She previously co-founded the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, where she served as chief economist, president and CEO. She has also held the position of chief economist for the Center for American Progress.
In April of this year, Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy reached its 10th anniversary. So this week, we’re bringing back the conversation between hosts Bill Loveless and Jason Bordoff about the special milestone.
With the help of some colleagues, Jason founded CGEP in 2013 to produce unbiased, evidence-based research that examines energy issues in economics, national security, environment, and climate.
Ten years later, CGEP is busier than ever addressing the world’s energy and climate challenges through research, education, and dialogue.
Jason is the founding director of the Center on Global Energy Policy. He previously served as a special assistant to President Obama, and senior director for energy and climate change on the staff of the National Security Council. He has held senior policy positions on the White House’s National Economic Council and Council on Environmental Quality. Earlier in his career, Jason was a scholar at the Brookings Institution, served in the Treasury Department during the Clinton administration, and was a consultant with McKinsey & Company.
He is also a co-founding dean emeritus of the Columbia Climate School.
Climate change is threatening human health across the globe. Extreme weather events like wildfires and heat waves are causing immediate and long-term health risks, with sometimes deadly results. According to this year’s Lancet Countdown report, which tracks the effects of climate change on human health, the impacts are getting worse.
To address this growing crisis, the recent UN Conference on Climate Change, or COP28, featured its first ever Health Day. Discussions there established the issue as a vital factor in climate negotiations. But the final agreement from the climate talks does not include the phasing out of fossil fuels, which is language many health experts were hoping to see included.
So, how do researchers track the connection between climate change and human health? What are the key indicators? And what do they warn will be the consequences of continuing to burn fossil fuels?
This week host Bill Loveless talks with Dr. Marina Romanello about the intersection of health and climate change.
Marina is the executive director of the Lancet Countdown, and a climate change and health researcher at University College London. She has also carried out research in the Buenos Aires Institute of Technology, University of Cambridge, and the Francis Crick Institute. From 2020-2021, Marina helped England’s National Health System develop net-zero commitments.
Averting the worst impacts of climate change requires rapidly reducing carbon emissions across all sectors. This is particularly challenging for some so-called “hard-to-abate” sectors like cement and steel manufacturing. Carbon management – which includes carbon transport; carbon utilization and storage; direct air capture; and point source carbon capture – seeks to trap or remove carbon emissions where they can’t be easily avoided.
Recent policies like the Inflation Reduction Act have given these technologies a boost. But major questions remain regarding their feasibility, cost, and scalability. As the climate crisis unfolds, these questions urgently need answers.
What is the role for carbon management in the energy transition? Who should be responsible for deploying these technologies? And can they be scaled quickly enough to play a role in meeting the world’s climate goals?
This week host Jason Bordoff talks with Dr. Julio Friedmann about the basics of carbon management and the regulatory landscape for this sector.
Julio is the chief scientist at Carbon Direct, a consulting and investment firm focused on carbon management and carbon removal solutions. He served as principal deputy assistant secretary for the Department of Energy from 2013 to 2016, where he was responsible for the Department’s research and development program across a variety of energy technologies. Until recently, Julio was a senior research scholar at Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy.
In 2022, the United States and the European Union consumed more than twice as much energy as Africa and Southeast Asia combined, despite having roughly a third of the population. At the same time, developing countries are experiencing the most severe impacts of climate change even though they’ve contributed the least to cumulative emissions.
Many of these regions are endowed with considerable clean energy potential as well as large deposits of oil and gas. Africa, for example, has the world’s greatest solar potential, 30% of the world’s mineral reserves, and large untapped oil and gas reserves. For the energy transition to succeed, the large and growing populations in emerging and developing economies must be able to meet their domestic energy needs affordably and sustainably and capitalize on their natural resources.
What is the outlook for clean energy development in emerging and developing economies? What can be done to ensure that the benefits of the energy transition accrue to historically disadvantaged communities? And what is Africa’s role in the growing market for clean energy?
This week host Jason Bordoff talks with Dr. Zainab Usman about the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead for Africa’s energy development.
Zainab is a senior fellow and director of the Africa Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Prior to Carnegie, she was a public sector specialist at the World Bank. She has written on energy and economic development in Africa, and was the lead author of the Carnegie Endowment’s recent report, “How Can African Countries Participate in U.S. Clean Energy Supply Chains?”
This week, climate leaders, scholars, and activists from around the world will travel to the United Arab Emirates for the annual United Nations conference on climate change known as COP. Many highly debated topics will take center stage at this year’s COP28, including the role of fossil fuels in meeting future global energy demands, the follow through on loss and damage commitments from last year’s meeting, and rising international trade tensions over clean energy economics.
Even the location of the meeting has sparked debate. The UAE is a major oil exporting country, and the CEO of its national oil company, Ahmed Al Jaber, is this year’s COP president.
So, how will world leaders address some of these major topics? And what could be the outcome of this year’s meeting?
This week host Bill Loveless talks with David Sandalow and Sagatom Saha about COP28.
David is the director of the energy and environment concentration at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. He is also the inaugural fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy, and founded and directs the Center’s U.S.-China Program. Before joining Columbia, David served in senior positions at the White House and at the U.S. State and Energy departments.
Sagatom is a senior associate in the energy transition practice at Macro Advisory Partners as well as an adjunct research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy. He previously worked on cleantech competitiveness at the International Trade Administration in the U.S. Department of Commerce, and served as a special adviser to the Office of the U.S. Special Presidential Envoy, John Kerry.
When it comes to energy and climate, Canada is a key player and a land of contrasts. It gets more than 80% of its electricity from low-carbon sources and has a hefty carbon tax. It’s also a major oil and gas producer, and has resources for the metals and minerals needed for a clean energy transition.
As the urgency of the climate crisis grows, the Canadian government has committed to accelerate its climate goals. At the same time, the importance of oil and gas to the Canadian economy, along with the thorny politics of climate, makes reducing its reliance on fossil fuels difficult. Canada also faces challenges balancing energy production and critical mineral mining with a commitment to upholding the rights and sovereignty of First Nations communities.
How is the Canadian government planning to meet its climate goals? What would a just energy transition look like for the country? And what are its leaders hoping to achieve at COP28?
This week host Jason Bordoff talks with Steven Guilbeault about recent developments in Canadian energy and climate policy, and what he is hoping to achieve at COP28.
Guilbeault is Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change, and an elected member of Parliament. He previously served as Minister of Canadian Heritage. Prior to serving in Parliament, he was the senior director of Équiterre, Quebec’s largest environmental organization, which he co-founded in 1993. He has also worked as a director and campaign manager for Greenpeace, and was a strategic advisor to Cycle Capital, a Canadian clean technology fund.
Three months ago, deadly wildfires swept across the western shore of Maui. It was the deadliest environmental disaster in Hawaii’s history. Now the community is rebuilding, and around the state residents are preparing for more extreme weather events.
Elemental Excelerator, a Honolulu-based non-profit investor in climate technology, relies on local knowledge to create a wide range of climate solutions. The organization pairs technology startups with local nonprofits, which have a deep understanding of community needs.
This model aims to address the unique challenges that Hawaii faces in the ever-worsening climate crisis. Elemental says these solutions can scale well beyond the islands.
So, in the aftermath of the Maui fires, what is the community doing to rebuild? What other projects are underway across Hawaii? And how can local solutions be used at a global level?
This week host Bill Loveless talks with Dawn Lippert about community-oriented technology investments.
Dawn is the founder and CEO of Elemental Excelerator. In 2009, she created a climate focused investment platform called Energy Excelerator, which merged with the Emerson Collective eight years later to form Elemental Excelerator. Dawn also chaired the advisory board for the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative from 2015 to 2020. In addition to leading Elemental, Dawn is a founding partner at Earthshot Ventures, and the founder and board member of Women in Renewable Energy.
The practice of capturing steam bursting through the earth’s surface to generate electricity has been around for more than a century. This is the traditional concept of geothermal energy. But thanks to research and development in both the private and public sectors, new forms of capturing subsurface heat have been developed. Fervo Energy, an advanced geothermal start-up, made headlines this year with breakthroughs in drilling techniques inspired by those of oil and gas. After a successful 30-day pilot this summer, known as Project Red, Fervo proved it can produce 24/7 carbon-free energy using enhanced geothermal systems.
So what led to these breakthroughs? And what role can geothermal play in the energy transition?
This week host Bill Loveless talks with Tim Latimer about innovation in geothermal technology and scaling opportunities in the U.S.
Tim is the co-founder and CEO of Fervo Energy. After studying geothermal energy in grad school at Stanford University, he started the company in 2017 with Jack Norbeck. Before Stanford, Tim worked as a drilling engineer for BHP Billiton in the Permian and Eagle Ford basins in Texas. He has also worked as a consultant for the Boston Consulting Group, Biota Technology, and McClure Geo-mechanics.
“Coal demand reached a new all-time high in 2022.” That was the headline of the International Energy Agency’s annual coal market update, released in July of this year. In fact, 2022 was the third year in a row that global coal consumption has increased.
This growth occurs against the backdrop of an ever-worsening climate crisis driven by energy sector emissions, of which coal accounts for 40%, and it’s why the IEA’s own executive director Fatih Birol called for an end to new coal power plant construction in a recent op-ed. But despite coal’s impact on the climate, it remains a vital source of energy for much of the world, particularly in Asia.
What is the outlook for coal in the years to come? What will it take to move away from the fuel? And what would phasing it out mean for emerging and developing economies?
This week host Jason Bordoff talks with Carlos Fernández Alvarez about the findings of this year’s Coal Market Update.
Carlos is a senior coal analyst at the International Energy Agency, and recently served as the acting head of the Gas, Coal, and Power Markets division. He was the lead author on this year’s Coal Market Update and has contributed to many other IEA reports, including the organization’s flagship publication, the World Energy Outlook. Carlos has 25 years of experience in the energy sector, serving as an energy consultant, an energy advisor for the Spanish Government, and later as the director of the Spanish Coal Agency.
The energy transition requires a lot of minerals. Lithium, copper, cobalt, nickel, and other materials that are collectively known as “critical minerals” are vital components of most clean energy technologies. According to the International Energy Agency, getting on track for net zero will mean a sixfold increase in the demand for these materials by 2040.
But mineral production has a mixed history. Without proper protections, mining can have negative impacts on environmental health, labor practices, and Indigenous communities. Therefore, the prospects for a just energy transition will depend both on meeting future demand for critical minerals, and on doing so in a just and sustainable way.
What does the next decade hold for the mining industry? What challenges will critical minerals pose for energy and geopolitics? And what can be done today to overcome these challenges?
This week, host Jason Bordoff talks with Ernest Scheyder about critical mineral supply.
Ernest is a senior correspondent for Reuters covering the green energy transition and critical minerals. He is also the author of the forthcoming book, The War Below: Lithium, Copper, and the Global Battle to Power Our Lives. The War Below details the complex choices facing our world as the energy transition accelerates. Ernie has previously covered the American shale oil revolution, politics, and the environment
Fifty years ago today, on October 17, 1973, a group of Arab oil ministers announced an embargo on oil exports to the United States and other countries in retaliation for America’s support of Israel in the Arab-Israeli War. What followed is seared into the American psyche: Fuel shortages across the country left drivers waiting for hours at the gas pump. Even the White House’s Christmas tree remained unlit as a sign of austerity.
The Arab Oil Embargo has defined energy policy in Washington ever since. In the decades following, markets evolved and governments developed new tools to deal with fuel shortages. But underlying risks remain.
What is the legacy of the Arab Oil Embargo? How do today’s energy security risks compare to those from 1973? And how does the climate crisis complicate efforts to address them?
This week host Jason Bordoff talks with Dr. Daniel Yergin about the legacy of the Arab Oil Embargo, the current crisis in the Middle East, and the outlook for energy security.
Dan is the vice chairman of S&P Global, a major financial information and analytics company. He is the author of several books on the history of energy, including his newest, The New Map: Energy, Climate and the Clash of Nations and his Pulitzer Prize winner, The Prize. He is widely regarded as one of the world’s foremost experts on energy, economics, and geopolitics.
Dan spoke at the Center on Global Energy Policy on October 11, 2023 for an event marking the 50th anniversary of the Arab Oil Embargo. His keynote remarks can be found here.
As we move on from the hottest summer on record, climate change and its effects remain in the national zeitgeist. The topic has been featured in both Democratic and Republican presidential discussions. The Biden administration continues to advocate for the Inflation Reduction Act, which aims to fight climate change by cleaning up various pollution-heavy industries.
But politics are just one lens for looking at climate change. A series of surveys from the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and George Mason University’s Center for Climate Change study public opinion of climate change from different perspectives.
So, how worried, frustrated, or hopeful are people feeling about the climate crisis? What specifically do registered voters in America think about the issue? And how do those sentiments compare to other countries around the world?
This week host Bill Loveless talks with Anthony Leiserowitz about Yale’s and George Mason’s “Climate Change in the American Mind” report series, and beliefs held around the world.
Anthony is the founder and director of the Yale University Program on Climate Change Communication, and a senior research scientist at the Yale School of the Environment. He has worked with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the National Academy of Sciences, the World Economic Forum, and many other major organizations to understand the psychological, cultural, and political factors that shape climate change beliefs. In 2020, he was named one of the most influential climate scientists in the world by Reuters. Anthony also hosts “Climate Connections,’’a daily 90-second podcast about the climate crisis.
As the world changes over the next few decades, many young people in school or just starting their careers, will be working in the major industries impacted by climate change. Here at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, the Charif Souki Global Energy Fellows are studying the current challenges of the climate crisis and how to build the future they want to live in.
This episode features two conversations with the fellows. As people raised in a time of elevated climate consciousness, they bring a fresh perspective to the energy transition.
So, what do the next generation of energy professionals think about the climate crisis? And what do they see as solutions for a sustainable, prosperous, and equitable future?
This week host Bill Loveless talks with Meha Jain and Kathryn Obisesan.
Meha is pursuing a Master in Public Administration at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs. She aspires to help protect low-income and vulnerable communities through energy and climate transitions. This summer, she worked with Warc Ghana, a social enterprise that provides agricultural services and consulting operations to Ghana and Sierra Leone.
Kathryn is working on a Master of International Affairs at the School of International and Public Affairs with a focus on energy and environment. Before attending Columbia, she worked as a junior policy analyst at the OECD-Nuclear Energy Agency. This summer she worked for the United States Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Around the world, activists are turning to the courts to hold major polluters accountable for climate change. This recently played out in the United States. Young plaintiffs in Montana successfully presented scientific evidence that connects the states’ greenhouse gas emissions to environmental harm.
Many legal experts say the case, Montana v. Held, is another major development for climate litigation. Other cases playing out across the globe show the courts could be a way to reduce CO2 emissions in the private sector.
So, what are some of the other major legal cases aimed at fighting climate change? And how could they impact the push to reduce global emissions?
This week, host Bill Loveless talks with Michael Gerrard about current trends in global climate change litigation, including the expanding range of legal theories that are being applied.
Michael is the founder and faculty director of Columbia’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, where he writes and teaches courses on environmental law, climate change law, and energy regulation. He was the chair of the faculty of Columbia University’s Earth Institute from 2015 to 2018. Before joining Columbia in 2009, Michael practiced environmental law in New York for three decades.
The Sabin Center maintains a database that tracks climate change litigation around the world. As of December 31, 2022, the database included 2,180 cases. In addition, the Sabin Center and the UN Environment Program recently issued the 2023 “Global Climate Litigation Report,” which takes into account information from that database.
Investment is rising in America’s clean energy sector. According to the Clean Investment Monitor, a joint project of the Rhodium Group and MIT, the sector received $213 billion in new investment over the past year, a 37% increase over the previous year.
This new investment brings new challenges, such as implementing the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), translating money into infrastructure, sustaining support for the energy transition, and fending off economic competition from abroad.
How is the surge of clean energy investment changing the American economy? What sectors and regions are benefitting the most? And what is still needed to get the U.S.on track to meet its climate goals?
This week host Jason Bordoff talks with Brian Deese about IRA implementation, green industrial strategy, and national security.
Brian was the director of the White House’s National Economic Council from 2021 to 2023. Prior to that, he served in the Office of Management and Budget and as a senior advisor to President Barack Obama, as well as global head of sustainable investing for BlackRock. Since leaving government, he has taken up a post as Institute Innovation Fellow at MIT, where he plays a key role in developing the Clean Investment Monitor.
Around the world, green industrial policy is driving a surge of new investment into clean energy. This is good news for the climate, but it puts the international trading system under intense strain.
As countries around the world vie for influence over the growing market for clean energy, new fault lines are emerging and old rivalries are re-igniting. With energy security still top of mind, policymakers face the difficult task of balancing access to an open market against control over the energy supply chains of the future. The risks of failure are immense—a fractured global market could slow clean energy uptake, which is vital for solving the ever-worsening climate crisis.
What risks do trade tensions pose for the energy transition? What are the major areas of dispute? And how can policymakers improve the global trading system to support rapid clean energy growth?
This week host Jason Bordoff talks with Maureen Hinman about the challenges facing global clean energy trade.
Maureen is the co-founder and executive chair of Silverado Policy Accelerator, a nonprofit organization that uses a venture capital approach to address policy challenges in cybersecurity, trade, geopolitics, and energy.
Before founding Silverado, she served as director for Environment and Natural Resources at the Office of the United States Trade Representative, where she led a range of trade policy initiatives focused on natural resource conservation. She has also served as the U.S. Department of Commerce’s senior industry trade specialist and as a consultant for Nathan Associates.
July was the hottest month ever recorded.
Heat waves broke records around the world this summer. Phoenix, Arizona, endured 31 days of 110 degrees or hotter. Sanbao, a remote township in northwest China, hit 127 degrees – a record for the country. And parts of Europe reached over 100 degrees.
These temperatures can be deadly. They also wreak havoc on the built environment. As global temperatures creep higher from greenhouse gasses, heat waves will be hotter and more frequent.
So, what exactly is a heat wave and how is it connected to climate change? How are scientists researching these extreme weather events? And what can policy makers do to help mitigate the impact on people and cities?
This week host Bill Loveless talks with author and journalist Jeff Goodell about his new book “The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet”.
Jeff has covered climate change for more than two decades. His book “The Heat Will Kill You First” examines the impact that rising temperatures will have on our planet. Jeff has also written books on rising seas, sinking cities, and the coal industry. He is a 2020 Guggenheim Fellow and a contributing editor at Rolling Stone.
The energy transition is a hot-button issue in Australia. It is the world’s largest exporter of coal and its efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions have consistently fallen short of its peers. It also faces serious risks from climate change, with damages from flooding, wildfires, and heat waves worsening nearly every year.
At the same time, Australia is one of the countries best situated to benefit from a transition to clean energy. It has immense wind and solar resources and is a leading exporter of critical minerals such as lithium, which are needed to manufacture clean energy technologies.
What will it take for Australia to emerge as a leader in the clean energy economy? How can policymakers untangle the difficult politics of climate change? And how is the energy transition shaping Australia’s relations with other countries?
This week host Jason Bordoff talks with former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull about how the Australian government is approaching the energy transition.
He was Australia’s 29th prime minister, serving in the role from 2015 to 2018.
Prime Minister Turnbull began his parliamentary career in 2004, including stints as the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources and later as Minister for Communications. After leaving politics in 2019, Prime Minister Turnbull joined the private equity firm KKR as a senior advisor. He is also the inaugural chair of the Global Hydrogen Organisation and will become president of the International Hydropower Association on October 31, 2023.
Getting the global energy system to net-zero – a state in which it emits no more greenhouse gasses than it absorbs – means deploying clean energy infrastructure at a pace without historical precedent. The ripple effects of this transition are already apparent in business, geopolitics, and in people’s daily lives.
Increasing public concern over climate change and breakthroughs in clean energy technology have rendered this challenge more achievable. But turning this momentum into tangible progress will require careful policymaking and implementation, across all levels of government.
How might the clean energy transition reconfigure the global economy? What levers can policymakers pull to accelerate it? And what emerging solutions are already changing the outlook for net zero?
Today we’re re-running host Jason Bordoff’s interview with Cameron Hepburn about the economics of the climate crisis.
Cameron is a Professor of Environmental Economics at the University of Oxford and Director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment. He also serves as the Director of the Economics of Sustainability Programme, based at the Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School. Cameron has over 30 peer-reviewed publications spanning economics, public policy, law, engineering, philosophy, and biology.
In a summer of both heightened climate ambition and heightened alarm over climate change, this conversation was held in the aftermath of the COP27 climate summit. Jason and Cameron discussed how technology developments are accelerating the energy transition and how to scale their impact.
This summer, the African Development Bank released its annual report stating that the continent needs between $230 billion to $250 billion annually to meet its climate goals.
Africa’s climate has warmed faster than the rest of the world since pre-industrial times. That makes it extremely vulnerable to climate change driven catastrophes that hinder economic growth and highlights the need for climate action through sustainable development.
So how are Africa’s leaders addressing the climate crisis? And how are countries across the continent approaching sustainable development?
This week we’re re-running host Bill Loveless’ conversation with Destenie Nock about the climate and energy needs of African nations.
Destenie is an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University where she teaches civil and environmental engineering as well as engineering and public policy. She is currently a visiting faculty member at Columbia University.
Destenie is the director of the Energy, Equity, and Sustainability (EES) Group, where she leads a team of researchers at the intersection of social justice, energy analysis, and systems modeling. She has conducted extensive research on energy poverty in Africa.
This conversation was originally recorded in November 2022 during COP27 in Egypt, where Destenie participated in a panel on putting decarbonization strategies into practice. Bill and Destenie discussed how this is playing out across different parts of Africa, including specific examples of what sustainable development could look like across the continent.
The steel and cement industries are enormous and vital components of the global economy. Together, they account for roughly 16% of global greenhouse gas emissions. If the cement and steel industry were a country, it would be the third largest emitter. Both industries are referred to as “hard-to-abate” sectors because of the perceived challenges in reducing their carbon emissions.
But innovations in technology and policy are changing the way experts look at these industries, opening new doors to decarbonization strategies. They’re also causing new rifts in global trade relations, as countries vie for dominance over emerging low-carbon solutions.
What are the best strategies for decarbonizing the steel and cement industries? How much progress have we made? And how is the emerging low-carbon steel and cement trade reshaping international relations?
This week host Jason Bordoff talks with Chris Bataille about the prospects for decarbonizing the steel and cement industries.
Chris is an adjunct research fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy, where he studies technology and policy pathways to net zero, with a focus on industrial decarbonization. He is an associate researcher at the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations and an adjunct professor at Simon Fraser University. He was also a contributing author to the IPCC 6th Assessment Report.
It’s been nearly a year and a half since Russia invaded Ukraine, plunging Europe and the world into a protracted energy crisis. Since then, the brutal fighting in Ukraine has turned into a war of attrition, and energy prices have fallen from the staggering heights they reached in mid-2022.
While the immediate crisis has faded from the headlines, Europe’s energy challenges remain. Electricity and natural gas prices are higher than normal. Policymakers face the challenge of turning the loss of Russian gas supplies into a long-term strategy for energy security and decarbonization. The ripple effects of this crisis have left emerging markets and developing countries struggling to afford energy.
How has Europe’s energy outlook evolved over the past year and a half? How are policymakers trying to secure the continent’s fuel supplies? And what does all this mean for the global energy transition?
This week host Jason Bordoff talks with Anne-Sophie Corbeau and Tatiana Mitrova about how Europe’s energy outlook has changed since Russia invaded Ukraine.
Anne-Sophie is a global research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy, where she studies low-carbon fuels and natural gas. Her career in the energy industry spans over 20 years, including stints as the head of gas analysis at BP, senior gas analyst at the International Energy Agency, and research fellow at the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center.
Tatiana is a research fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy. She is an expert on Russian energy policy, having previously served as executive director of the Energy Centre of the Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO, and as head of research in the oil and gas department in the Energy Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences. She currently serves on the board of directors at Schlumberger Limited.
The Advanced Research Project Agency - Energy (ARPA-E) recently announced $100 million for its SCALEUP program, which funds start-ups and emerging companies that need support commercializing products.
The agency serves as a research and development group for the Department of Energy. ARPA-E is often described as a venture capital fund, because of its focus on getting new technologies to market. Crucially, it garners support from both political parties because of its emphasis on innovation and national security through transformative energy tech.
Still, ARPA-E’s $450 million budget is much smaller than other research and development agencies. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), part of the Department of Defense, has a $4 billion budget this year.
So, what technologies will ARPA-E focus on this year? How will it make the most of its budget? And will it continue to see bi-partisan support in the current political environment?
This week host Bill Loveless talks with Evelyn Wang and Laurent Pilon about ARPA-E’s unique approach to developing and launching high-risk energy projects.
Evelyn Wang is the director of ARPA-E. Prior to joining ARPA-E in 2022, she served as the Ford professor of engineering and head of the department of mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Laurent Pilon is a program director at ARPA-E. His research focuses on solar, thermal, and electrical energy storage. He was previously a professor in the mechanical and aerospace engineering department at the University of California, Los Angeles.
To meet net zero 2050 goals, the U.S. needs to quadruple wind and solar capacity, double the size of the grid, and increase the electric vehicle fleet 100-fold.
Under the existing permitting process, growth at this pace and scale is nearly impossible. It takes years to secure permits for new plants, transmission lines, and mines. That’s why accelerating the regulatory permitting process is critical.
But doing so may weaken 50 years worth of protections for communities, land, and wildlife in the United States.
What are the implications of the recent proposals for permitting reform? How should clean energy advocates navigate these tradeoffs? And how can policymakers protect American communities and ecosystems as they rush to build out clean energy?
This week host Jason Bordoff talks with Christy Goldfuss about the recent permitting reform proposals and the balance between expanding clean energy and protecting communities and ecosystems.
Christy is the chief policy impact officer for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) a U.S.-based environmental advocacy nonprofit. Prior to joining NRDC, she was the senior vice president for energy and environmental policy at the Center for American Progress. Christy also served in multiple senior positions during the Obama Administration, first as the deputy director of the National Parks Service, and then as the managing director of the White House Council on Environmental Quality.
July 4th 2023 was the hottest day on earth ever recorded.
The prevalence of extreme heat, which dramatically impacts quality of life and the built environment, highlights the urgency of tackling the climate crisis. In the U.S., the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) works to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions known to exacerbate global warming.
The EPA’s new regulations aim to further limit pollution from power plants and vehicles and avoid hundreds of millions of metric tons of C02 emissions. These regulations would also prevent health issues and deaths.
Even with the upsides, the EPA still faces obstacles to these proposals. Most significantly, the Supreme Courts’ West Virginia vs. EPA ruling limits the agency’s ability to impose new emissions standards. Additionally, some professionals and legislators worry the technology standards on the power sector could impact grid reliability.
So, how will the new regulations play out in practice? Will the EPA be able to implement its agenda? And what will the impact be on industry and communities?
This week host Bill Loveless talks with Michael Regan about the EPA’s proposed regulations to reduce vehicle and power plants emissions, and how the agency plans to deal with pushback.
Michael Regan is the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Over the past two years, he has overseen the agency’s effort to curb emissions from U.S. industry and fight climate change. Prior to his nomination as administrator, he served as the secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality. He has also held positions at the Environmental Defense Fund, including associate vice president of U.S. Climate and Energy.
Excitement is brewing over an Atlantic offshore wind project 15 miles east of Massachusetts. Developers of the first utility-scale project in the country have begun laying the foundations for 62 planned turbines.
Vineyard Wind, the nation’s first commercial scale offshore wind farm, is expected to generate 800 MW of electricity. A joint venture of Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners and Avangrid Renewables, Vineyard Wind would power 400,000 homes and businesses in Massachusetts annually. State officials are confident this project, and others coming down the pike, will play a critical role in meeting net zero by 2050 goals.
But challenges remain for offshore wind. Inflation is driving up costs. Complicated logistics for groundbreaking projects could cause delays. And opposition from the commercial fishing industry, which has deep roots in the area, is still strong.
So, what role will public policy play in getting this and other offshore projects across the finish line? And how will it impact the rest of the industry?
This week host Bill Loveless talks with Lars Thaaning Pedersen about the Vineyard Wind project and the policy support that has kept it moving forward. They also discuss the challenges of developing offshore wind projects in the U.S.
Lars is co-CEO of Copenhagen Offshore Partners (COP) and CEO of Vineyard Offshore. Both organizations are engaged in offshore wind development and the energy transition around the world. Prior to founding Copenhagen Offshore Partners in 2015, Lars held executive positions at DONG Energy, which is now Ørsted. He has been involved in more than 10 offshore wind projects in Europe since 2008, and is now focusing his attention on the U.S. as well as other areas of the world.
The global energy transition is unfolding in an increasingly fragmented world. The rise of green industrial policies aimed at bolstering domestic clean energy industries is heightening trade tensions and threatening to fracture global markets.
Meanwhile, power struggles are amping up on the world stage. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and simmering tensions between China and the West, have underscored the complexities of the post-Cold War global order.
All of this is happening against the backdrop of a rapidly escalating climate crisis that requires a concerted global effort to address.
What do broad trends of deglobalization mean for the clean energy transition? What would a retreat from the norms of free trade mean for the pace of clean energy deployment? And how can policymakers reconcile domestic economic priorities with the urgency of the climate crisis?
This week host Jason Bordoff talks with Pascal Lamy about the role of international trade in meeting climate goals.
Pascal is the chair of the Climate Overshoot Commission, an organization created to address the consequences of current and past greenhouse gas emissions. Previously, he was president of the Paris Peace Forum, a French nonprofit that convenes leaders to pursue global cooperation and collective action. Prior to that, he served as the director-general of the World Trade Organization from 2005 to 2013. He has also served in a variety of roles at Crédit Lyonnais, the European Commission, and the French government.
Clean energy technology deployment will play a major role in meeting the Biden administration’s “net zero by 2050” goal. To stay on target, America will need to shore up clean energy supply chains, reduce the cost of existing technologies, and fund innovation for up and coming solutions – like carbon capture and storage and fusion energy.
The Energy Team at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) is a driving force behind these efforts. With its expertise in policy and science, the team helps develop innovation priorities that facilitate a swift, equitable energy transition.
So what is the strategy for deploying the clean energy technology needed to meet net zero goals? What is the timeline for emerging technologies? And how does the OSTP’s Energy Team plan to make the transition equitable?
This week host Bill Loveless talks with Sally Benson about the OSTP’s history as an innovation engine, and its current role in meeting net zero by 2050 goals.
Sally is the deputy director for energy and the chief strategist for the energy transition at OSTP. She helps oversee the Net Zero Game Changers Initiative, which funds innovation in clean energy technologies for building heating and cooling, aviation, nuclear fusion, and other areas. Sally joined the Biden administration as the Precourt Family Professor of Energy Resources Engineering at Stanford University. She has also held various positions at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
The oil and gas industry is at a crossroads. With the impacts of climate change becoming more severe every year, it’s clear that fossil fuel consumption must decline to prevent global warming from crossing a dangerous threshold.
Yet oil and gas companies posted record returns in 2022, driven by volatility in the global market. Many are making more investments in clean energy technologies, but it’s still a small share of their total capital expenditures. As the transition to clean energy gains momentum, these firms are balancing the requirements of the energy transition and the realities of today’s fossil fuel-dependent economy.
How can oil and gas majors reduce emissions while continuing to meet the global demand for fossil fuels? What role do they have in a clean energy transition? And how do their leaders see their position in an increasingly fractious and volatile global energy system?
This week host Jason Bordoff talks with Patrick Pouyanné.
Patrick is the Chairman and CEO of Total Energies, a French multinational oil and gas company and one of the world’s seven supermajors. He has served in this role since 2014.
Since his appointment, Patrick has overseen a diversification of his company’s portfolio, signified by its name change from Total to Total Energies in 2021. He has continued to expand Total Energies’ oil and gas business, pursuing new projects in Qatar, Mozambique, Uganda, and elsewhere. In the process, Patrick has emerged as a highly influential– and sometimes controversial– voice in the industry.
This episode of the Columbia Energy Exchange is a recording of a live, in-person conversation that took place on April 12th during the Columbia Global Energy Summit 2023.
Governments around the world are increasingly turning to “industrial policy” in pursuit of stronger climate action such as the Inflation Reduction Act. These targeted economic measures can build domestic clean energy industries and increase security and resilience. But there are risks to this approach, including higher costs and trade tensions. In the years ahead, policymakers will face a difficult balancing act as they work to expand the availability of low-cost clean energy while boosting their own domestic economies.
What does the shift towards green industrial policy mean for the energy transition? How has this shift manifested in the Biden administration’s approach to climate action? And what new climate policies might be on the horizon?
This week host Jason Bordoff talks with Jason Furman about the rise of green industrial policy, the outlook for the Inflation Reduction Act, and how economists think about climate change.
Furman is the Aetna professor of the practice of economic policy at Harvard University. He is a former colleague of Jason Bordoff in two different capacities, both in the Obama White House and at the Brookings Institution’s Hamilton Project. Prior to his appointment at Harvard, Furman served as a key economic advisor to President Obama, including as the chair of the Council of Economic Advisors. He played a key role in implementing the major economic policy initiatives of the Obama Administration, including the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the Affordable Care Act.
2022 was a landmark year for the energy transition. The world added a record amount of renewable energy, expanding the global installed capacity by nearly 10%. Electric vehicles also had a record year, reaching 10 million sales worldwide, a stunning 55% increase over the previous year. Yet despite this tremendous progress, the world is still not on track to meet its climate goals, with oil and gas demand predicted to be higher in 2030 than today.
Meanwhile, volatility in global energy markets is continuing to drive uncertainty over the future of the energy transition. Imbalances between supply and demand drove energy prices to dizzying heights last year, and 75 million people around the world lost access to electricity as a result.
What will it take to bring clean energy deployment in line with climate goals? What does the energy transition mean for the future of fossil fuels? And how can world leaders protect energy reliability in the transition to net zero?
This week host Jason Bordoff talks with Fatih Birol.
Fatih is the executive director of the International Energy Agency, the intergovernmental organization tasked with providing data and policy analysis regarding the global energy sector. He spent more than 20 years at the IEA prior to becoming executive director. Most recently, he served as chief economist, in charge of the organization’s flagship publication, the World Energy Outlook. Before joining the IEA, Fatih worked for OPEC, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
This episode of the Columbia Energy Exchange is a recording of a live, in-person conversation that took place on April 12th during the Columbia Global Energy Summit 2023.
As the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution, the UK has long played a special role in the evolution of today’s modern energy system. But current sky-high energy prices are contributing to a modern-day “cost-of-living crisis” for British households–leading the government to spend tens of billions of pounds to protect consumers.
At the same time, climate change remains a key policy concern. While the UK has implemented meaningful climate policies and made progress in reducing emissions, the UK is not yet on track to meet its target of net-zero by 2050.
How can the UK’s government make progress on climate against the backdrop of an energy affordability crisis? What is the role of industrial policy? And what lessons are policymakers taking away from other countries facing similar challenges?
This week host Jason Bordoff talks with Ed Miliband about the UK’s cost-of-living crisis, the role for oil and gas companies, and the country’s net-zero strategy.
Ed is the United Kingdom’s shadow secretary of state of Climate Change and Net Zero, as well as a member of Parliament representing Doncaster North. He was the leader of the Labour Party from 2010 to 2015 and, before that, the secretary of state for Energy and Climate Change, where he oversaw the introduction of the Climate Change Act. Outside of his work in Parliament, Ed is the co-host of the current affairs podcast “Reasons to be Cheerful.”
If 2022 were an earthquake for the global energy system, Europe was the epicenter. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – on top of a persistent mismatch in supply and demand – sent energy prices skyrocketing. Consumers across the continent struggled to pay their bills. In the year that followed, European governments spent more than €800 billion shielding consumers from these high prices, even as they scrambled to find alternatives to Russian energy.
Prices have now returned to their pre-invasion baseline, but the continent’s energy system remains precarious. Emergency measures must now give way to a longer-term strategy to secure Europe’s energy system, reduce its reliance on fossil fuels, and scale clean energy technology.
What’s the outlook for European energy security? How can Europe meet its ambitious clean energy targets? And what technologies are needed to make this possible?
This week host Jason Bordoff talks with Ann Mettler about Europe’s response to the energy crisis, its plans for decarbonizing its energy system, and the outlook for energy security.
Ann is the vice president for Europe at Breakthrough Energy, a network of investment funds, philanthropies, and nonprofits dedicated to scaling low-carbon technologies. She previously served as director-general at the European Commission, where she ran an in-house think tank called the European Political Strategy Centre. Prior to that, she was the executive director of the Lisbon Council, an economic policy think tank she founded in 2003.
Last month, India surpassed China to become the world’s most populous country. With its large population, growing workforce, and fast-growing GDP, India is on the cusp of asserting major economic power on the world stage.
But there are major energy-related challenges still to overcome. Persistent electricity shortages continue to weigh on the country’s manufacturing sector. And despite tremendous growth in renewables, India still relies heavily on coal and imported oil.
India’s government has made addressing these challenges a priority, seeking to nearly triple its clean energy capacity by 2030. It is also investing heavily in new technologies like battery storage and hydrogen. At the same time, it continues to expand its fossil fuel sector, which it sees as vital to the country’s economic growth.
What does the next decade have in store for India’s energy sector? What are the major obstacles to growth? And how is the government balancing its climate goals with meeting the country’s rapidly expanding energy demands?
This week, host Jason Bordoff talks with Suman Bery about the uncertainties facing India’s energy sector, from supply shortages to geopolitical risks.
Suman is the vice chairperson of NITI Aayog, an Indian think tank. He conducts research and advises policymakers on matters of economics and public policy. Prior to his appointment, he was a senior visiting fellow at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi, and a global fellow in the Asia Programme of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington D.C. He was also the chief economist at Shell from 2012 to 2016.
The energy transition is going to require a lot of investment. In fact, the International Energy Agency estimates that getting on the path to net zero by 2050 will require over $4 trillion of annual clean energy investment by the end of the decade. That’s more than triple what is spent today, and reaching that level will involve both public and private spending.
A smooth transition involves more than just spending on clean energy. In the wake of last year’s energy shortages, many countries are clamoring for more investment in oil and gas supply. At the same time, the volatile geopolitics of energy – and the tricky domestic politics of climate action – make today an especially challenging moment for those investing in the energy system.
How are investors and asset managers navigating the rapidly-changing outlook for the energy sector? What economic headwinds are they facing in the first half of 2023? And how can they balance the need for investing in today’s energy system along with tomorrow’s clean energy economy?
This week, host Jason Bordoff talks with Larry Fink about financing the energy transition.
Larry is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of BlackRock – the world’s largest asset manager. Larry founded the company in 1988, and the value of its assets reached a total of $10 trillion in 2022. In addition to his leadership at BlackRock, Larry serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of the World Economic Forum.
This episode of the Columbia Energy Exchange is a recording of a live, in-person conversation that took place on April 12th during the Columbia Global Energy Summit 2023.
Gulf Arab states are looking to build economic bridges with countries in the Middle East and Africa.
Last year, the International Monetary Fund announced that major energy producers – like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – are expected to collect $1.3 trillion in profits from high oil prices over the next four years. These profits are expected to fund Gulf Arab states’ investments abroad.
At home, they aim to diversify their economies and invest in the energy transition although they anticipate oil demand to rise in the next few years.
What does the move toward economic cooperation in the Middle East and Africa mean for the global world order? What does it mean for relationships with the U.S. and China? And to what extent will the energy transition be a focus for investment?
This week, host Bill Loveless talks with Karen Young about her book “The Economic Statecraft of the Gulf Arab States” which came out earlier this year. They discuss how the rise of authoritarian or state capitalism in the Middle East, the Horn of Africa, and West Asia could impact the global energy transition.
Karen is an author and political economist focusing on the Gulf, the broader Middle East and North Africa region, and the intersection of energy, finance, and security. She was a senior fellow and founding director of the Program on Economics and Energy at the Middle East Institute. She is currently a senior research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, SIPA.
The past two years have been a watershed for American energy policy. A series of new laws – most notably the Inflation Reduction Act – have invigorated the domestic clean energy industry. At the same time, the war in Ukraine and the volatility in energy markets have stressed the importance of energy security.
In the midst of all this, the US Department of Energy has the difficult task of responding to the urgency of climate change and implementing the United States’ new climate policies.
What are the major opportunities and challenges afforded by the IRA? What is the role of American energy in a time of global upheaval? And what is the Biden administration doing to bring about a more just and secure energy transition?
This week, host Jason Bordoff talks with United States Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm. They discuss the American energy sector, the Inflation Reduction Act, and how the Department of Energy is using its executive authority to address the climate crisis.
Secretary Granholm has overseen the Department of Energy and its nearly $50 billion budget since February 2021. She previously served as governor of Michigan from 2003 to 2011 and as Michigan’s attorney general from 1999 to 2003. Secretary Granholm was also a distinguished professor of practice at the University of California, Berkeley’s School of Law.
This episode of the Columbia Energy Exchange is a recording of a live, in-person conversation that took place last week during the Columbia Global Energy Summit 2023.
On April 12th, the Center on Global Energy Policy will celebrate its 10th anniversary.
Jason Bordoff founded the Center after serving in the Obama White House. During his time in the administration, he recognized a need for unbiased, evidence-based research that examined energy issues across multiple dimensions – economics, national security, climate, and the environment.
In 2013, with the help of a few friends and colleagues, Jason launched the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs to fill that void.
Ten years later, the institution is thriving in its mission to help address the world’s most challenging energy and climate problems through research, education, and dialogue.
This week, host Bill Loveless talks with Jason about his journey to start CGEP, and why he chose Columbia University as its home. They discuss publishing actionable research that is useful to policy makers, and the role of education in responding to climate change.
From 2009 to 2013, Jason served as special assistant to President Obama, and as senior director for energy and climate change on the staff of the National Security Council. Prior to that, he held senior policy positions on the White House’s National Economic Council and Council on Environmental Quality. He is also co-founding dean of the Columbia Climate School.
This past year has reminded all of us that the energy transition, energy markets, and geopolitics are inextricably linked. In the last five years alone, extreme volatility in energy prices has created uncertainty for consumers and producers alike.
For Wall Street in particular, an uncertain energy outlook brings up important questions about risk and strategy. Aligning energy investment with expected demand is hard, especially in the midst of an energy transition that’s happening in fits and starts. Yet, effective investment is vital for both energy access and climate progress.
How should investors address the tension between energy and climate needs? What do the coming years hold for oil and gas markets? And is the term “energy transition” even the right one?
This week host Jason Bordoff talks with Arjun Murti about how Wall Street views the energy transition and how the turbulence has wracked energy markets over the past several years. Arjun shares the lessons he’s learned in his years as an energy markets analyst, and how his experiences inform his view of the path ahead.
Arjun has spent more than 30 years analyzing the global energy sector on Wall Street. He spent 15 years as a partner at Goldman Sachs and recently served as senior advisor and now partner for Veriten. Has also had stints as director at ConocoPhillips and as senior advisor for Warburg Pincus. Arjun is also on the Center on Global Energy Policy’s advisory board.
Almost 30% of electricity in the western United States comes from hydroelectric dams. But what happens when the water in the rivers dries up?
The Western Area Power Administration – or WAPA – provides electricity to more than 40 million Americans. It relies heavily on the 57 dams in its service territory for supply.
But over the past 20 years, the drought ravaging the West has been drying up reservoirs. Even the recent wave of snow and rain that dumped on western states like California won’t be enough to fill them back up.
New transmission projects, which WAPA can help build, could provide more connection from the western power grid to the east. And that would help stabilize the electricity supply.
So, how is WAPA planning to serve its customers in the face of a changing climate? And what role does transmission infrastructure play in meeting their needs?
This week, host Bill Loveless talks with Tracey LeBeau about how drought has affected WAPA’s operations in the past few years. They also discuss how the power generation will change moving forward and how transmission needs of the West might be met.
Tracey is the administrator and chief executive officer of the Western Area Power Administration. She joined the organization in 2014 as manager of the Transmission Infrastructure Program, where she oversaw WAPA’s $3.2 billion borrowing authority. Tracey has also served as senior vice president at WAPA and was responsible for managing transmission system operations and maintenance.
The Inflation Reduction Act, passed last year, aims to accelerate the clean energy transition, and benefit American workers, communities, and manufacturers. It does so by providing large amounts of funding to the domestic clean energy sector, paired with certain requirements for materials and technologies to be produced in the U.S.. But accelerating climate action is a big task, to say nothing of fostering economic fairness and opportunity in the process.
How can the Biden administration move forward on all these different priorities simultaneously? How will its domestic climate agenda impact the U.S. economy? And what is the role of industrial policy in a world undergoing an energy transition?
This week host Jason Bordoff talks with Heather Boushey about the nuances of the Biden administration’s domestic climate policy and how it fits into their broader economic plans. They also discuss what it means to use industrial policy in furtherance of the energy transition.
Heather is currently a member of the Council of Economic Advisors for the Biden administration and chief economist to the Biden administration’s “Invest in America” cabinet. Heather works on domestic investment and implementation of infrastructure and clean energy laws. She previously co-founded the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, where she served as chief economist, president and CEO. She has also held the position of chief economist for the Center for American Progress.
States’ net zero and clean-energy goals are requiring the electricity sector to reduce emissions. Getting there means building new renewable energy projects and then connecting them to cities. But the grid is congested and needs more capacity for renewables and secure power supplies. New transmission lines could solve that problem.
Private transmission developers are looking to build high-voltage, direct-current lines across multiple states. Among them is Michael Skelly. A decade ago, his company Clean Line Energy attempted to do this. Now he’s back with another venture, Grid United.
More cross-country connections would boost reliability and help get more renewable energy online. However, addressing different regulatory environments, stakeholder interests, and landowners—an important part of the process—make interstate transmission hard to build. Even with these challenges, long distance projects have been making headway.
So, why is it important to build transmission across the country? Why are private developers taking on the task? And what’s causing these projects to gain momentum in recent months?
This week host Bill Loveless talks with Michael Skelly about the nation’s transmission needs and how the development landscape has changed over the years. They discuss why momentum is growing to build more multi-state lines.
Michael is the founder and CEO of Grid United. The company is currently involved in the North Plains Corridor project, which would be the first transmission connection between three regional U.S. electric energy markets in the Midwest, West, and Southwest.
With Russian oil and gas deliveries a fraction of what they were before the war in Ukraine, Norway has emerged as a key source of energy. The state-owned energy company, Equinor, has helped expand oil and gas production to fill the gap left by Russia.
Meanwhile, the urgency of acting on climate change continues to grow. In the wake of Russia’s invasion, European governments and others are strengthening their renewable energy targets in a bid to tackle climate change and enhance their energy security.
Equinor, with a strong renewables business, wants to be a leader in the energy transition.
What does the road ahead look like for a company like Equinor? And what does it tell us about where Europe is headed?
This week host Jason Bordoff talks with Anders Opedal about Equinor’s response to the war in Ukraine and the subsequent European energy crisis. They also discuss the company’s goal to reach net-zero by 2050.
Anders has been the president and CEO of Equinor since August 2020. The energy company is responsible for 70% of oil and gas production in Norway and was instrumental in Norway becoming Europe’s largest source of natural gas.
When President Jimmy Carter addressed the nation on April 18, 1977, the U.S. was in a crisis. The Arab oil embargo of 1973 sent energy prices soaring, and four years later, the impacts were still rippling through the economy.
In his speech, President Carter called the crisis “the moral equivalent of war” and called on Americans to conserve energy. He outlined a plan to tackle the crisis, focusing on conservation, efficiency, and domestic technologies to reduce dependence on foreign oil.
President Carter signed energy legislation that created the U.S. Department of Energy, provided incentives for renewables and coal, deregulated oil and natural gas prices, and banned new power plants from using gas or oil. Some of these policies have had a lasting effect. Others drew criticism and were ultimately repealed.
So what is President Carter’s energy policy legacy? And how do the lessons of the ’70s help address energy challenges today?
This week, host Bill Loveless talks with Jay Hakes about how the energy crisis shaped Jimmy Carter’s presidency and the policies his administration enacted.
Jay is a scholar and author on U.S. energy policy. From 2000-2013 he served as the director of the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library. He also served in both the Obama and Clinton administrations, including a stint as director of the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Jay is the author of the book Energy Crises: Nixon, Ford, Carter, and Hard Choices in the 1970s.
Western countries are once again trying to reduce their reliance on Russian resources. This time it’s nuclear fuel.
Russia accounts for a substantial share of both conversion and enrichment services worldwide. These two processes turn uranium into usable fuel. The war in Ukraine has raised concerns about supply disruptions – like shipping and payment, and government actions that could ban fuel imports.
Still, the West has struggled to sever ties with Russia’s nuclear industry. Attempts at sanctions have faltered because of limited domestic capabilities to process uranium in the U.S and Europe. But as the war continues, the U.S., Europe and other nations are weighing options to make them less dependent on Russia's nuclear industry.
So what are the alternatives to Russian conversion and enrichment services? How will changing supply chains impact the stability of the global nuclear fuel market?
This week host Bill Loveless talks with Jonathan Hinze and Bill Freebairn.
Jonathan is the president of UxC LLC, a market research and analysis company covering the nuclear industry. He has nearly two decades of experience working in the U.S. and Japan on technology development, international markets, and government policies.
Bill is a senior managing editor for S&P Global Commodity Insights, where he writes about nuclear plant construction and operation, regulatory developments, financial issues and uranium markets. He leads the Nucleonics Week publication, which is a source of global news for the commercial nuclear power business.
Both guests talk with Bill about how Russia came to dominate global nuclear fuel production and why it’s so difficult for other countries to find alternative supplies.
A push for stronger climate policy should unite Americans and Europeans. It might be raising trade tensions instead.
The Inflation Reduction Act was a signal that America is a serious player in global climate negotiations. European countries, however, worried the bill would be a threat to their domestic manufacturers and took their complaints directly to the Biden Administration.
The EU responded by proposing a Green Deal Industrial Plan, which will match American subsidies to clean-energy manufacturers. European officials are also pursuing a green tariff in 2026, which would tax imports of carbon-intensive goods.
How will this transatlantic industrial arms race play out? And will it cause trade disputes between the U.S. and EU to escalate?
This week, host Bill Loveless talks with Noah Kaufman and Sagatom Saha.
Noah is an economist and research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy. He served as a senior economist at the Council of Economic Advisers under President Biden. He also served as the deputy associate director of energy and climate change at the White House Council on Environmental Quality under President Obama.
Sagatom is an adjunct research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy and is an expert on the global energy transition and America’s competitiveness in clean energy technologies. He previously worked on cleantech competitiveness at the International Trade Administration in the U.S. Department of Commerce, and served as an adviser to John Kerry, the U.S. special presidential envoy for climate.
Noah, Sagatom, and two of their colleagues, Chris Bataille and Gautum Jain, recently published an article in The Conversation about how conflicting carbon tariffs could undermine climate efforts. Bill talks with them about the details of the U.S. and EU's domestic industrial policies, and why tensions are flaring between them.
Federal funding for environmental justice is beginning to flow.
The Biden administration came into office in 2021 determined to make environmental justice a major priority. President Biden jump started his agenda with a slew of executive orders and the Justice40 Initiative, an effort to address historical underinvestment in disadvantaged communities most impacted by climate change, pollution, and environmental hazards.
Now, with the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, Washington has the money and programs to act on environmental justice. Just last month, the Environmental Protection Agency announced $100 million in grants for state and community organizations to address local environmental and public health issues.
How does the federal government decide what projects qualify for environmental justice funding? And how can environmental activists ensure the money is well spent?
This week host Bill Loveless talks with Bob Bullard and Maria Lopez-Nunez.
Bob is a pioneering figure in environmental justice. He is the founding director of the Bullard Center for Environmental and Climate Justice and distinguished professor of urban planning and environmental policy at Texas Southern University. He serves on the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council.
Maria is the deputy director of organizing and advocacy of Ironbound Community Corporation. She was part of a team that fought for New Jersey to pass landmark environmental justice legislation. Maria also serves on the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council.
Together, they discuss the momentum building behind the environmental justice movement and how a new influx of money could shape energy infrastructure projects.
The U.S has used sanctions to influence geopolitics for decades, including measures targeting the oil and gas trade. Most recently, the U.S. and other G7 nations put a price cap on Russian oil as punishment for its invasion of Ukraine.
In the past, sanctions focused on trade embargos—like the grain embargo against the Soviet Union in 1980 and much broader restrictions against Cuba in 1960. Today, they focus on financial impacts. It’s an effective strategy for a country with significant global financial clout like the U.S., but unilateral sanctions can fuel tensions with allies and result in unintended consequences.
So how does the U.S. use financial pressure to address conflicts with other nations? What are the geopolitical and economic impacts of current sanctions? And how could they affect America’s standing in the global order?
Today on the show, Bill talks with Agathe Demarais, global forecasting director of the Economist Intelligence Unit and former economic advisor for the diplomatic corps of the French Treasury.
Agathe is the author of Backfire: How Sanctions Reshape the World Against U.S. Interests. The book explores how sanctions affect multinational companies, governments, and millions of people around the world. It’s part of the Center on Global Energy Policy’s book series published by the Columbia University Press.
Bill speaks with Agathe about what’s in the U.S sanctions arsenal and why they’ve become so popular in the past two decades. They also discuss the use of sanctions as a foreign policy tool in the past, present, and future.
Innovation in clean energy is accelerating. Batteries are getting denser and cheaper; wind turbines are getting bigger and better, and new solar projects often generate the cheapest electricity in the world.
Meanwhile, cutting-edge technologies like hydrogen electrolysis and direct-air carbon capture keep improving.
Most of the world’s major economies – the US, EU, India, Japan, and China – are racing to capture the economic benefits of this tech innovation through deployment incentives and support of domestic manufacturing.
But bottlenecks for critical minerals, supply chain constraints from Covid, and fierce competition among countries are all potential hurdles for this new industrial age.
Where is clean energy innovation advancing the fastest? And how will competition over manufacturing shake out in the decade ahead?
This week host Bill Loveless talks with Timur Gül.
Timur is head of the Energy Technology Policy Division at the International Energy Agency and leads the Energy Technology Perspectives report. The flagship series serves as the world’s first global guidebook for the clean technology industries of the future. The 2023 version was just released earlier this month.
Timur gives us an insider’s look into the report. He and Bill discuss how the key findings fit into the current geopolitical atmosphere of energy markets. They also talk about the major opportunities both globally and domestically for technology innovation.
After years of political pressure, Democrats in Congress narrowly passed an historic climate bill at the end of 2022. Now, it’s time to implement it.
The Departments of Energy, Interior, Treasury, IRS, EPA, and state governments are set to deploy hundreds of billions of dollars for clean energy technologies. That means hiring lots of people into government, structuring new programs, and distributing dollars efficiently.
But the politics aren't over. With a Republican-controlled House, other pressures are emerging. The House Energy Committee has plans to investigate President Biden’s energy and climate actions. The DOE’s Loan Programs Office is under attack for its spending, which was recently increased by the Inflation Reduction Act. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will only have four commissioners instead of five because of objections over re-nominating Chairman Richard Glick.
How will these conflicts play out? And how will the actual work of implementing the Inflation Reduction Act get done?
This week Jennifer Dlouhy and Stephen Mufson join host Bill Loveless to discuss what to expect out of Washington D.C. this year.
Jennifer has been an energy and environment reporter for Bloomberg in Washington, D.C. since 2015. She has more than fifteen years of experience covering energy policy.
Stephen covers the business of climate change for the Washington Post. In his 30 years at the Post, he’s covered economic policy, China, diplomacy, energy and the White House.
With seemingly low possibilities to pass major climate and energy legislation, Bill, Jennifer, and Stephen discuss what the Biden administration and Republicans could focus on this year. They also talk about the role federal agencies will play.
Clean electrons are vital to the net-zero economy. What about molecules?
There is a global race to expand hydrogen production for industry and heavy transportation – using wind, solar and biomass as a feedstock.
North American countries are taking hydrogen innovation seriously, passing policy to spur innovation. The United States’ Inflation Reduction Act and Canada’s Fall Economic Statement both offer production tax credits for clean hydrogen.
China is the global leader in production. But the country primarily uses coal as a feedstock. To make it clean, they’ll need to invest heavily in renewables and carbon capture technology.
With so much attention now on the industry, will it finally live up to the hype? How have recent developments in geopolitics and policy changed the outlook for the hydrogen industry? And what sectors will it help decarbonize?
This week host Bill Loveless talks with Daryl Wilson, the executive director of the Hydrogen Council.
Before joining the Hydrogen Council in 2020, Daryl served as CEO of Hydrogenics, a fuel cell and electrolysis technologies provider. During his time there, he oversaw the world’s largest new electrolysis project and the world’s first hydrogen powered public train service.
In 2017 the Hydrogen Council released its first report – an outlook through 2050. Bill talks to Daryl about whether that outlook has changed with the recent instability of global energy markets and the war in Ukraine. They also discuss how new policy developments could spur innovation.
Developing countries face the dual challenge of meeting rapidly growing energy demand while also scaling clean energy to avoid dramatic increases in carbon emissions. But financing all of those clean energy projects can be tough.
Emerging and developing economies need clean energy investments. Researchers estimate that they will need anywhere between $1-2 trillion per year for the next 30 years to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.
Most of that capital will need to come from the private sector. Multilateral development banks are working to fill the gap and catalyze private finance. But they still have to work through unique financial, policy, and technical challenges in emerging and developing economies.
So what are these barriers? And how do we overcome them to mobilize more capital for clean energy projects across the developing world?
This week, we’re re-running host Jason Bordoff’s interview with Mafalda Duarte. Mafalda is the CEO of Climate Investment Funds, one of the most ambitious efforts to finance clean energy projects in developing and middle-income countries.
In September, Jason and Mafalda discussed opportunities for financing the clean energy transition in emerging economies—including an ambitious new effort to phase out coal in parts of Africa and Asia.
So much about the ocean is still unknown to science, even though the ocean covers 70 percent of the earth’s surface.
Oceans act as a buffer against unimaginable warming, because scientists say that about 90 percent of the warming that has happened on Earth over the past 50 years has been absorbed by the oceans. But elevated ocean temperatures have also meant rising seas, coral bleaching events, and more intense hurricanes — just to name a few impacts.
That said, ocean science has increasingly contributed significantly to addressing climate change and informing public policy.
And there’s that much more that can be done.
This week, we have host Bill Loveless' conversation with Peter De Menocal from February this year. Peter is a marine geologist and paleo-climatologist and the President & Director of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
Bill and Peter discussed how oceans are changing, the capacity of oceans to take up carbon and the need for policy-relevant research on the seas. They also talked about what led Peter to a career studying and exploring oceans.
2022 was one of the most tumultuous years for global energy markets in decades.War. Fossil fuel shortages. Extreme price spikes. Supply chain disruptions in clean energy.
It also brought transformative changes. An historic U.S. climate bill, a first-of-its-kind loss and damage agreement at COP27, and record electric car sales. We tackled all these stories on the show this year. Now we’re wondering: how will they play out next year?
Will supply chains return to normal after their COVID chaos? How volatile will fossil fuel prices remain? And what kind of technological breakthroughs can we expect in clean energy?
This week, a 2022 wrap-up. Host Bill Loveless is joined by a panel of experts from the Center on Global Energy Policy – Jason Bordoff, Melissa Lott, and Mauricio Cardenas.
Jason is the founding director of the Center on Global Energy Policy and co-founding dean of the Columbia Climate School. Before joining Columbia, he served as special assistant to President Barack Obama, and as senior director for energy and climate change on the staff of the National Security Council. And, of course, he is the co-host of this show.
Melissa is the director of research at the Center on Global Energy Policy. She co-leads the Power Sector and Renewable Research Initiative and serves as the acting director of the Carbontech Development Initiative. Melissa is the host of “The Big Switch,” another podcast by the Center on Global Energy Policy.
Mauricio is a professor of professional practice in global leadership at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and director of the school’s Master of Public Administration in Global Leadership. He has previously served Colombia’s energy minister and finance minister.
Together, they discuss the year’s biggest moments at the intersection of energy, policy, and geopolitics. They also talk about Europe’s energy challenges, global climate and energy policies – including the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act – and the trajectory for fossil fuels and renewables in the years ahead.
Sixty dollars. That’s the per-barrel price cap G7 countries and Australia imposed on Russian crude oil last week. The measure will allow Western service providers to ship and insure Russian oil, as long as it’s sold at a price below the cap. The purpose is to reduce Russia’s petro-revenue, which funds its war on Ukraine, while still keeping its oil flowing to the global market.
This measure breaks new ground as a tool of economic statecraft. Analysts around the world are anxiously watching to see how the oil market – and the Russians – might respond.
Will the price cap achieve its objective? And what does this mean for the future of energy policy?
This week host Jason Bordoff talks with Eddie Fishman and Tatiana Mitrova.
Eddie is a senior research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy (CGEP) at Columbia University and an adjunct professor of international and public affairs. He previously led the U.S. State Department’s design and implementation of sanctions on Russia. You can find two explainers he wrote about the price cap on Russian oil on CGEP’s website.
Tatiana is senior research fellow at CGEP and one of the world’s foremost experts on the Russian energy sector. She has served as executive director of the Energy Centre of the Moscow School of Management and as head of research in the Oil and Gas Department in the Energy Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Eddie, Tatiana, and Jason talk about what the price cap could look like in practice, and how Russia might respond. They also discuss the impact of sanctions already in place.
The clean energy transition is a multi-generational challenge. It will shake up geopolitics, shift the economy, and change our daily interactions with energy. We have no precedent for the scale and speed required to decarbonize the global economy.
Yet there are signs that new developments in technology, policy, and public opinion are turning the tide for a global response to the climate crisis. Achieving a net-zero future, however, will require careful implementation, creative solutions, and a whole-systems approach that prioritizes prosperity and justice.
What are the economic tools we have to deliver such a transition? And what are the emerging solutions that might make this future possible?
This week host Jason Bordoff talks with Cameron Hepburn.
Cameron is a professor of environmental economics at the University of Oxford and director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment. He also serves as the director of the Economics of Sustainability Programme based at the Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School. Cameron has more than 30 peer-reviewed publications spanning economics, public policy, law, engineering, philosophy, and biology.
Jason and Cameron talk about where we are in the energy transition – and where we need to go. They discuss the economics of the climate crisis, how technology developments are accelerating the energy transition, and how to scale their impact.
War. Inflation. Supply shortfalls. The global energy system looks much different than a year ago, thanks to a confluence of disruptive forces for oil and natural gas. Ever-cheaper renewables, electric cars, and stronger climate policies are putting peak fossil fuel consumption in sight.
How will these competing factors play out in the coming decade and beyond?
This fall, the International Energy Agency (IEA) published the latest version of its flagship report, the World Energy Outlook (WEO). It examines the state of the global energy system and maps out a variety of decarbonization scenarios for the future.
This week host Jason Bordoff talks with Laura Cozzi. Laura is the chief energy modeler at the IEA . She also serves as the head of the demand outlook division, and is responsible for producing the annual World Energy Outlook. Laura has been with the IEA for more than 20 years and has co-authored multiple editions of the WEO.
Jason talks with Laura about this year’s analysis – and the various scenarios outlined in the report. They discuss the prospect for a peak in fossil fuel consumption, the impact of increased investments in clean energy, and the long-term impacts of today’s supply crisis.
The November midterm elections proved better than expected for Democrats, in spite of many predictions of a Republican wave sweeping across the United States.
Regardless of what happens in the Georgia run-off in December, Democrats will hold a majority in the Senate.
Republicans, however, have taken a narrow majority in the House of Representatives, where they can contest President Biden’s climate and energy agenda. Most notably, they could try to minimize the impacts of the Inflation Reduction Act and other new laws through oversight and investigations into its funding for various agencies.
How will climate and energy policy shake out over the last two years of President Biden’s term? Will the administration look to regulatory agencies like the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission to move the needle on climate action with a split Congress?
This week host Bill Loveless talks with Rich Powell and Aliya Haq.
Rich is the CEO of Clear Path and Clear Path Action. Both are DC-based organizations advancing policies that accelerate innovations to reduce emissions in the energy and industrial sectors. He is also the co-chair of the Conservative Climate Foundation.
Aliya is the vice president of U.S. policy and advocacy at Breakthrough Energy. Her team pushes for ambitious climate and clean energy policy to help the U.S. achieve its goal of net-zero emissions by 2050. Previously, she was the federal climate policy director for the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Bill spoke with Rich and Aliya about the election results and how they will impact policy over the next two years. They discussed the possibility of bipartisan action and how a Republican House could influence energy and environmental agencies.
The spotlight is on Africa at COP27, the UN climate change conference taking place in Egypt.
This year, climate-induced disasters have ravaged the continent. Cyclones and flooding in the south, and a four-year drought in the east have crippled food supplies, increased human suffering, and hurt economic growth.
Meanwhile, hundreds of millions of Africans still live in energy poverty. With pressure from developed nations to cut emissions at global climate talks, African leaders are hoping to secure billions of dollars to invest in the transition away from fossil fuels and build new energy infrastructure.
But securing financing to build renewable energy projects isn't enough. For the first time in its history, the COP agenda includes “loss and damage” funds. These are reparations that industrialized countries would pay to developing countries which have suffered the most from climate change.
What will it take to bring about meaningful energy transitions in Africa? And do the energy developments underway give us some insight on what’s possible?
This week host Bill Loveless talks with Dr. Destenie Nock. Destenie is an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University where she teaches civil and environmental engineering as well as engineering and public policy. She is also newly appointed to Columbia’s Visiting Faculty Program.
Destenie recently co-authored a report about energy poverty in Africa in the journal Nature titled “Africa needs context-relevant evidence to shape its clean energy future.”
Bill and Destenie spoke about her research, and the nuanced energy and climate needs of African nations. They discuss ‘loss and damage’ and the previously unfulfilled promises from wealthy countries to fund climate mitigation projects.
In 2021, 6.9 million electric vehicles were sold globally. And with 18 of the 20 largest auto manufacturers committed to embracing electrification, sales are expected to reach 55-72 million by 2025.
To produce these vehicles, manufacturers need critical minerals like cobalt, lithium, and nickel for their batteries. China is a major player in battery manufacturing because of its capacity for processing these minerals.
The European Union is close to striking a deal to ban new combustion-engine cars starting in 2035. Earlier this summer, the California Air Resources Board passed a new mandate for EVs, effectively phasing out the sale of gasoline-powered cars by 2035.
With the United States and Europe both aiming to bolster their domestic supply chains, the contest for critical minerals is also heating up. What will it take to produce these minerals in sufficient quantities? And how can it be done in ways that protect the environment and the mining communities?
This week host Bill Loveless talks with Henry Sanderson, the executive editor at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. From 2014 to 2021, he served as the commodities correspondent for the Financial Times. He also spent seven years in China reporting for Bloomberg and the Associated Press.
In July, Henry published a new book, “Volt Rush: The Winners and Losers in the Race to Go Green”. Volt Rush is about the geopolitics and competition over the commodities needed to build a greener world.
Bill talks with Henry about the competitive global market of EV battery components and the often overlooked working and environmental conditions in developing countries. They also discuss efforts by the United States and other countries to build domestic supply chains.
Europe is getting some much-needed relief in the midst of its energy crisis. Although energy prices are still high, a warm October and a surge in liquified gas imports brought spot prices down from record levels and gas storage to near full capacity. A worst-case supply crisis has been averted — for now.
But tensions are still high. Fears over Russian sabotage of North Sea pipelines are causing concerns about cuts to remaining gas supplies. Impending winter weather and a coming embargo on Russian oil are adding uncertainty to an already volatile market. European households and businesses will still see prices for natural gas and electricity well above average.
Has Europe seen the worst of its energy crisis? What are the options for EU leaders to manage the energy crisis during the frigid winter months? How will further measures to pressure Russia economically affect the European economy?
This week host Jason Bordoff talks with Anne-Sophie Corbeau and Tatiana Mitrova about the winter outlook and the options for managing the energy supply. This conversation was recorded on October 14, 2022.
Anne-Sophie is a global research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.
Tatiana is a research fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy.
The group of 23 oil-producing countries known as OPEC+ announced a cut in production at its recent meeting in Vienna. The move sparked a sharp backlash from leaders in Washington amid concerns about high energy prices and their impact on the global economy.
OPEC+ countries, particularly Saudi Arabia, defended the decision by pointing to the weak economic outlook depressing oil demand. Others concluded geopolitics may have been at play given the relationship between OPEC+ countries and Russia.
In Washington, calls for retaliation were immediate. Proposals included a cessation of arms sales to Saudi Arabia, legislation to strip OPEC+ of its immunity from antitrust lawsuits, or new releases from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
Was the market in need of a production cut? And how much did geopolitics play a role in OPEC+’s decision?
This week host Jason Bordoff talks with Amrita Sen.
Amrita is the co-founder and chief oil analyst at Energy Aspects. She leads their analysis and forecasting of crude and products markets. Amrita was formerly the chief oil analyst at Barclays Capital. She holds a masters in economics from the University of Cambridge and a PhD in economics from SOAS University of London.
Amrita’s deep understanding of the complexity of the global energy sector, along with a wealth of industry contacts and experience, gives her a unique perspective on market outlook. Earlier this month, she warned clients that U.S. shale output could peak in 2024.
Together, Jason and Amrita discuss the rationale behind the OPEC+ cuts and the influence of geopolitics. They also talk about the U.S. response and production outlook for the next few years.
In the months since Russia invaded Ukraine, world leaders have struggled to implement a global response that punishes Russia for its aggression, while simultaneously minimizing the war’s impact on energy prices. In the United States, the Department of the Treasury has been at the center of this effort. Officials there have been negotiating with international partners over a proposal to implement a price cap on Russian oil. Their goal? To reduce Russia’s energy revenue while keeping vitally needed oil on the market.
A price cap would allow those transporting Russian oil to use western services if buyers pay below a set price. But some experts are skeptical. Can the United States really punish Russian aggression while protecting the economies of consumer countries? What are the chances of Russian retaliation? And how would a global price cap affect energy prices for American consumers in the months ahead?
This week, we’re airing a conversation between host Jason Bordoff and Wally Adeyemo at the recent Columbia Global Energy Summit.
As deputy secretary of the Treasury, Wally has been at the center of the Biden Administration’s Covid recovery effort, its response to Russian aggression, and its stewardship of the American economy.
Prior to taking over as deputy secretary, Wally served as deputy national security adviser for International Economics and deputy director of the National Economic Council for the Obama Administration. He was also the first chief of staff of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Jason and Wally discuss the price cap proposal, the outlook for energy markets, and how the Department of the Treasury is using its economic policy levers to address the climate crisis.
We need more energy infrastructure.
But energy permitting regulations — primarily established through the National Environmental Policy Act — are not matching the pace of the transition needed if we’re to meet our net-zero goals.
Sen. Joe Manchin has been trying to pass permitting reform for more than 20 months, and his most recent proposal catapulted the issue into the national spotlight. Manchin’s bill aims to reform environmental review and permitting processes. Most notably, it would reduce the time it takes to get an energy project approved.
The bill faces opposition from both the right and the left. Some Democrats have criticized the bill as a sop to big oil. And some conservatives argue that it lacks clear and meaningful implementation requirements.
Since Manchin couldn’t muster enough support for the proposal, it was ultimately pulled.
Without permitting reform, the U.S. will struggle to build new energy projects, putting climate targets and energy security at risk. What will it take to pass bi-partisian legislation? And how can regulatory review balance environmental protection and infrastructure development?
This week host Bill Loveless interviews Katie McGinty and Jim Connaughton.
Katie is the vice president and chief sustainability and external relations officer for Johnson Controls. She was the first woman to serve as chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality and as deputy assistant to President Clinton.
Jim Connaughton is the chairperson of Nautilus Data Technologies. He served as the chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality for the George W. Bush administration as well as the director of the White House Office of Environmental Policy. He is a member of the advisory committee for Columbia’s Center on Global Energy Policy.
Last year, Katie and Jim co-authored a report for the Aspen Institute titled “Building Cleaner, Faster.” It concluded that environmental review and permitting reform were necessary to decarbonize the economy.
Bill talked with Katie and Jim about permitting reform, Sen. Manchin’s proposed bill, and why new legislation is so important for building new energy infrastructure.
Europe is in the throes of a severe energy crisis, with oil, gas, electricity, and coal prices skyrocketing this year. As the continent braces for winter, its leaders face difficult questions about whether or not there will be enough energy to heat homes and power the economy into 2023 and beyond.
Meanwhile Europeans are contending with the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. As they try to pressure Russia economically, they’re attempting to minimize how much they squeeze their own energy sectors.
This energy crisis is occurring against the backdrop of an unfolding climate crisis. It has taken a toll on Europe this summer, inflicting major heat waves and drought across much of the continent. European governments, which have accelerated their efforts to fight climate change through the European Green Deal, must now balance the need for reducing carbon emissions with the need to meet current fossil fuel demand.
How can Europe’s leaders find a compromise? How can they meet the current energy demands of their constituents? And what does a long-term energy security plan look like for Europe?
This week we are airing host Jason Bordoff’s recent interview with Frans Timmermans from Columbia’s World Leaders Forum. They sat down for a conversation titled, “Staying the Course in a World of Turmoil.”
Frans is the executive vice-president of the European Commission for the European Green Deal and the European commissioner for climate action. He has an extensive background in Dutch politics, serving as a member of the House of Representatives, the State Secretary of Foriegn Affairs, and, most recently, the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Jason and Frans talk about how the European Union can balance decarbonization, affordability, and energy security in the upcoming months. They also discuss what this crisis means for energy planning in the long-term.
Developing countries face the dual challenge of meeting rapidly growing energy demand while also scaling clean energy to avoid dramatic increases in carbon emissions. But financing all of those clean energy projects can be tough.
Emerging and developing economies need clean energy investments. Researchers estimate that they will need anywhere between $1-2 trillion per year for the next 30 years to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.
Most of that capital will need to come from the private sector. Multilateral development banks are working to fill the gap and catalyze private finance. But they still have to work through unique financial, policy, and technical challenges in emerging and developing economies.
So what are these barriers? And how do we overcome them to mobilize more capital for clean energy projects across the developing world?
This week, host Jason Bordoff talks with Mafalda Duarte. Mafalda is the CEO of Climate Investment Funds, one of the most ambitious efforts to finance clean energy projects in developing and middle-income countries.
Since 2015 she’s led efforts all over the world to help countries build climate-resilient economies by innovating ways to mobilize capital. She has extensive experience managing climate-related portfolios and leading policy projects in more than 30 countries around the world.
Jason and Mafalda discuss opportunities for financing the clean energy transition in emerging economies—including an ambitious new effort to phase out coal in parts of Africa and Asia.
Developing countries face the dual challenge of meeting rapidly growing energy demand while also scaling clean energy to avoid dramatic increases in carbon emissions. But financing all of those clean energy projects can be tough.
Emerging and developing economies need clean energy investments. Researchers estimate that they will need anywhere between $1-2 trillion per year for the next 30 years to reach net-zero emissions by 2050.
Most of that capital will need to come from the private sector. Multilateral development banks are working to fill the gap and catalyze private finance. But they still have to work through unique financial, policy, and technical challenges in emerging and developing economies.
So what are these barriers? And how do we overcome them to mobilize more capital for clean energy projects across the developing world?
This week, host Jason Bordoff talks with Mafalda Duarte. Mafalda is the CEO of Climate Investment Funds, one of the most ambitious efforts to finance clean energy projects in developing and middle-income countries.
Since 2015 she’s led efforts all over the world to help countries build climate-resilient economies by innovating ways to mobilize capital. She has extensive experience managing climate-related portfolios and leading policy projects in more than 30 countries around the world.
Jason and Mafalda discuss opportunities for financing the clean energy transition in emerging economies—including an ambitious new effort to phase out coal in parts of Africa and Asia.
Covid and the Russian war in Ukraine have slowed economic development in East Asia and the Pacific. High global commodity prices are stressing countries heavily dependent on energy and food imports.
Recent heat waves and drought sweeping across the region are adding further economic pain.
In China, coal consumption is climbing as hydropower resources dry up. And it’s not the only major economy in the region heavily reliant on the dirtiest fossil fuel. Across Asia, hundreds of new coal plants and mines are being built.
So how do the countries that are most vulnerable to climate change – and the biggest users of coal – balance economic development and the energy transition?
This week, Bill Loveless talks with Manuela Ferro, the Regional Vice President for East Asia and Pacific at the World Bank. Previously, Manuela served as Vice President of Operations Policy and Country Services, where she oversaw the Bank’s crisis response to the coronavirus pandemic. She’s an engineer and economist with a masters in engineering from University of Lisbon, and a Ph.D. in development economics from Stanford University.
Bill talks with Manuela about the World Bank’s recently released economic update on East Asia and the Pacific called Braving the Storm. They also discussed other developments – like the region’s reliance on coal for energy security, and how the World Bank can help the transition to cleaner energy.
Covid and the Russian war in Ukraine have slowed economic development in East Asia and the Pacific. High global commodity prices are stressing countries heavily dependent on energy and food imports.
Recent heat waves and drought sweeping across the region are adding further economic pain.
In China, coal consumption is climbing as hydropower resources dry up. And it’s not the only major economy in the region heavily reliant on the dirtiest fossil fuel. Across Asia, hundreds of new coal plants and mines are being built.
So how do the countries that are most vulnerable to climate change – and the biggest users of coal – balance economic development and the energy transition?
This week, Bill Loveless talks with Manuela Ferro, the Regional Vice President for East Asia and Pacific at the World Bank. Previously, Manuela served as Vice President of Operations Policy and Country Services, where she oversaw the Bank’s crisis response to the coronavirus pandemic. She’s an engineer and economist with a masters in engineering from University of Lisbon, and a Ph.D. in development economics from Stanford University.
Bill talks with Manuela about the World Bank’s recently released economic update on East Asia and the Pacific called Braving the Storm. They also discussed other developments – like the region’s reliance on coal for energy security, and how the World Bank can help the transition to cleaner energy.
Winter is coming. The energy crisis that is afflicting Europe and other parts of the world is worsening as Russia weaponizes natural gas.
After Putin turned off supply of Russian gas through the Nord Stream pipeline earlier this month, prices across Europe soared – causing severe pain for manufacturers and consumers, and pushing the region closer to recession. European countries are weighing emergency measures, like price caps and rationing.
In addition to the immediate energy crisis, key questions remain about what all of this means for the clean energy transition. The supply of critical materials for clean energy technologies – such as copper, lithium, and cobalt – will also present challenges. A recent report by S&P Global predicted that demand for copper will double by 2035 as a consequence of the energy transition, and it is unclear if the existing supply chains can sustain such an increase.
How can governments and companies address the energy crisis without sacrificing progress on climate? And how might current and future supply shortages change the geopolitical landscape?
This week, Jason Bordoff talks with Dr. Dan Yergin, an internationally known authority on energy, geopolitics, and economics. He sits on the boards of numerous institutions – including Columbia’s Center of Global Energy Policy.
Dr. Yergin is the Pulitzer Prize winning author of “The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power.” And his most recent book, “The New Map: Energy, Climate, and the Clash of Nations,” illustrates the greatest issues of geopolitics and energy today.
He is the Vice Chairman of S&P Global, and was the project Chairman for the report, “The Future of Copper: Will the looming supply gap short-circuit the energy transition?”
Jason spoke with Dr. Yergin about the ongoing energy crisis, the supply of critical materials, and the future of energy superpowers.
Winter is coming. The energy crisis that is afflicting Europe and other parts of the world is worsening as Russia weaponizes natural gas.
After Putin turned off supply of Russian gas through the Nord Stream pipeline earlier this month, prices across Europe soared – causing severe pain for manufacturers and consumers, and pushing the region closer to recession. European countries are weighing emergency measures, like price caps and rationing.
In addition to the immediate energy crisis, key questions remain about what all of this means for the clean energy transition. The supply of critical materials for clean energy technologies – such as copper, lithium, and cobalt – will also present challenges. A recent report by S&P Global predicted that demand for copper will double by 2035 as a consequence of the energy transition, and it is unclear if the existing supply chains can sustain such an increase.
How can governments and companies address the energy crisis without sacrificing progress on climate? And how might current and future supply shortages change the geopolitical landscape?
This week, Jason Bordoff talks with Dr. Dan Yergin, an internationally known authority on energy, geopolitics, and economics. He sits on the boards of numerous institutions – including Columbia’s Center of Global Energy Policy.
Dr. Yergin is the Pulitzer Prize winning author of “The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power.” And his most recent book, “The New Map: Energy, Climate, and the Clash of Nations,” illustrates the greatest issues of geopolitics and energy today.
He is the Vice Chairman of S&P Global, and was the project Chairman for the report, “The Future of Copper: Will the looming supply gap short-circuit the energy transition?”
Jason spoke with Dr. Yergin about the ongoing energy crisis, the supply of critical materials, and the future of energy superpowers.
Nuclear fusion seems like something out of science fiction – a reaction created inside a machine that replicates the sun. But the technology behind this process could be inching closer to reality. And with it, new opportunities to harness electricity.
The recently passed Inflation Reduction Act allocates $280 million for fusion energy science. And experiments in China, the U.K., and California have some scientists feeling hopeful that fusion could play a role in the global energy transition.
But there’s a problem. At lower temperatures, nuclear fusion requires more energy than it produces. It’s only when the plasma used to combine atoms reaches an extremely high temperature that it sets off a chain reaction and makes the process sustainable.
There are different approaches to achieving this chain reaction. But are scientists actually getting close to commercialization? And when will nuclear fusion be powering our homes and businesses?
This week, host Bill Loveless talks with Dr. Dennis Whyte, Hitachi America Professor of Engineering at MIT and director of the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center. He also leads the Laboratory for Innovations and Fusion technology, which has energy company sponsorship to explore early-stage, disruptive fusion technologies.
Dr. Whyte played an integral role in Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a startup out of the Plasma Science and Fusion Center, that recently raised $1.8 billion in funding to commercialize fusion energy.
Bill talks with Dr. Whyte about the science behind nuclear fusion, his work at MIT, and the efforts to bring this technology to market.
Nuclear fusion seems like something out of science fiction – a reaction created inside a machine that replicates the sun. But the technology behind this process could be inching closer to reality. And with it, new opportunities to harness electricity.
The recently passed Inflation Reduction Act allocates $280 million for fusion energy science. And experiments in China, the U.K., and California have some scientists feeling hopeful that fusion could play a role in the global energy transition.
But there’s a problem. At lower temperatures, nuclear fusion requires more energy than it produces. It’s only when the plasma used to combine atoms reaches an extremely high temperature that it sets off a chain reaction and makes the process sustainable.
There are different approaches to achieving this chain reaction. But are scientists actually getting close to commercialization? And when will nuclear fusion be powering our homes and businesses?
This week, host Bill Loveless talks with Dr. Dennis Whyte, Hitachi America Professor of Engineering at MIT and director of the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center. He also leads the Laboratory for Innovations and Fusion technology, which has energy company sponsorship to explore early-stage, disruptive fusion technologies.
Dr. Whyte played an integral role in Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a startup out of the Plasma Science and Fusion Center, that recently raised $1.8 billion in funding to commercialize fusion energy.
Bill talks with Dr. Whyte about the science behind nuclear fusion, his work at MIT, and the efforts to bring this technology to market.
In 2020, Europe passed a landmark climate package called the Green Deal. It was supposed to mark a new era of climate progress for the region.
Few expected that two years later, Europe would be burning more coal, importing more liquified natural gas, shifting from gas to oil for industry, and spending more money to subsidize fossil fuel consumption. Europe’s energy crisis, many years in the making, has been exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – and the subsequent turmoil in regional and global energy markets.
The past six months have proven how the global energy transition will play out in chaotic and non-linear ways.
So what will today’s energy crisis mean for the energy transition? How will governments around the world react to today’s supply shortages and price spikes? And what does the wild ride for commodities and energy pricing mean for security and climate goals around the world?
This week, we’re running an episode of the Foreign Affairs Interview podcast featuring our co-host, Jason Bordoff, and Meghan O’Sullivan, a professor of international affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School.
Meghan is the author of “Windfall: How the New Energy Abundance Upends Global Politics and Strengthens America’s Power.” And she served as deputy national security adviser for Iraq and Afghanistan during the Bush Administration.
In June, Jason and Meghan joined host Dan Kurtz-Phelan to discuss their recent articles on the ongoing energy crisis. They talked about market volatility, President Biden’s trip to Saudi Arabia, and why energy is still so central to geopolitics.
In 2020, Europe passed a landmark climate package called the Green Deal. It was supposed to mark a new era of climate progress for the region.
Few expected that two years later, Europe would be burning more coal, importing more liquified natural gas, shifting from gas to oil for industry, and spending more money to subsidize fossil fuel consumption. Europe’s energy crisis, many years in the making, has been exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – and the subsequent turmoil in regional and global energy markets.
The past six months have proven how the global energy transition will play out in chaotic and non-linear ways.
So what will today’s energy crisis mean for the energy transition? How will governments around the world react to today’s supply shortages and price spikes? And what does the wild ride for commodities and energy pricing mean for security and climate goals around the world?
This week, we’re running an episode of the Foreign Affairs Interview podcast featuring our co-host, Jason Bordoff, and Meghan O’Sullivan, a professor of international affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School.
Meghan is the author of “Windfall: How the New Energy Abundance Upends Global Politics and Strengthens America’s Power.” And she served as deputy national security adviser for Iraq and Afghanistan during the Bush Administration.
In June, Jason and Meghan joined host Dan Kurtz-Phelan to discuss their recent articles on the ongoing energy crisis. They talked about market volatility, President Biden’s trip to Saudi Arabia, and why energy is still so central to geopolitics.
This summer’s climate bill features an historic investment: $60 billion will be devoted to clean energy projects and climate resilience for disadvantaged communities. It will also create a green bank to help drive climate investments with explicit equity outcomes.
Environmental justice is getting real attention in policymaking at the federal and state level. So how do we define and measure it? And why is it so crucial to the energy transition?
This week we’re bringing back one of our most popular episodes from last summer – co-host Bill Loveless’s conversation with environmental justice pioneer Dr. Robert Bullard.
Dr. Bullard helped build the environmental justice movement decades ago, and currently serves as distinguished professor of urban planning and environmental policy at Texas Southern University. His advocacy work has focused on everything from air pollution to housing to hurricane relief.
This conversation on the history and urgency of environmental justice is particularly relevant given America’s recent investments in climate equity through the Inflation Reduction Act.
America is doubling down on support of electric vehicles. This summer’s historic climate bill extends key tax credits for buyers of EVs, putting them in reach for more drivers.
Those credits also require a high percentage of American-sourced materials – which could be a long-term boon to domestic production, but a potential short-term problem for manufacturers with foreign supply chains.
Electric models make up 5% of EV sales in the U.S. and IHS Markit predicts EVs will represent 30% of sales by the end of the decade. With federal support of electric cars ramping up, what is the pathway for making EVs a mainstream choice?
We’re on a late summer break. So for the next couple of weeks, we’re bringing back some of our most popular interviews. This week features a conversation recorded in front of a live audience earlier this year between our co-host, Jason Bordoff, and two top figures in transportation: Jim Farley and Mary Nichols.
Jim Farley is president and chief executive officer of Ford. Mary Nichols is a long-time environmental champion and chair of the California Air Resources Board. She’s now a distinguished visiting fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy.
Jim and Mary discuss the significant changes taking place in the auto industry given new federal policies promoting electric cars and buses.
Wildfire season is upon us. With nearly 80% of the Western US in extreme drought, fires have already scorched more than five and a half million acres this year – double the number of acres compared to this time last year.
Those fires pose an increasing risk to electric utilities. And no utility feels the urgency of that risk more than PG&E.
In 2018, PG&E equipment sparked the most devastating wildfire in California history – and it forced one of America’s largest utilities into bankruptcy protection.
The story isn’t likely to be an anomaly. As journalist Katherine Blunt writes in her new book, California Burning, the story is “a harbinger of challenges to come” as climate change threatens the grid built for a different era.
Katherine joins Bill Loveless on the show this week. She’s a Wall Street Journal reporter who covers the power industry. Her team’s reporting on PG&E was honored with multiple awards for business investigative journalism.
Bill spoke with her about the PG&E saga – and what it tells us about the risks facing utilities and the power grid in a rapidly-warming world.
Even as prices decline, the tight oil market is once again raising economic and political worries in Washington.
In July, President Biden traveled to the Middle East to meet with several Arab leaders – including Saudi Arabia’s King and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Expanding oil supply was high on the list of the administration’s diplomatic objectives.
Saudi Arabia says it has limited ability to add extra oil to the market, and it’s not clear whether OPEC+ countries agree on the path forward for oil output. All of this comes at a time of enormous uncertainty in the global outlook for oil, due to fears of a recession and concerns over Russian supply.
Now all eyes are on OPEC+ in early August. Will Biden’s overtures have any consequential impact on production?
This week, host Jason Bordoff sits down with Dr. Karen Young and Bob McNally to discuss what’s next for oil markets.
Dr. Young is the newest Senior Research Scholar at the Columbia University Center on Global Energy Policy. She was a Senior Fellow and Founding Director of the Program on Economics and Energy at the Middle East Institute.
Bob McNally is a Non-Resident Fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy. He’s the author of Crude Volatility: The History and the Future of Boom-Bust Oil Prices, published by Columbia University Press. In his full-time capacity he is the founder and President of Rapidan Energy Group, an independent energy consulting and market advisory firm based in the Washington DC area.
In the wake of Biden’s controversial trip to the Middle East, Jason spoke with Karen and Bob about what it tells us about the state of the global oil market in the months ahead.
Relentless extreme heat is gripping regions around the world. Spring and summer brought numerous crippling heat waves to Europe – smashing temperature records, killing more than a thousand people, and buckling infrastructure.
India and Pakistan experienced one of the hottest springs ever, with heat waves in March and April hurting crop yields, and putting more than a billion people at risk.
And here in the US, heat waves are scorching large swaths of the country, exacerbating a western megadrought.
Every year, hot, humid conditions that can kill people are getting more likely. And scientists are getting better at attributing specific heat waves to human-caused climate change.
This week, host Bill Loveless talks with Dr. Radley Horton, a Research Professor at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.
Radley’s research focuses on climate extremes, tail risks, climate impacts, and adaptation. He was a lead author for the Third National Climate Assessment.
Bill spoke with Radley about this year’s brutal conditions that have hit Europe, North America, and Asia over the last few months. They discussed his research into heat-related mortality, where regions are becoming most vulnerable to extreme weather, and what it all means for our ability to adapt.
Europe’s gas crisis has entered a scary new phase. Last week, the biggest pipeline carrying Russian gas into Germany was closed for maintenance. And many in Europe fear the Russians will keep Nord Stream 1 closed indefinitely – putting further pressure on gas supply in the colder months.
Europeans are burning more coal, scrambling for new sources of gas, and committing to lots of renewable energy in a frantic attempt to slash reliance on Russian fossil fuels. But there are real questions about how quickly those solutions will shift the balance of power.
Meanwhile, gas prices are soaring in markets around the world – leading to fears about recession and long-lasting economic impacts. What are the possible scenarios that could play out?
This week, host Jason Bordoff sits down with Anne-Sophie Corbeau and Dr. Tatiana Mitrova to explain the state of gas markets.
Anne-Sophie Corbeau is a Global Research Scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs; Dr. Tatiana Mitrova is a Research Fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy.
Together, they discuss how deeply the gas shocks will impact Europe, Russia, and the rest of the world.
In June, Colombia elected a new president: Gustavo Petro.
Petro is pushing major reforms in this oil-exporting country. He promised to cut Colombia’s reliance on selling oil and extracting raw materials, while also ramping up climate targets. Will Colombia become the first oil exporter to ban new production?
Petro’s win is part of a broader progressive shift in Latin America around climate and energy. How will recent political developments in Colombia and other Latin American countries affect the future of oil and mining on the continent, and what do these shifts mean for the clean energy transition?
This week, host Bill Loveless sits down with Dr. Mauricio Cárdenas, a visiting senior research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy.
As Colombia’s finance minister between 2012 and 2018, Dr. Cárdenas served during an oil shock that led to a 40% reduction in Colombia’s exports.
Mauricio and Bill discussed whether the incoming Colombian president can deliver on his campaign promises. They also explore the state of energy and climate policy across Latin America.
In a 6-3 decision in West Virginia v. EPA, Supreme Court justices determined that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) overstepped its authority in regulating carbon dioxide emissions from power plants. Since the Thursday decision, several environmental groups have called the monumental ruling devastating to the Biden administration’s efforts to facilitate a clean energy transition.
For a breakdown of the decision and its implications for climate regulations moving forward, host Bill Loveless spoke with legal experts Michael Gerrard and Jeff Holmstead.
Michael is founder and director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University. He has pioneered innovative legal strategies and teaches courses on environmental law, climate change law and energy regulation. Before his time at Columbia, Michael was the head of the New York law office of Arnold & Porter.
Jeff heads the Environmental Strategies Group at the law firm Bracewell. He previously served as assistant administrator for air and radiation at the EPA under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005. During his tenure, he was one of the architects behind the Clean Air Interstate Rule, the Clean Air Diesel Rule and the Mercury Rule for power plants.
The pair discussed precisely how the rule curbs the EPA’s power, where it stops short, and the kind of legal precedence it sets for future cases.
This week, Columbia Energy Exchange brings you an episode of another podcast called Catalyst.
It’s a weekly show hosted by climate tech veteran Shayle Kann about the future of decarbonization. Each week, different experts, researchers, and executives come on to unpack the latest hurdles to decarbonization and advancing new climate tech solutions.
This episode is all about weighing the risks and rewards of solar geoengineering.
In it, Shayle speaks with a climate modeler named Dan Visioni who conducts research on solar geoengineering at Cornell University’s Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering.
They explore key questions, including:
- What do we know about the potential effects on ozone, precipitation and ecosystems? What do we need to research, and what could we learn by testing?
- Which could scale faster: carbon dioxide removal or solar geoengineering?
- Solar geoengineering could cost a tiny fraction of the amount required to scale up carbon dioxide removal. Does that mean it could buy us time to draw down emissions in a less expensive manner? Or would its relative affordability enable a rogue actor to deploy it without international collaboration?
- And who gets to make the final decision on whether the world should deploy solar geoengineering? Whose hand is on the thermostat, so to speak?
Episodes of Catalyst drop every Thursday. The show is a co-production of Post Script Media and Canary Media.
President Biden is heading to Saudi Arabia next month amidst a global energy crisis. The trip is nothing new. For decades when faced with an oil crisis, presidents from both political parties have turned to Saudi Arabia.
That’s because it’s one of the key players in the global oil market, producing about 10% of the world’s oil.
For a deep dive into the unique role that Saudi Arabia plays in global oil markets, host Jason Bordoff spoke with Dr. Ibrahim AlMuhanna. He’s the vice chairman of the Saudi Association for Energy Economics and a longtime advisor to the Ministry of Energy for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Between 1989 and 2017, he worked closely with four successive energy ministers, playing a central role in developing Saudi energy policy and communicating it to the outside world. His new book “Oil Leaders: An Insider’s Account of Four Decades of Saudi Arabia and OPEC's Global Energy Policy” is the latest in the Center on Global Energy Policy book series published through Columbia University Press.
The pair discussed Dr. AlMuhanna’s career overseeing consequential energy decisions and the role of Saudi Arabia in global energy markets now and moving forward.
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) continues to influence global energy systems, despite challenges to its unity and market share. Just this year, global leaders called upon OPEC to increase output to bring down oil prices.
But the organization comes under tremendous scrutiny for many of the decisions it makes, with some arguing that it has not done enough to address oil price spikes and others questioning its role generally.
For a look at how OPEC is navigating the current oil crisis and the broader clean energy transition, host Jason Bordoff spoke with His Excellency Mohammad Barkindo.
Barkindo has served as secretary general of OPEC for the last six years, with his term set to end in July. His tenure at OPEC has coincided with major upheavals in the global oil market, including the supply glut of the mid-2010s, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the war in Ukraine. He previously represented Nigeria at OPEC and held various senior roles at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation.
The pair discussed OPEC’s role amid political turmoil, rapidly fluctuating energy markets, changes within the oil industry, along with Barkindo’s reflections on his time at OPEC’s helm.
Earlier this year, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed new regulations that would require publicly-traded companies to estimate their greenhouse gas emissions and disclose certain climate risks.
The mandated rules around disclosure would be unprecedented in the United States and come at a time when investors are increasingly concerned about companies’ environmental, social, and governance (ESG) commitments. But the controversial measure is stirring up complaints – from those who say it goes too far, and others who say it doesn’t go far enough.
For deeper insight into the SEC’s proposed rules, host Bill Loveless spoke with Dr. Shivaram Rajgopal, the Kester and Byrnes Professor of Accounting and Auditing at Columbia Business School.
Shivaram was previously a faculty member at Duke University, Emory University and the University of Washington, and his work is frequently cited in outlets like The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Bloomberg, and Forbes.
Together, they discuss some of the key provisions in the proposal and the broader implications it could have for the future of corporate climate accountability.
Oil refiners are currently seeing a big boom in business – but how long will it last?
The process of turning crude into usable products has been plagued for years by low profitability and overcapacity, and the pandemic took a toll on many refineries which in some cases shut their doors permanently.
And now climate action, the potential for an economic slump and global fuel shortages are raising new questions about whether refiners should continue to invest or cash out.
For answers to these big questions surrounding oil refining, host Bill Loveless spoke with Robin Mills, chief executive at Qamar Energy in Dubai. The company provides regionally-based insight and consulting across the oil and gas, renewable, hydrogen and carbon management sectors in the Middle East.
Prior to this, Robin led major consulting assignments for the European Union in Iraq and for a variety of international oil companies. Robin previously worked for Shell, developing new business in the United Arab Emirates and other Middle Eastern countries and for Dubai Holding and the Emirates National Oil Company.
He is the author of two books: “The Myth of the Oil Crisis” and “Capturing Carbon.”
The pair discuss the current landscape for oil refining, the impact of the pandemic, and the role policymakers and government leaders can play in alleviating market disruptions.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is responsible for safeguarding U.S. nuclear infrastructure, maintaining energy security, fostering technology innovation, and guiding the country towards a green energy transition. Today, the DOE is facing converging crises: climate change, global supply chains still impacted by the pandemic, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. So, what can the federal government do to sustainably shore up the country's energy sector?
To answer that question, host Jason Bordoff speaks with David Turk, deputy secretary of energy at the DOE and former deputy executive director of the International Energy Agency.
Jason and David discuss the war in Ukraine, the future of clean energy technology, and what energy security looks like in a decarbonizing world.
Europe is at a crossroads over nuclear power. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has pushed Europe to reconsider its energy mix. Migrating away from Russian supply chains has become a priority, and Europe is looking at nuclear as one possible alternative. But opinions about nuclear energy vary throughout the European Union, where a quarter of all electricity comes from often aging reactors in a dozen countries.
For insight into how the pressures of energy security and climate change could affect the future of nuclear energy on the continent, host Bill Loveless spoke with Mark Hibbs, a nonresident senior fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Based in Germany, Mark focuses on international nuclear trade and nonproliferation as well as policy concerning the generation of nuclear power. Before joining Carnegie in 2010, he spent more than 20 years as an accomplished editor and senior correspondent with Nucleonics Week and other nuclear energy publications at S&P Global Platts.
Bill and Mark spoke about the outlook for nuclear energy in Europe as the war persists, the potential of new reactors as an alternative to Russian oil and natural gas, and the safety of Ukraine’s nuclear reactors amid the war.
Despite some setbacks, Europe is considering a ban on Russian oil, a major step toward energy independence from Russia. Meanwhile, Russia’s demand that buyers pay for its natural gas in rubles has put European consumers in a tough spot and has led Russia to cut off gas exports to Bulgaria and Poland.
All of this puts Europe in the middle of an energy crisis – with no clear end in sight.
For a look at whether Europe can stand against Russia without compromising its own energy supply and continue to make progress on its clean energy goals, host Jason Bordoff speaks with Kadri Simson. She’s the European Commissioner for Energy and works to ensure Europe has affordable, sustainable, and secure sources of energy.
Before joining the European Commission in 2019, she was Estonia’s Minister for Economic Affairs and has held various other positions in the Estonian government.
During her recent visit to Columbia University, Commissioner Simson and Jason discussed various aspects of the European energy market including Europe’s natural gas demand, the importance of Russia’s diesel and refined products, and the continent’s nuclear future.
A rocky pandemic recovery, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and increasing social and consumer pressure to move away from Russian commodities have led to a spike in oil, natural gas, and even coal prices. For a look at how commodities should be regulated and how policymakers think about energy supplies in a fractious geopolitical environment, host Jason Bordoff spoke with Javier Blas from Bloomberg News. He’s a leading energy columnist and commodities expert with a renowned career at top media outlets like the BBC and the Financial Times.
He’s also the author of a new book: “The World for Sale: Money, Power, and the Traders Who Barter the Earth's Resources,” co-authored with senior Bloomberg News reporter Jack Farchy.
The pair have been on the show previously to discuss the book in detail, which you can listen to here. They also participated in a recent event with Maria Jelscu Dreyfus, CEO and Founder of Ardinall Investment Management which you can watch here.
In this discussion, Javier focuses on the implications of the current war for commodities markets and the global clean energy transition.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has sent oil and natural gas markets for a loop.
But less attention has been paid to the implications of the war for global energy and food security, particularly for the world’s least developed countries (LDCs).
For a deep dive into whether Western nations can still fulfill the climate finance promises made to LDCs in the midst of an unfolding global conflict and energy crisis in Europe, host Bill Loveless turned to Dr. Harry Verhoeven.
He’s a Senior Research Scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy who has collaborated extensively with key policy actors including the World Bank, the European Union, the United Nations and governments around the world. He is also the founder and Convenor of the Oxford University China-Africa Network.
In this conversation, Dr. Verhoeven outlines how the Russia-Ukraine conflict is destabilizing prices for certain food commodities like wheat and what the Russia-Ukraine war means for energy transitions of countries like Angola, Sudan and Mozambique.
Recently, Dr. Verhoeven authored a paper on the topic for CGEP called “International Energy Markets and Food Insecurity in the Least Developed Countries: The Russia-Ukraine Crisis and Beyond.” Soon, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development will release another report by Harry on the same topic.
Around the world, natural gas prices continue to tick upward, surging to levels not seen in more than a decade. Russia’s war on Ukraine is largely to blame for high energy prices in Europe as the continent competes with Asia for already tight supplies of non-Russian gas. And the scramble for alternatives to Russian gas has reached the US, where prices have doubled since the beginning of the year.
For a look at what the future holds for natural gas markets, host Jason Bordoff spoke with Ira Joseph. He’s the head of global generating fuels and electric power pricing at S&P Global Platts.
Ira has decades of experience researching the gas sector and previously worked at the PIRA Energy Group, where he started the firm’s European gas and power and Global LNG Service in 1999.
The pair discussed the factors contributing to the abnormally high gas prices and the implications for energy security, the clean energy transition and global climate commitments.
Russia’s oil and natural gas commodities get a lot of attention, but the country’s critical metals and minerals supplies – which include steel, titanium, nickel, cobalt and lithium – are also cause for concern.
Moscow’s military invasion of Ukraine could disrupt the global supply of these materials, which can be found in every corner of our lives. Notably, these minerals are essential components of clean energy technologies like solar panels, wind turbines and batteries for electric vehicles.
For a look at how global supply chains of critical minerals will be crucial to the energy transition – and how these supply chains can be managed effectively – host Bill Loveless spoke with Abigail Wulf. She’s the Vice President and Director of Critical Minerals Strategy at SAFE, a nonpartisan organization that promotes U.S. energy security policies.
Previously, she was a Senior Science Communicator at NASA where she worked to promote NASA's Earth Science research.
In this conversation, they discuss the implications of the war for critical mineral supply chains, China’s control over mineral processing facilities and steps the US government could take to develop sustainable mining projects.
Wildfires, extreme heat and particulate matter from fossil fuel power plants are increasingly affecting the well-being of people in the U.S. and other countries.
In this episode, host Bill Loveless visits with Dr. Renee Salas about the adverse impacts of climate change on public health. As a leading public health researcher and emergency medical doctor, Dr. Salas has published extensively and testified in Congress on the impact of climate change on healthcare and the medical system.
She served as the lead author of the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change U.S. Brief since 2018.
Dr. Salas is a Yerby Fellow at the Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She is also a practicing emergency medical physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and an assistant professor of emergency medicine at Harvard Medical School.
They bring us a compelling conversation about the mindset shift necessary to address the climate health crisis head on.
Earlier this month, a delegation of senior U.S. officials made an unexpected visit to South America to meet with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
The visit caused a flurry of speculation. Will the United States consider easing oil sanctions on Venezuela to replace Russian crude? Such a move could have huge ramifications for Venezuela’s oil exports but involves navigating a complicated relationship with the Maduro regime.
For a look into how this could work, host Bill Loveless spoke with Dr. Luisa Palacios, a Senior Research Scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy and former Chairwoman of Citgo Petroleum Corporation.
Luisa was on the show a few months ago for a conversation about the energy transition in Latin America. She returns to discuss a paper she recently co-authored: “Venezuela Oil Sanctions: Not An Easy Fix.”
Together, they discuss the potential ripple effects of easing sanctions on Venezuela as oil prices spike around the globe.
Heavy Russian airstrikes continue in Ukraine with no end in sight.
As the conflict escalates, rising oil prices are causing alarm about the future of global energy markets. So far, sanctions issued by the European Union have spared Russia’s energy exports, but some European Commission officials have started to call for an oil embargo.
To make sense of the recent oil price volatility, host Jason Bordoff called on energy expert Ed Morse. Morse has been focused on energy policy and commodities since the 1970s and is currently the managing director and global head of commodity research at Citigroup.
He was a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and served as the deputy assistant secretary of state for energy policy in both the Carter and Reagan administrations.
Together, they discuss what Russia’s invasion of Ukraine means moving forward for global oil supplies and prices at the pump.
An increased demand for energy following COVID-19 lockdowns created a severe energy supply crunch in Europe this winter. And now, decisions from corporate executives and government leaders to reduce or outright ban the purchase of Russian oil has forced energy prices even higher. For a look at how energy markets can be leveraged to end Russia’s war in Ukraine and accelerate the transition to clean energy– all while reducing the risks of nuclear proliferation– host Jason Bordoff spoke with former US Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz.
A key architect of the Paris Agreement and Iran nuclear deal, Moniz is currently the CEO of the Energy Futures Initiative and the Nuclear Threat Initiative. Before joining the Obama administration as Secretary of Energy, Dr. Moniz served as Under Secretary of Energy and as Associate Director for Science in the Office of Science and Technology Policy at the Department of Energy. Prior to his appointment, Dr. Moniz was a Physics and Engineering Systems Systems Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he founded the MIT Energy Initiative.
In this conversation, Dr. Moniz sheds light on the energy security threats created by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, where things stand on the Iran deal and the future of energy innovation amid turbulent times for the markets.
Russia’s continued military aggression towards Ukraine has become a full-blown humanitarian crisis. At the same time, energy prices are soaring as markets react to Russian oil and gas disruptions, including President Biden’s announcement today to ban US imports of Russian oil. The global energy ramifications of the conflict are profound. As a major oil and gas supplier – to Europe in particular – Russia has the power to weaponize its fossil fuels. And that has markets worried. For a deeper look at how the Russia-Ukraine conflict is impacting energy markets globally, host Jason Bordoff speaks with two foreign policy experts on energy: Angela Stent and Meghan O’Sullivan.
Stent is senior adviser to the Center for Eurasian, Russian and East European Studies and professor emerita of government and foreign service at Georgetown University. She’s published extensively on Russia-related foreign policy matters including “Putin’s World: Russia Against the West and With the Rest.”
O’Sullivan is the Jeane Kirkpatrick Professor of the Practice of International Affairs and the director of the Geopolitics of Energy Project at Harvard University. She served as a national security advisor to President George W. Bush, and has written various books and articles on international affairs.
Together, they discuss the complex energy security and resource management challenges during this time.
Delegations from Kyiv and Moscow met in Belarus yesterday for the first round of talks which resulted in no resolution. At the same time Russian rockets battered Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, killing and wounding dozens, and leaving much uncertainty on what’s to come next.
Sanctions have been the primary tool by the West to deter Russian aggression and de-escalate the tenuous situation. In this episode host Jason Bordoff speaks with international sanctions experts Richard Nephew and Eddie Fishman about the global energy implications of these diplomacy challenges.
Nephew recently rejoined the Center On Global Energy Policy as a senior research scholar. He’s the author of “The Art Of Sanctions,” and was most recently the US Deputy Special Envoy for Iran under the Biden administration where he played a key role in negotiations over the Iran nuclear deal.
Fishman is an adjunct professor of international and public affairs at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. From 2015 to 2017, he worked at the US State Department and advised Secretary of State John Kerry on Europe and Eurasia, leading policy work around economic sanctions.
Their discussion focuses on Russia’s global oil and gas exports, the near and long-term outcomes of economic sanctions on the Russian economy and the prospects for a revived Iran nuclear deal.
Silicon Valley is giving greater attention to potential business opportunities in clean energy and climate. It’s also seeing enormous potential for growth when it comes to battery storage, geothermal, electric vehicles, solar, and more.
But there are still questions about how the private sector can effectively fund these new technologies and ventures.
For a look into how to scale climate solutions with the speed that’s needed, host Jason Bordoff sits down with John Doerr, chairman of the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins. John is known for his early investments in clean technology and outside of the investment world, he’s a social entrepreneur with a track record for tackling climate.
And now, he has laid out his plan in a new book: “Speed & Scale: An Action Plan For Solving Our Climate Crisis Now.”
In this conversation, John outlines his vision for transitioning the economy to clean energy and reflects on his legacy of green investments.
The conflict between Ukraine and Russia is intensifying and President Biden has warned that Putin could send troops into Ukraine any day. NATO countries, including the US, are sending military equipment to Ukraine in preparation for the worst. But Germany is holding back. With gas prices at an all-time high, the future of Nord Stream 2 in limbo and the recent shutdown of nuclear plants: Can Europe be self-sufficient without Russian gas?
In this week’s episode, Jason Bordoff is joined by Stephen Lacey, host of The Carbon Copy podcast, to look at how we got here. Turns out a lot of it has to do with the geopolitics of the energy transition.
Together, they break down the tricky dynamics between Russia and the rest of Europe. Countries like Germany have invested vast amounts of money in renewables in the hopes of cutting dependence on imported fossil fuels, but how long will it take to get there?
Check out the Foreign Affairs article on this topic that Jason co-authored with policy expert Meghan O’Sullivan.
In February 2021, Winter Storm Uri pushed the Texas power grid to its limit, leading to widespread blackouts across the state. At its peak, the storm left 4.5 million homes and businesses without power, causing an estimated 250 deaths and $90 billion in damages.
As extreme weather worsens, experts worry that the current regulatory system is not enough to address the vulnerabilities in Texas’s electric system, making future outages more common and destructive.
This February, another devastating winter storm hit Texas. In this week's episode, host Bill Loveless sits down with Michael Webber, an energy resources professor at the University of Texas, Austin and an expert on Texas’ unique grid, to discuss what has (or hasn’t) changed since Winter Storm Uri.
What has Texas taught us about building a reliable grid in the face of extreme weather?
Michael is also the chief technology officer of Energy Impact Partners, a $2 billion cleantech venture fund.
His book, Power Trip: the Story of Energy, was published in 2019 with an award-winning six-part companion series that aired on PBS and other networks.
Elevated ocean temperatures are rising sea levels, inundating coastlines, sinking island nations, bleaching coral, and creating more dangerous hurricanes. But oceans also act as a buffer against global warming.
Climate scientists are increasingly turning their attention to oceans. For a deep dive into the science shaping our understanding of the Earth’s watery depths, host Bill Loveless spoke with Peter de Menocal, president and director of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts.
Peter is a marine geologist and paleoclimatologist by training, and the founding director of Columbia University’s Center For Climate And Life – a research accelerator that supports and trains the next generation of Earth scientists.
They discussed how oceans are changing, the capacity of oceans to take up carbon and the need for policy-relevant research on the seas. They also talked about what led Peter to a career studying and exploring oceans.
The most abundant element in the universe, hydrogen seems – at least in theory – to be a good source of energy. But because of the high costs and other barriers associated with hydrogen power, the real story is more nuanced.
For a deep dive into how the world can harness the power of hydrogen and what role it will play in the geopolitics of the energy transition, host Bill Loveless spoke with Elizabeth Press.
She’s the Director of Planning and Programme Support at the International Renewable Energy Agency, which just published a new report mapping out the future of hydrogen.
The report, titled “Geopolitics of the Energy Transformation: The Hydrogen Factor,” digs into the evolution of hydrogen markets across the world, especially in developing countries.
Read the full report here.
How can the US and Canada cooperate to meet international and domestic climate targets?
To try and answer that question, host Jason Bordoff spoke with Catherine McKenna – the former Canadian Minister of Infrastructure and Communities and former Canadian Minister of Environment and Climate Change.
McKenna, who recently joined the Center on Global Energy Policy as a Distinguished Visiting Fellow, was a lead negotiator of the Paris Agreement before introducing and successfully defending landmark legislation that established a carbon price across Canada.
In this conversation, the pair discuss Canada’s decarbonization strategy, misogyny in climate politics, building US-Canadian partnerships in tackling climate change, and her hopes for this new, exciting stage in her career.
Accelerating a global clean energy transition has never been more vital to curbing the worst impacts of climate change, but greenhouse gas emissions and the use of hydrocarbons continues to rise.
And even as several global fossil fuel giants announce clean energy initiatives, net zero timelines, and carbon capture projects, they continue to invest in oil and gas.
For a closer look at the role that legacy fossil fuel companies can and should play in the clean energy transition moving forward, Host Jason Bordoff spoke with Laszlo Varro — Vice President of Global Business Environment at Shell.
Before taking this position, he spent a decade at the IEA as Head of Gas, Coal and Electricity Markets and then as the organization’s Chief Economist.
They spoke about his take on the IEA’s outlook on the transition, natural gas as a bridge fuel and how traditional oil companies like Shell are responding to growing consumer demand for a clean transition.
The ongoing pandemic and a rocky White House transition overshadowed many other pressing events in the United States and abroad.
Nevertheless, the threats of a changing planet persisted.
2021 included a dire report from the Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change, a new round of international climate negotiations and climate-fueled fires, floods and hurricanes.
In this episode, Host Bill Loveless sits down to recap the last year in climate and energy policy news and look ahead to 2022 with two climate reporters: Lisa Friedman and Justin Worland.
Lisa is a Climate Desk Reporter with the New York Times, and Justin is a climate reporter with TIME magazine.
Given their areas of coverage, the conversation focused on the United States.
It seems that the coronavirus pandemic is here to stay as the newly-discovered Omicron variant of the virus spreads throughout the globe.
But climate change continues to be a threat too, as the impacts become more severe and the window for action narrows.
In this episode, Host Bill Loveless speaks with someone who has experience working on biological threats like pandemics as well as climate change.
Alice Hill is the David M. Rubenstein Senior Fellow for energy and the environment at the Council on Foreign Relations. She previously served as Special Assistant to President Barack Obama and Senior Director for Resilience Policy on the National Security Council.
The pair discussed her newest book “The Fight For Climate After COVID-19,” a treasure trove of insights on how we can use what we’ve learned from tackling COVID to build a climate resilient future.
Hydropower is one of our oldest sources of renewable energy. In 2018, hydropower made up nearly 60% of Canada’s electricity generation. In provinces like Quebec and Manitoba, hydropower makes up well over 90% of the provincial electricity supply.
One Canadian power company is looking to expand and provide hydroelectricity to its neighbors down south.
In this episode, host Bill Loveless sits down with Sophie Brochu, the President and CEO of Hydro-Québec, a Canadian state-owned utility and the fourth-largest producer of hydropower in the world.
Brochu is currently leading new efforts to expand Hydro-Québec’s reach and bring low-carbon electricity to the United States through new transmission lines in the Northeast.
But, the company is facing pushback from local groups on how and where these new transmission lines should be built.
Bill spoke with Sophie about those criticisms, the future of fossil fuel companies, and her vision for distributing and generating clean electricity throughout North America.
It’s been a month since world climate leaders convened in Glasgow, Scotland for international climate talks.
The conference brought meaningful advances to halt deforestation, curb methane emissions, and deploy clean energy. It also kept the goal of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 C alive.
But closing the gap between ambition and reality will require herculean efforts from all countries, particularly western nations which are responsible for a majority of historical CO2 emissions.
To talk through the challenges that lie ahead, Host Jason Bordoff spoke with Laurence Tubiana.
Tubiana is the CEO of the European Climate Foundation. A key architect of the Paris Climate Accords, She has championed international climate diplomacy in her roles as France’s Climate Change Ambassador and as a Special Representative at COP21 in Paris.
In this interview, Tubiana offers an insider’s perspective on the outcomes at Glasgow, and what’s needed from governments and financial institutions over the coming years.
The Covid-19 pandemic continues to shake up the global oil economy as fears surrounding the newly-discovered Omicron variant sparked a drop in prices last week.
This — combined with an ongoing energy crisis and a previous drop in prices during the first wave of the pandemic at the beginning of last year — has prompted a flurry of speculation from oil analysts about where the market is headed next.
For a read on the future of oil markets, Host Jason Bordoff spoke with three experts:
Amrita Sen, a Founding Partner and Chief Oil Analyst at Energy Aspects; Bob McNally, the President of the energy advising firm Rapidan Energy Group; and Arjun Murti, a Senior Advisor at Warburg Pincus, a global private equity firm.
Their roundtable discussion touched on President Biden’s decision to release crude oil from the nation’s Strategic Oil Reserves, the upcoming OPEC+ meeting and what international leaders need to consider as the world transitions away from fossil fuels.
COP26 is behind us, but the work is just getting started.
The world leaders who convened in Glasgow, Scotland, negotiated an agreement with positive, meaningful steps toward global climate action. But many onlookers are calling for more ambitious timelines.
What comes next? For a deep dive into how the conference unfolded and what it means for the future of climate progress, Host Jason Bordoff spoke with economist Nat Keohane.
Dr. Keohane was recently named President of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions. Before that, Nat was the Senior Vice President for Climate with the Environmental Defense Fund.
The pair spoke about the successes of the conference, including the final details of the so-called “Paris rulebook.” They also discussed the challenges that will carry over to next year’s conference and beyond.
Negotiators in Glasgow, Scotland have finally come to an agreement aimed at ramping up climate action.
At COP26, host Jason Bordoff and his colleagues at Columbia University helped organize a series of events which convened climate leaders from many regions and different parts of society. One of these events was a roundtable discussion with President Obama and youth climate activists.
In this episode, Jason speaks with Eduarda Zoghbi and Christian Vanizette, two passionate young climate leaders who were part of Columbia’s COP26 delegation.
Eduarda is a graduate student in public administration at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs. Her area of concentration is energy and the environment. Eduarda is also a member of the Women in Energy Program at the Center on Global Energy Policy and is currently working to expand the program to young female leaders in Brazil.
Christian is the co-founder of Makesense, a french-based organization that is growing a global network of citizens and entrepreneurs committed to solving environmental and social problems. Christian was an Obama foundation scholar at Columbia University from 2019-2020.
They spoke with Jason about the need for urgency in addressing climate change, why intergenerational action of climate change matters and what progress looks like as we work toward global climate targets.
The COP26 UN climate negotiations are well underway in Glasgow, Scotland.
With that in mind, we wanted to rerun an episode we did a few years back with Dr. Katharine Hayhoe about how to understand and listen to each other when it comes to climate change.
Dr. Hayhoe is an expert climate scientist and communicator. She is currently the Chief Scientist for The Nature Conservancy and is also a Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Public Law in the Department of Political Science at Texas Tech University.
Dr. Hayhoe has precious insights into how we effectively shift public opinion on the side of climate science, especially among members of her own evangelical Christian religion.
Over the course of the conversation, she and Host Jason Bordoff discuss how she merges her faith and her scientific work to communicate the urgency of addressing climate change in an ever-polarized political landscape.
The COP26 UN climate conference has kicked off in Glasgow, Scotland amidst a flurry of important moments in climate-related current affairs—an energy crisis threatens global supply chains and the future of a reconciliation package in Congress could determine whether or not the U.S. will meet its climate targets.
Needless to say, it’s a big week for the climate.
Here to break down his vision for how nations can seize the opportunity at hand to make a meaningful impact on climate change, both domestically and on the world stage, is Manish Bapna.
Manish is the new President and CEO of the Natural Resources Defense Council and the NRDC Action Fund. He has a long background trying to solve complex environmental problems at institutions like the World Resources Institute and the World Bank.
In this episode, Host Bill Loveless sits down with Manish to talk about how nations can go beyond pledges and commitments to make progress on decarbonization.
The Pentagon has released its most ambitious blueprint to date for how the Department of Defense—the largest government agency in the United States and the largest employer in the world— intends to prepare for the risks associated with the climate crisis.
The Climate Adaptation Plan, which describes climate change as a “destabilizing force” and a “national security risk,” offers a strategic roadmap for the U.S. military to adapt to the impacts of the climate crisis. These include geopolitical turmoil, threats to U.S. military infrastructure and the increased frequency of natural disasters at home and abroad.
In this episode, Host Bill Loveless speaks to one of the pentagon leaders behind the report— Richard Kidd.
Mr. Kidd is the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Environment & Energy Resilience at the Department of Defense. There, he oversees efforts related to coastal resilience, pollution prevention, and compliance with environmental laws.
They discuss how to balance the energy needs of today with a forward-thinking approach to managing the climate risks that have already and will continue to affect U.S. military operations.
The clean energy transition will involve an unprecedented investment in zero and low-carbon technologies. This shift to a clean energy system will require what are known as critical minerals such as aluminum and copper used in photovoltaic solar panels, and lithium and cobalt used in lithium-ion batteries.
New surges in demand for these critical minerals has challenged the ability of global supply chains to keep pace with this demand. As more and more nations commit to ambitious net-zero targets, demand for these minerals will only go up.
In this episode, Host Bill Loveless interviews Frank Fannon, the Managing Director of Fannon Global Advisors, a firm focused on geopolitics, market transformation, and the global energy transition.
Mr. Fannon was formerly the First Assistant Secretary for Energy Resources in the U.S. State Department, where he advised the Secretary of State on a host of issues related to energy resources and national security.
Bill spoke with Mr. Fannon about the future of the critical minerals supply chain as well as some of the broader geopolitical trends in the clean energy landscape.This episode references a past live episode that Host Jason Bordoff conducted with Ford CEO Jim Farley and Mary Nichols, Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy and the former Chair of the California Air Resources Board.
Most of the pressure on oil companies to make more environmentally-conscious investments is targeted at companies like Shell and Exxon. But these companies produce only 15 percent of the world’s oil and gas supply.
The majority of oil production comes from nationally-owned oil companies, and the question of how they will respond to the clean energy transition is especially vital in Latin America where state-owned companies like PDVSA, PetroBras and Pemex dominate the region’s energy sector.
In this episode, Host Jason Bordoff speaks with a leading expert on oil markets and the Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) agenda in Latin America -- Dr. Luisa Palacios. She has special insight into this topic as a former board chair of the oil refiner Citgo, an energy firm owned by the Venezuala-based nationalized oil company, PDVSA.
Dr. Palacios is currently a Senior Research Scholar at CGEP and received a Masters degree at Columbia University. Previously, she was Medley Global Advisor’s Head of Latin America. She also worked at Barclays Capital as a Director in emerging markets research.
Dr. Palacios spoke with Jason about where Venezuela and other Latin American oil majors are headed in a moment of big market shifts. They also took a broader look at the future of oil and ESG practices in the Latin American Region.
The Biden Administration recently released a blueprint for how the U.S. could get nearly half of its electricity from the sun by 2050 called, “The Solar Futures Study.” But reaching that 50% will require an expansive, multi-sector investment of money and resources toward the clean electricity source that meets only about 4% of the nation’s power demand now.
Host Bill Loveless dug into the hows of deploying solar widely and effectively with Mary Powell, the recently-appointed CEO of Sunrun, a leading residential solar company in the U.S.
Mary previously headed up the Vermont-based electric utility, Green Mountain Power.
While there, Mary was known for being a disruptor in the utility space in her embrace of clean energy reforms.
Bill and Mary spoke about the tricky nature of the residential solar market, how solar is figuring into congressional legislation and how electric utilities can work with the clean energy transition instead of fighting it.
The transportation sector is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, and there is much excitement today about the road ahead for electric vehicles.
Many automakers have pledged to increase the share of their production by going all battery or fuel cell electric within a decade, but few of the new models meet current buyer preference for larger vehicles with increased utility. But the Ford Motor Company’s introduction of the F-150 Lightning, a battery electric version of the best-selling truck in the U.S. for the last 44 years, may signal a tipping point in building the future of zero emissions transportation.
This live episode of the podcast, moderated by Host Jason Bordoff, features two key figures in the clean transportation transition:
The first is Jim Farley, President and Chief Executive Officer of Ford, a role he took on just about a year ago. He also serves as a member of the company’s Board of Directors and was previously Chief Operating Officer.
Also in the conversation is Mary Nichols, a long-time environmental champion and Chair of the California Air Resources Board. She’s now a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy.
Jim and Mary discuss the significant changes taking place in the industry’s plans and strategies to achieve carbon neutrality and the role of regulation, policy and investments in building demand for battery electric vehicles.
The Climate Group has selected the Columbia Climate School as its University partner for this year’s Climate Week NYC. Running Sept. 20-26, Climate Week NYC convened key climate leaders to accelerate climate action and discuss ambitious commitments ahead of the 26th UN Climate Change Conference this fall in Glasgow.
Currently, high gas prices are rippling throughout much of Europe and Asia. The spike has driven up the price of coal too and sent electricity prices for businesses and homeowners to record highs.
Governments are meeting with stakeholders and developing emergency plans. But as winter approaches, they’re in a time crunch to find a fix as large parts of Asia and Europe risk severe coal and gas shortages if the price surge continues.
In this episode of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Jason Bordoff speaks with energy experts Anne-Sophie Corbeau and Dr. Tatiana Mitrova, who break down the latest on the crisis.
Anne-Sophie Corbeau is currently a global research scholar at CGEP and was previously the head of gas analysis at BP and a senior gas analyst at the International Energy Agency.
Tatiana Mitrova is a CGEP non-resident fellow and research director of the SKOLKOVO Energy Centre in Moscow. She is also a member of Schlumberger's Board of Directors, and NOVATEK’s Board of Directors.
The world’s biggest carbon capture and storage machine launched last week in Iceland. It’s called Orca. According to Swiss startup Climeworks, the company which built the plant, it will capture 4,000 metric tons of CO2 per year and bury it underground.
The launch event for this new project was attended by the Center on Global Energy Policy’s Dr. Julio Friedmann. Host Bill Loveless snagged him for an interview to discuss what he saw there.
Julio is a Senior Research Scholar at CGEP and one of the most well-known experts on carbon capture, removal and storage. He is also a distinguished associate at the Energy Futures Initiative.
He gave his take on what the Orca plant foretells about this technology, the potential drawbacks, areas of concern, and why he believes that carbon capture technologies are integral to addressing climate change.
Mexico’s last President, Enrique Peña Nieto, put the country through a series of energy reforms that effectively opened up the Mexican energy market to private and foreign investment for the first time in 75 years.
But the current Mexican President, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador wants to restore some of the power the state had before those reforms.
The question now is whether the state will succeed in regaining a dominant position in Mexico’s energy sector once again, or whether international markets continue to play a relevant role.
For a conversation on the future of Mexico’s energy markets, Host Jason Bordoff Spoke with former Mexican Deputy Secretary for Planning and Energy Transition, Leonardo Beltrán Rodríguez.
Beltrán is a member of the Boards of Sustainable Energy for All, Fundacion Por México and the World Economic Forum’s Project in Partnership to Accelerate Sustainable Energy Innovation. He’s also a visiting fellow with the Columbia University Center On Global Energy Policy.
This episode originally aired on August 6th, 2020.
Young people around the world are speaking out increasingly about the dangers of climate change and taking actions to reduce the risks of global warming in their lifetimes.
Host Bill Loveless interviewed Akshat Rathi, the editor of "United We Are Unstoppable," a collection of essays by 60 young people about their determination to save the world from climate change.The book is a stirring collection of stories about the impacts of climate change that are already taking place or are likely to do so in the future.
Bill and Akshat discuss the message and significance of these essays in a time when the risks of a warming planet loom large, especially for generations that will live through it this century.
Akshat writes for Bloomberg about people and their ideas for tackling climate change. Previously, he was a senior reporter at Quartz and a science editor at The Conversation. He has also worked for The Economist and the Royal Society of Chemistry.Akshat has a PhD in organic chemistry from the University of Oxford and a degree in chemical engineering from the Institute of Chemical Technology in Mumbai.
He was a 2018 participant in the Columbia Energy Journalism Initiative, a program at the Center on Global Energy Policy that helps energy journalists deepen their understanding of complex topics associated with energy and environmental issues.
This episode originally aired on October 20th, 2020.
From California wildfires and Gulf Coast hurricanes to flooding in China and Pakistan, the impacts of climate change have grown increasingly evident. And whether it is agricultural workers, low-income and minority communities, or the world’s poorest in the Global South, the severe inequities in who bears the burden of climate change as well as in air and water pollution is also receiving growing recognition.
In this episode of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Jason Bordoff is joined by one of the leading reporters today writing about the links between a warming planet and such issues as race, conflict, natural disasters, and big tech: Somini Sengupta.
Somini is the international climate reporter for The New York Times. A George Polk Award-winning foreign correspondent, she previously worked in other capacities at The New York Times as its United Nations correspondent, West Africa Bureau Chief, and South Asia Bureau Chief.
She spoke about the critical role journalists play in telling the stories that help illuminate how climate change affects families and workers around the world.
Last week, the UN Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change released its new climate science report. The report is a blistering reminder that even if we stop burning fossil fuels today, the planet is locked into decades of warming and adverse climate outcomes.
On this show, Host Bill Loveless interviews Climate Scientist Dr. Kate Marvel for her interpretation of the report’s conclusions. She’s a Research Scientist at the Center For Climate Systems Research at Columbia University and a scientist at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
Kate doesn’t have “hope” that we can slow climate change and transition away from fossil fuels, but she has something she says is better: Certainty that we have knowledge, tools and technology we need today to start decarbonizing rapidly.
The Biden Administration has promised that 40% of its investments in clean energy will go into disadvantaged communities that experience the worst impacts of the changing climate. But as they work to make good on these promises, there are questions about how Biden’s team will execute.
In this episode, host Jason Bordoff speaks with Heather McTeer Toney about what true climate justice should look like. She’s a former Mississippi Mayor, Obama EPA Regional Administrator and now a Climate Justice Liaison for the Environmental Defense Fund and Senior Advisor to Moms Clean Air Force.
They spoke about what it will take to elevate black and brown voices in climate policy. The conversation also touched on the massive infrastructure bill making its way through Congress, which will have a material impact on how energy systems, industry, roads, and transit are built in frontline communities.
Fossil fuel companies are under pressure from shareholders, citizens and the courts to shift their business models to reduce emissions or face huge financial consequences. There are now more than 1,500 large corporations with net-zero emission pledges, including one-quarter of the S&P 500.
In today’s episode, host Bill Loveless speaks with Mindy Lubber — President and CEO of CERES, a sustainability nonprofit that pushes private companies to integrate the risks associated with climate change into their business strategies.
They spoke about the changes happening in the market and inside boardrooms, and whether any of it is happening fast enough.
The global offshore wind industry is booming as China and Europe break records for the size and scope of their projects.
The US wind industry is a different story. America only has one small commercial project in operation. But states and the federal government are working hard to change that. New York wants to build 9 gigawatts of wind projects off its coast by 2035. And it has awarded contracts to a major developer, Equinor, to build a third of that capacity.
Host Bill Loveless speaks with Richard Kauffman, Chairman of the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) about the future of this energy source. Richard is also an Adjunct Senior Research Scholar at the Center On Global Energy Policy and Chair at Generate Capital. He lays out the legislatives and economic traps as well as the points of promise when it comes to American Offshore Wind.
Record-breaking heat waves in Oregon and Washington State. Wildfires rippling through the West. A looming season of hurricanes.
These weather events take a toll on human life and strain our energy infrastructure.
But to what extent are extreme weather events made worse and more frequent by human-caused climate change?
This week on the podcast, climate scientist and Columbia Professor Adam Sobel speaks with host Jason Bordoff about the latest science behind attributing extreme weather events to the changing climate.
They discuss the limitations and possibilities of this kind of attribution science and why making these connections matters.
In late June, Congress voted to undo former President Trump's rollback of methane regulations that were put in place during the Obama Era.
The move was a major milestone, but federal methane rules are just the beginning, and the battle to curb methane emissions promises big shifts for the entire natural gas industry.
Host Bill Loveless speaks with Cate Hight, Principal at RMI, the Rock Mountain Institute.
They spoke about the technology behind figuring out how much methane is in the atmosphere in the first place and the levers of policy and power that need to be pulled in order to curb emissions.
The fight for climate justice in America presses on with signs of hope after a year of spirited activism and a new president. But the process of untangling the thicket of inequities in the energy system is far from over.
Dr. Robert Bullard is one of the visionary leaders helping to make sense of this moment.
He's known as the "Father of Environmental Justice" and has written 18 books at the intersection of racial justice and the environment.
He speaks with Host Bill Loveless about what it will take to ensure that the Biden Administration's climate plans and appointments are infused with justice principles, including how a progressive climate agenda can reform the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
The lithium-ion battery. The megawatt-scale wind turbine. The crystalline-silicon solar panel.
All popular, scalable low-carbon innovations that enjoy modern commercial success today started as prototypes with promise but lacking in funds, scalability, and widespread support. It takes innovators to bring those ideas out of the lab and into the global markets.
Host Jason Bordoff spoke with one of those innovators. Paul Dabbar is a former undersecretary of science for the U.S. Department of Energy and current CEO of Bohr Quantum Technologies. He’s also currently a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Columbia’s Center on Global Energy Policy.
Their wide-ranging conversation focused on the legislative barriers toward research and development funding for renewable energy projects, the future of nuclear, and the cutting-edge field of quantum networking.
Last year, David Sandalow, Inaugural Fellow at Columbia’s Center on Global Energy Policy, reached out to two prominent scholars.
He asked if they would teach a session about the food system and climate change as part of a course he was teaching.
The connection would lead to the development of the Food Climate Partnership, a collaboration between the Center on Global Energy Policy, the Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP) and New York University.
Host Bill Loveless speaks with the two scholars whose appearance in David’s classroom spawned the project, NYU Professor Matthew Hayek and NASA Scientist Cynthia Rosenzweig.
They speak about the carbon costs of global food production and how we can redirect our agriculture systems in a cleaner, greener direction.
This week, we're pleased to hand the microphone over to our colleague: Dr. Melissa Lott.
Melissa is the director of research here at the Columbia Center on Global Energy Policy. And for the last few months, she and her team have been working on a new podcast, called The Big Switch.
It’s a five-part series about how to clean up the energy system -- told in a clear, understandable and fun way.
We are offering you the first episode of The Big Switch, right now. So I hope you’ll give it a listen and subscribe to the podcast on Apple, Spotify, and any other place you get podcasts.
Congress has huge sums of money on the table for climate action, much of it contained within a $2 trillion dollar infrastructure plan. The bill would provide historic investments in electric vehicles, grid modernization, and renewable energy.
But a ceaseless struggle for bipartisanship threatens the bill and other types of climate legislation. Its success hinges on a small group of moderate Senators with a track record of reaching across the aisle.
Will they cast the votes that are necessary, or will party politics sabotage the push for meaningful climate action?
Today on the show, Bill Loveless is joined by Maine Senator Angus King.
Senator King is part of a small group of powerful moderates. He spends his time in the Senate actively working with Democrats and Republicans in search of climate compromise.
Senator King is a founding member of the Senate Climate Solutions Caucus and a Member of three prominent committees -- energy, intelligence, and armed services.
We spoke with the Senator about the state of play for climate and energy legislation.
In this final installment of conversations from the Center on Global Energy Policy’s recent annual Global Energy Summit, host Jason Bordoff is joined by Bernard Looney, CEO of bp, to discuss bp’s planned transformation from an oil and gas company to an integrated energy company, a little more than one year into the strategy. Jason and Bernard talk through the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the company and energy markets, what the new strategy means in practice, and what bp’s portfolio will look like in the future.
Bernard Looney is Chief Executive Officer of bp, and has been with the company for 3 decades. He started off as a drilling engineer, and then later, oversaw BP’s oil and gas exploration, development, and production activities worldwide before taking the helm last year.
Continuing with conversations from the Center on Global Energy Policy’s recent annual Global Energy Summit, in this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Jason Bordoff is joined by Gina McCarthy, National Climate Advisor at the White House to discuss the Biden Administration’s climate agenda.
Jason and Gina talk through the Biden administration’s nationally determined contribution (NDC), the measures the Administration will prioritize to deliver those results, whether it can secure bipartisan support for related infrastructure investments, and how Washington will encourage large-scale deployment of zero-carbon energy and cushion the impact on workers in legacy industries.
Gina is the first National Climate Advisor—the president's chief advisor on domestic climate policy—and leads the White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy. Previously, she served as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency and then as President and CEO of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). She has been at the forefront of environmental and public health issues for over three decades, at the state and federal levels, and for both Republican and Democratic elected officials.
Last week, the Center on Global Energy Policy held its annual Global Energy Summit, which featured an all-star cast of energy leaders, policymakers and experts speaking on the most pressing energy and climate issues we face today. This year, in a virtual setting, speakers hailed from every corner of the world including Africa, South Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Latin America, and North America. In the weeks to come, a few of those conversations will be shared in podcast form.
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Jason Bordoff is joined by Dr. Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency, who discussed key findings from the Agency’s groundbreaking new report on pathways to creating a global net-zero energy economy by 2050.
Dr. Fatih Birol has served as Executive Director of the International Energy Agency since September 2015, has been at the IEA for a quarter century, and is widely recognized as one of the foremost global figures in the energy world. He is also chair of the World Economic Forum’s Energy Advisory Board and serves on the U.N. Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Sustainable Energy for All. Before the IEA, Dr. Birol worked at the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in Vienna. He earned a BSc degree in power engineering from the Technical University of Istanbul and received an MSc and PhD in energy economics from the Technical University of Vienna.
Last week, a cyberattack on the Colonial Pipeline system forced the shutdown of one of the nation’s most critical pieces of energy infrastructure, spurring price spikes and panicked buying to fill up tanks. While the pipeline is back up and running, the lasting significance of the Colonial outage--the largest attack on the US energy system in history--should not be overlooked.
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Jason Bordoff is joined by Bob McNally and Adam Segal, leading experts on energy and cybersecurity, respectively, to examine what happened with the Colonial Pipeline system and what lessons should be drawn about the vulnerability and resilience of critical energy infrastructure.
Bob McNally is a Non-Resident Fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy, and the founder and President of the Rapidan Energy Group. From 2001 to 2003, Bob served as the top international and domestic energy adviser on the White House staff. He is the author of the book Crude Volatility, published through the Center on Global Energy Policy book series.
Adam Segal is the Ira A. Lipman chair in emerging technologies and national security, and director of the Digital and Cyberspace Policy program at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). He is the author of the book The Hacked World Order: How Nations Fight, Trade, Maneuver, and Manipulate in the Digital Age. Before coming to CFR, Adam was an arms control analyst for the China Project at the Union of Concerned Scientists. He has been a visiting scholar at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Center for International Studies, the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, and Tsinghua University in Beijing.
It’s been quite a tumultuous year for the oil and gas industry, from a historic pandemic that sent oil prices crashing to growing pressure and urgency for companies to align their strategies with the world’s escalating climate ambitions. Occidental Petroleum is one of those companies, which has faced those challenges and more, including how to manage the high profile acquisition of Anadarko shortly before the pandemic struck.
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Jason Bordoff is joined by the person navigating Occidental Petroleum through this period, its CEO, Vicki Hollub, who has been CEO since 2016. Vicki recently said Oxy would become not just an oil company but a carbon management company, and Jason asked her about that and more when they spoke a few days ago in front of a live virtual audience at the annual Climate Science and Investment Conference hosted by the Columbia Climate School and the Tamer Center for Social Enterprise at Columbia Business School.
During her 35-year career with Occidental, Vicki has held a variety of management and technical positions on three continents. Vicki started her career working on oil rigs in 1981, after graduating from the University of Alabama. She’s the most senior woman in the oil and gas sector and was the first woman to head a major American oil company.
For years, Washington State has been a battleground over carbon pricing, with advocates of the idea suffering one defeat after another. But that’s no longer the case now that the state legislature has passed a cap-and-trade bill that some supporters say will set the gold standard for addressing climate change in the United States.
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Bill Loveless is joined by Mike Stevens, the Washington State director of The Nature Conservancy, a global environmental organization and one of the key players in the passage of the new Climate Commitment Act.
The bill is designed to reduce Washington State’s carbon emissions to net zero by 2050 through increasingly stringent restrictions on the state’s 100 biggest sources of emissions. They include refiners, gas utilities and Boeing, the world’s largest aerospace company.
If Governor Jay Inslee signs the bill as expected, Washington will become the second state after California with a comprehensive cap-and-trade system.
Once it takes effect in 2023, the Washington measure is forecast to raise $460 million in its first full year and at least $580 million annually by 2040, according to a report in the Seattle Times. That’s money that would be spent on a broad range of activities that include restoration of marine and fresh waters, forest health, renewable energy and public transportation. Some would be set aside to assist workers and low-income residents move to a clean-energy economy.
It’s those plans that prompt supporters of the measure to call it “cap and invest” rather than cap and trade.
Mike has headed the Washington State chapter of the organization since 2012. He brings more than 20 years of experience in conservation, sustainable agriculture and field science to his role as state director. Previously, he was a western sheep rancher and land manager.
Mike and Bill talked about the elements of this new law and how they would work, as well as the political dynamics that enabled success for its supporters after so many setbacks. They also delve into some of the features of this bill that distinguish it from other carbon proposals. Among them is a focus on environmental justice.
President Biden’s Leaders Summit on Climate, which brought together forty world leaders to galvanize efforts by the major economies around the world to tackle climate change, ended on Friday with the United States pledging to reduce its carbon emissions by at least half by 2030, along with pledges from many other countries to reduce emissions as well. Even with the Biden administration’s unequivocal message to the world that America is back when it comes to global climate leadership, numerous challenges lie ahead--from the thorny US-China relationship, to the limits of Biden’s own ability to drive emissions cuts at home with a deeply divided Congress. That’s the difficult task facing Secretary John Kerry and other global climate leaders in the months ahead as they work toward a November United Nations Climate Change Conference that aims to raise ambition among both governments and the private sector.
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Jason Bordoff is joined by David Sandalow to discuss last week’s climate summit and what lies ahead.
David Sandalow is the Inaugural Fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy and co-Director of the Energy and Environment Concentration at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. He founded and directs the Center’s U.S.-China Program and is author of the Guide to Chinese Climate Policy. He has also been a Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Schwarzman Scholars Program at Tsinghua University. David has held many senior government climate posts, including acting Under Secretary and Assistant Secretary of Energy, Assistant Secretary of State and Senior Director on the National Security Council staff.
The importance of diversity in energy finance is gaining attention as more investors look closer at how companies are stacking up when it comes to the representation of women and minorities on their boards of directors and in their management ranks.
And it is not just the energy sector discovering this trend. It is taking place across corporations in the U.S. and around the world, a point illustrated in a new commentary from the Center on Global Energy Policy.
In this episode of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Bill Loveless joins two of the authors of that commentary, Maria Jelescu, the CEO of Ardinall Investment Management, and Jully Meriño Carela, the director of the Women in Energy (WIE) initiative at CGEP.
Maria also co-chairs the WIE steering committee and serves on the center’s advisory board. She and Jully co-authored the commentary with Amy Myers Jaffe, the managing director of the Climate Policy Lab at Tufts University’s Fletcher School and a co-chair of the WIE steering committee.
In the commentary, the authors make clear that the social aspects of ESG -- or environmental, social and governance considerations -- are front and center now as pressure mounts on energy companies to address the gender and racial makeup of their operations and recognize the value of diversity to them.
The commentary is called “The Social Aspects of ESG Investing: Insights on Diversity in Energy Finance.”
The discussion is particularly timely now amid a new shareholder proxy season, as investors press companies on ESG factors, and the Biden administration signals that closer government scrutiny of these matters may be in order.
Maria founded Ardinall Investment in 2017 as a firm focused on sustainability and climate change solutions. Previously, she spent 15 years at Goldman Sachs in various investment roles. Jully worked in labor and nonprofit fields before joining the Center on Global Energy Policy and taking charge of the Women in Energy initiative. Its mission is to elevate women in the energy sector at all career stages.
The commentary can be found here.
As the first meetings take place between top Biden administration officials and their Chinese counterparts, the U.S. and China are beginning to map out how they plan to engage on climate change. Given diplomatic tensions between the two countries on such issues as trade, technology, and human rights, questions remain about whether the countries can cooperate to address the climate crisis.
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Jason Bordoff is joined by Kelly Sims Gallagher to discuss what both the U.S. and China are doing domestically on climate change, and whether and how their actions may play out as cooperation or competition between the two nations.
Kelly Sims Gallagher is Academic Dean and Professor of Energy and Environmental Policy at The Fletcher School at Tufts University, where she directs the Climate Policy Lab and the Center for International Environment and Resource Policy. She served in the second term of the Obama Administration as a Senior Policy Advisor in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and as Senior China Advisor in the Special Envoy for Climate Change office at the U.S. State Department.
Gallagher is the author of Titans of the Climate (The MIT Press 2018) and The Global Diffusion of Clean Energy Technologies: Lessons from China (MIT Press 2014), and dozens of other articles and book chapters.
There’s much afoot in Washington these days over the prospect of new policies to address climate change and to put the U.S. on more solid footing when it comes to consuming and producing energy. We’ll know more as time goes on as to whether the Biden administration and Congress can reach the difficult agreements necessary to put new policies in place.
Yet, even as we contemplate the possibilities, it’s worth taking a look back at how the U.S. energy policy has evolved over the years, especially during the 1970s, when energy crises roiled energy markets and Washington enacted more energy laws than at any other time.
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Bill Loveless speaks with Jay Hakes, the author of a new book that looks closely at that era. It’s called “Energy Crises: Nixon, Ford and Carter, and Hard Choices in the 1970s.”
Jay is a former head of the U.S. Energy Information Administration and former director of the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library.
In his book, Jay describes events of the 1970s like the long gasoline lines amid the Arab oil embargo and the fall of the shah of Iran, the fuel shortages that closed schools and factories, the military and political tensions in the oil-rich Middle East and the sky-high inflation that wreaked havoc in the nation’s economy.
More to the point, he writes deeply about the perceptions of these events by the men who occupied the White House then, their determination to end U.S. reliance on foreign oil, and their successes and failures to persuade Congress to go along with their energy agendas.
In short, Jay tells us that the 1970s hold a pre-eminent place in the U.S. when it comes to energy, and he reminds us, as well, that actions then set the foundation for today’s energy production and consumption trends.
Innovation takes many forms and all of them are important as the U.S. and other countries look for ways to avoid a catastrophe from climate change. Over the years, the federal government in Washington has been a big contributor to science and technology in energy, the environment and other fields. And that’s likely to continue. But given the immensity of climate change and other challenges, new options for enabling breakthrough technology are important, too.
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Bill Loveless reaches out to someone with a lot of experience with science and engineering in government, the private sector and finance. Arati Prabhakar was the head of the Defense Research Projects Agency at the U.S. Department of Defense, better known as DARPA, during the Obama administration and director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology under President Bill Clinton.
Arati’s family emigrated to the U.S. from India when she was a young girl, and she went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Texas Tech before heading to the California Institute of Technology, where she received a master’s degree in electrical engineering and a Ph.D. in applied physics.
Between her stints in Washington at NIST and DARPA, she moved to Silicon Valley, where she was chief technology officer and senior vice president at Raychem Corp. and then vice president and president of Interval Research. Later, she was a partner with U.S. Venture Partners, an early-stage venture capital firm.
Now, she’s back in Silicon Valley as a founder and the CEO of Actuate, which bills itself as a new kind of nonprofit organization, formed to contribute a fresh approach to society’s critical challenges, like climate change. In short, Arati sees a bigger role for philanthropy to play in addressing climate change.
Bill spoke with Arati about this new approach and why she thinks it fills a gap in public support for science and technology. They also talked about her experience in Washington, which over the years saw the U.S. government try different ways of advancing promising but risky technologies in energy and other fields.
The window of opportunity to stabilize global temperature rise to 1.5°C is closing fast. And yet, recent trends point to an ever-widening gap between where we are and the pathway on which we need to be in order to achieve this target.
Last week’s release of the World Energy Transitions Outlook preview from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) highlighted that gap. It also outlines global strategies towards carbon-neutrality by 2050. The report focuses not only on the end-point, but also what needs to happen now. It looks at the cost outlook for renewables, the suite of other technologies that will be needed as well, and how the transition will unfold differently in different regions of the world.
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Jason Bordoff is joined by Francesco La Camera to discuss the Outlook report and its findings.
Francesco La Camera is the Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). Previously, Mr. La Camera served as Director-General of Sustainable Development, Environmental Damage, EU and International Affairs at the Italian Ministry of Environment, Land & Sea since 2014. He served as co-chair of the Africa Centre for Climate and Sustainable Development established in Rome and co-chaired the Financial Platform for Climate and Sustainable Development. He began his career as an economic analyst at the Italian Ministry of Budget and Planning.
Every piece of our modern life--from the coffee you may have had this morning, to the phone or laptop on which you are listening to this podcast, to the energy that charged it up--is built on the global flow of commodities. Coal, oil, metals, and much more. We don’t give much thought to where they come from or at what cost. But underlying today’s global economy is the secretive world of commodity trading, controlled for decades by a small number of firms led by a handful of billionaires.
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Jason Bordoff is joined by Javier Blas and Jack Farchy, two Bloomberg reporters with decades of experience between them covering energy and commodities, and the authors of the new book The World for Sale: Money, Power and the Traders Who Barter the Earth’s Resources. In The World for Sale, Javier and Jack pull back the curtain on the shadowy world of commodity trading to reveal wild tales of adventure and financial booms, as well as corruption, bribery, and unethical behavior. They show how a small number of commodity trading firms most people have never heard of have shaped global trade, the environment, and the course of geopolitics.
Javier Blas is the Chief Energy Correspondent of Bloomberg. He was previously the Financial Times’ commodities editor and a reporter with the Spanish business daily, Expansion.
Jack Farchy is a Senior Reporter on Energy and Commodities at Bloomberg. He formerly worked as the Moscow and Central Asia Correspondent, and a Commodity Markets Reporter, for the Financial Times.
The challenges of providing reliable and affordable supplies of electricity in the U.S., not to mention cleaner forms of power, have been evident recently with the rash of unusually cold weather in Texas. Millions of Texans were left without power and drinkable water for days as the state’s grid nearly collapsed.
And as worries grow over the frequency and intensity of big storms, the power sector as well as policymakers in Washington and the states are looking more closely at steps needed to assure the reliability of the grid even as climate change makes these events more worrisome.
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Bill Loveless is joined by Lynn Good, the chair, president and CEO of Duke Energy, one of America’s largest energy holding companies, with more than 7 million electric power customers in the Southeast and Midwest and nearly 2 million natural gas customers in five states.
Bill reached Lynn at Duke Energy’s headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina, to talk about the situation in Texas and what it might mean for utilities in other states, as well as her company’s goal of providing electricity with net-zero emissions by 2050, a target well short of the 2035 mark for that achievement set by President Biden and congressional Democrats.
Lynn and Bill touched as well on the similarities and differences in the cleaner-energy positions of the Biden administration and the power sector, and how she thinks the conversation could proceed to find some agreement on policies that would support a carbon-free power sector as soon as possible.
Lynn has been Duke Energy’s CEO since 2013, having served previously as the company’s chief financial officer and a leader of its commercial energy business. She began her utility career in 2003 with Cincinnati-based Cinergy, which merged with Duke Energy three years later. Prior to that, she was a partner at two international accounting firms, including a long career with Arthur Andersen.
Climate change is a top priority for the new Biden administration, starting with a slew of early executive orders signed during President Biden’s first week in office. In this “whole-of-government” approach to climate change, the Department of Energy is a key player not only in policy, but also basic research, commercialization, and deployment of new clean energy technologies which will be critical to get on a pathway to deep decarbonization.
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Jason Bordoff is joined by Dr. Arun Majumdar to discuss the outlook for energy technology and climate policy under the Biden administration.
Dr. Arun Majumdar is a Professor at Stanford University, a faculty member of the Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering and former Director and Senior Fellow of the Precourt Institute for Energy at Stanford University. He served as the Founding Director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E), and also served for a year as the Acting Under Secretary of Energy under President Obama. After leaving Washington, Arun was the Vice President for Energy at Google. He also led the energy agency review team for the Biden-Harris Presidential Transition, which covered the Department of Energy, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Arun received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.
Last week in Texas, millions of people experienced the loss of power during a recording-shattering cold snap and series of winter storms. Pundits and politicians have peddled ideologically driven narratives about what factors and energy sources deserve the blame for the catastrophic and life-threatening cascade of failures. Lawmakers and regulators have called for investigations into why the energy grid failed so miserably, and it will take some time to unpack the causes and consequences of last week’s crisis.
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Jason Bordoff is joined by Cheryl LaFleur and Jesse Jenkins, two experts who have deep expertise in electricity and energy systems, for a deep dive into what we already know and what we don’t know about what happened in Texas.
Cheryl LaFleur is a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Independent System Operator of New England (ISO-NE), the organization that plans and operates the power system and administers wholesale electricity markets for the New England region. Previously, Cheryl was one of the longest-serving commissioners on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), twice serving as its chair.
Jesse Jenkins is an assistant professor at Princeton University with a joint appointment in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and the Andlinger Center for Energy and Environment. He is a macro-scale energy systems engineer and leads a Princeton Lab focused on energy systems modeling to evaluate technology and policy options for net-zero emissions energy systems. He is a coauthor of a recent study from Princeton modeling scenarios to achieve net zero emissions in the US by 2050, which you can read more about in the cover story of this week’s Economist.
Saving energy is something generally seen as a good thing as a matter of public policy and business strategy. But for all its economic and environmental benefits, does saving energy get enough attention from policymakers, especially as a means of addressing climate change? And what more can be done to bring more of those savings to disadvantaged communities?
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Bill Loveless is joined by Paula Glover, the new president of the Alliance to Save Energy, a 43-year-old coalition of business, government, environmental and consumer leaders with a bipartisan reputation for advocating advances in federal energy policy.
Paula has more than 25 years of experience in the energy industry, including 15 years with electric and natural gas distribution companies. Prior to her new job at the Alliance to Save Energy, she was the president and CEO of the American Association of Blacks in Energy, a nonprofit association dedicated to ensuring that African Americans and other minorities have input in the development of energy policy and regulations.
Bill and Paula talked about energy efficiency as a matter of public policy over the years and the potential for more initiatives to save energy under the new Biden administration and Democrat-controlled Congress. Paula made clear that she thinks a lot more could be done to promote energy efficiency as an effective response to climate change and a lucrative source of jobs for those displaced by the transition to cleaner energy.
She also emphasizes the importance of providing underserved populations and people of color with greater access to what she sees as the enormous economic opportunities of energy efficiency.
The commitment to acting on climate change by the Biden administration is attracting much attention, as President Biden outlines his agenda and appoints individuals to carry it out across the government.
But just as important, as they have always been, are steps being taken by states to curb emissions and promote cleaner forms of energy. And no state has been more of a leader on these issues than California.
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Bill Loveless talks to two of the leading energy reporters in California, which has been hard hit by the pandemic even as it copes with wildfires and other environmental disasters made worse by climate change.
Sammy Roth covers energy for the Los Angeles Times and writes the weekly “Boiling Point”. He previously reported for the Desert Sun and USA Today, where he focused on renewable energy, climate change, electric utilities and public lands. He holds a bachelor of arts in sustainable development from Columbia University, where he was the editor in chief of the Columbia Daily Spectator.
J.D. Morris is a business reporter covering PG&E and the coronavirus for the San Francisco Chronicle. Before joining the Chronicle, he was the Sonoma County government reporter for the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, where he was among journalists awarded a Pulitzer Prize for their coverage of the 2017 North Bay wildfires.
Both Sammy and J.D. are past participants in the Energy Journalism Initiative at the Center on Global Energy Policy which helps energy journalists gain a deeper understanding of complex issues associated with the beat. CGEP is now accepting applications from energy journalists for the 2021 EJI seminar in June. More information is available on the CGEP website.
In their conversation, Bill, Sammy and J.D. discuss the impact of the pandemic in California and the implications of it for efforts to address climate change. They also delve into the status of various climate policies undertaken in the Golden State, including its cap-and-trade program and steps taken at the state and local level to promote electric vehicles and restrict installation of natural gas service in new residential and commercial buildings.
President Biden’s first days in office mark a sharp shift in US climate and energy policy, with a slew of executive orders reversing several Trump actions and directing federal agencies to pursue a wide range of new regulations in what’s been framed as “a whole-of-government approach” to the climate crisis. Combined with Democrats now in control of both houses of Congress by the slimmest of majorities, the raft of executive orders raises the question of how climate policy will advance going forward. To what extent will it advance through legislation versus executive action? To what extent will legislative action be on party lines? Will there be opportunities for bipartisan cooperation on climate?
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Jason Bordoff is joined by Rich Powell to discuss what to expect in climate policy moving forward, particularly on the Republican side of the aisle.
Rich Powell is the Executive Director of ClearPath and ClearPath Action, the DC-based organizations developing and advancing conservative policies that accelerate clean energy innovation. Rich frequently testifies before Congress on climate change and energy innovation. He served as a member of the 2019 Advisory Committee to the Export Import Bank of the United States, and is on the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center’s Advisory Group. Previously, Rich was with McKinsey & Company in the Energy and Sustainability practices. He holds a B.A. from Harvard College in Environmental Science and Public Policy, and a J.D. from New York University.
President Biden has quickly followed through on his commitment to address climate change with a series of executive orders aimed at undoing the policies of the Trump administration and appointments across the government to carry out his ambitious agenda. But his plans will also require the approval of Congress to provide the necessary funding and legislative authority.
Given the political divides in Washington, there are plenty of questions about Biden’s ability to win over the new Congress even with his party in charge of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Bill Loveless is joined by Heidi Heitkamp, a former Democratic senator from North Dakota, for some informed insight on the dynamics on Capitol Hill. Senator Heitkamp is known as a middle-of-the-road politician, one who worked with Republicans as well as members of her own party in search of legislative solutions. Among her priorities then and now is a commitment to making sure rural states like North Dakota have a say in national debates over major issues like energy and climate change.
She served in the Senate from 2013 to 2019, and had assignments on the Agriculture, Banking and Homeland Security committees. Earlier in her career, she was an attorney for the Environmental Protection Agency before completing two terms as North Dakota state tax commissioner and two terms as the state’s attorney general. After leaving Congress, she co-founded the One Country Project to reopen rural dialogue between voters and Democrats.
Recently, the Bipartisan Policy Center named Senator Heitkamp co-chair of its new Farm and Forest Carbon Solutions Task Force and the University of Chicago Institute of Politics made her a 2021 Pritzker Fellow.
Among the topics Bill and Senator Heitkamp discuss are the prospects for President Biden’s priorities for funding and legislation to curb greenhouse gas emissions and promote cleaner forms of energy, including new jobs. Bill and Senator Heitkamp also talk about some of her former colleagues in Congress and their potential influence on energy and climate issues, as well as the outlook for oil and natural gas and the potential for emerging technologies like carbon capture and sequestration.
Joe Biden is selecting a large, experienced and diversified team to carry out his ambitious program to address climate change. Among them are John Kerry, the former secretary of state; Gina McCarthy, the former head of the Environmental Protection Agency; Jennifer Granholm, once the governor of Michigan; and Deb Haaland, a member of Congress who would be the first Native American named to a president’s Cabinet.
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Bill Loveless discusses the Biden administration’s climate change goals and his planned appointments with Carol Browner, who spearheaded climate policy for President Barack Obama following his inauguration in 2009.
With a long and distinguished career in environmental and energy policy and regulation at the Environmental Protection Agency and the White House, Carol brings unique insight to the challenges of implementing new policies and the wherewithal that’s needed to make it happen.
Carol now is a senior counselor in the sustainability practice at the Allbright Stonebridge Group, or ASG, where she advises clients on environmental impact, sustainable strategies, and partnerships. But her roles in government go back some 30 years.
From 2009 to 2011, she was an assistant to President Obama and director of the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy, where she oversaw the coordination of environmental, energy, climate, transport and related policy across the federal government. During that time, the White House secured the largest investment ever in clean energy and established a national car policy that included both new fuel efficiency standards and the first-ever greenhouse gas reductions.
From 1993 through 2001, she was administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, where she adopted the most stringent air pollution standards in U.S. history and set for the first time a clean air standard for fine particulates. Her stint at EPA is the longest ever for an administrator at that agency.
She had state experience, as well, having served as secretary of environmental regulation in Florida from 1991 through 1993.
Among her other involvements, she’s the chair of the board of the League of Conservation Voters.
Among the topics that Carol and Bill cover are the challenges the Biden administration faces in fulfilling its sweeping plans to address climate change as well as the roles that his appointments of Kerry, McCarthy and others will play in that undertaking. They also talk about the outlook for congressional action on climate change at a time when Biden and lawmakers will also be consumed with addressing a pandemic and economic troubles, not to mention the repercussions of President Trump’s impeachment.
The attack on the U.S. Capitol may have obscured for the moment the traditional transfer of power that will take place with the inauguration of Joe Biden as president. But even amid the ongoing turmoil in Washington, efforts to set agendas in the new administration and the new Congress on important policy matters, like climate change, continue to take place.
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Bill Loveless turns to two of the most experienced reporters covering energy and climate change: Amy Harder of Axios and Steve Mufson of The Washington Post.
The political climate has changed considerably in recent days. And it’s not only because of the violence on Capitol Hill. Significantly, Democrats will now control the Senate as well as the House of Representatives and the White House.
Bill, Amy and Steve talk about the hostility at the Capitol, which had taken place just a day before their conversation and sets a troubling tone for governance in Washington as the year 2021 begins.
That said, they look at the aggressive plans for energy and climate policy by Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and their options for acting on them quickly. They discuss, as well, the makeup of the new Congress and some of the lawmakers whose impact on policy is likely to be felt.
Regulation comes up, too, especially the potential for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission to step up their oversight of the impacts of climate change.
Amy has been with Axios for four years, with her column, the “Harder Line,” a regular feature of the news service. Previously, she was a reporter at the Wall Street Journal and National Journal.
Steve has worked at The Post since 1989, covering the White House, China, economic policy and diplomacy as well as energy. His current beat is the business of climate change. Earlier, he worked at the Wall Street Journal in New York, London and Johannesburg.
As he talks to these senior reporters, Bill calls attention to the Center on Global Energy Policy’s Energy Journalism Initiative, which gives energy reporters an opportunity to learn more about complex topics associated with the beat, like science, technology, markets and policy, all with an eye toward helping them in their work. Some 80 journalists from the U.S. and abroad have participated in EJI since its inception in 2017, and details of this year's program will be announced soon.
What lies in store for energy and climate policy in the U.S. and other nations in 2021? With a new administration in Washington committed to addressing climate change forcefully and new commitments to reducing emissions by other governments around the world, the potential for making headway on this existential threat seems possible, though significant challenges remain.
In this first edition of Columbia Energy Exchange in 2021, host Bill Loveless is joined by Rachel Kyte, the dean of The Fletcher School at Tufts University. With her distinguished career at the World Bank and the United Nations and now in academia, she’s an ideal guest to help think about what the new year will mean for energy and climate policy not only in the U.S. but also globally.
A 2002 graduate of Fletcher’s Global Master of Arts Program, Dean Kyte returned to the school outside Boston in 2012 as a professor of practice and was named the 14th dean of the Fletcher School in 2019. She’s the first woman to lead the nation’s oldest graduate-only school of international affairs.
Prior to joining Fletcher, Dean Kyte was a special representative of the UN secretary general and chief executive officer of the UN’s Sustainable Energy for All initiative. Before that, she was a vice president and special envoy for climate change at the World Bank.
A native of England, she earned her undergraduate degree in history and politics from the University of London.
In their conversation, Dean Kyte and Bill talk about the increasing risks posed by climate change as we begin 2021 and the challenges facing world leaders, including President-elect Joe Biden, in setting agendas and building public support for emissions reductions. Diplomacy, of course, will matter significantly as the U.S. rejoins the Paris climate agreement, and Dean Kyte offers her insight on how relations among the U.S. and other nations might play out.
They also talk about the state of climate activism today, especially as it pertains to young people, as well as environmental justice and the role of women in energy.
The energy sector is in the midst of historic transformation, including rapid technological progress and declining clean energy costs, growing urgency to address climate change - with the impacts of climate change increasingly evident, rising headwinds for the oil and gas sector, the short- and long-term impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, and growing ambition to address climate change with more countries, financial institutions, and corporations announcing long-term net zero emissions targets. That even includes some oil and gas companies, and among those announcing the most ambitious long term goals has been BP.
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Jason Bordoff is joined by Spencer Dale, BP’s group chief economist, to discuss the outlook for the energy sector, the impact of the pandemic on it, BP’s corporate strategy shift, and more. Spencer is responsible for the annual BP Energy Outlook, which tries to make sense of where the energy sector is in the midst of the pandemic, and where it might be headed in different scenarios.
Prior to this role, Spencer served as executive director for financial stability at the Bank of England and was a member of its Financial Policy Committee. Between 2008 and 2014, Spencer was chief economist of the Bank of England and a member of the Monetary Policy Committee.
President-elect Joe Biden is poised to implement an ambitious climate change agenda across the federal government, encompassing domestic to foreign policy.
A team of former high-level Obama administration officials and experts recently released a 300-page blueprint called the Climate 21 Project, which is intended to lay out a path for the incoming Biden administration to deliver a whole-of-government approach to climate change and a climate policy response starting on Inauguration Day.
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Jason Bordoff is joined by Christy Goldfuss, co-chair of the Climate 21 Project along with Duke University’s Tim Profeta, to talk about the findings of the project as well as what Biden’s climate agenda will look like more broadly, what would be possible with a presumably divided congress, her career across public lands, the environmental movement, and climate change, and what she’s doing now at the Center for American Progress.
Christy Goldfuss is the Senior Vice President for Energy and Environment Policy at the Center for American Progress. She previously served as managing director of the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) during the Obama administration.
Prior to her work at CEQ, Christy was the deputy director of the National Park Service. She also worked on the legislative staff of the House Committee on Natural Resources, and previously worked as a television news reporter. She obtained her undergraduate degree in political science from Brown University.
Philanthropy has a unique and critical role to play in tackling the climate crisis, with the potential to increase global ambition, create new climate solutions, innovate new technologies, scale proven mitigation strategies, and drive collaboration between the public and private sector.
But there are many different theories of change in the advocacy community. There are different views about the role of technology, how to integrate correcting historical racial and equity injustices into climate action, and how to build political support to drive policy change.
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Jason Bordoff is joined by Jane Flegal to discuss the governance, science and decision-making processes needed to unlock climate action and new innovation.
Jane Flegal is a Program Officer in the Environment program at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, where she leads U.S. grantmaking to combat climate change and support a clean energy transition. Jane previously served as a senior program officer for the environment program at The Bernard and Anne Spitzer Charitable Trust in New York. She has been a policy analyst, published academic research, and taught and lectured in universities.
Jane holds a doctorate in environmental science, policy, and management from the University of California, Berkeley and a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies from Mount Holyoke College.
With a population of 1.4 billion people and one of the fastest growing economies in the world, India is crucial to the future of global energy markets and climate change - and coal is fueling much of that economic growth in India. Coal is the most carbon-intensive fossil fuel and is responsible for more than 40 percent of energy-related global carbon emissions. Over the next five years, India’s coal demand is expected to grow more than that of any other country in the world. In short, there’s no pathway to global decarbonization that does not include meaningfully changing the trajectory of India’s current and projected coal use.
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Jason Bordoff is joined by Dr. Rahul Tongia, author of the new book “Future of Coal in India: Smooth Transition or Bumpy Road Ahead?” to help shed light on that very subject.
Dr. Rahul Tongia is a Senior Fellow with the Centre for Social and Economic Progress in New Delhi, where he leads its Energy, Natural Resources, and Sustainability group. He is also a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, and Adjunct Professor at Carnegie Mellon University. He was the founding Technical Advisor for the Government of India’s Smart Grid Task Force. He holds a PhD in Engineering and Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University and a Bachelor's in Electrical Engineering from Brown University.
You can read Dr. Tongia's blog post about his book here.
What lies in store for buildings, transportation and electric power as we make the transition to a lower-carbon society? And how prepared will we be to adapt to changes in technology that sometimes seem faster than the speed of light?
In this episode of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Bill Loveless talks to Roger Duncan and Michael E. Webber, the authors of a new book that explores how automation, artificial intelligence and other groundbreaking technologies will change the buildings we occupy, the vehicles we travel in and the electric grid that we rely on to power it all. Aptly, it’s called “The Future of Buildings, Transportation and Power.”
Roger and Michael start with a look at the basic principles shaping our future infrastructure, and then describe how buildings, transportation and the power grid will evolve into sentient-appearing machines. And that’s not all! They also explore what they say it will be like to live, work and move about inside robots. “Think of it, if you like, as a magical journey,” they say.
Roger is the former manager of Austin Energy, the municipal utility for Austin, Texas, recognized as a leader in renewable energy, energy efficiency and smart-grid activities. Previously, he served in various manager roles for Austin Energy and the City of Austin. He was elected twice to the Austin City Council.
Michael is the chief science and technology officer for Engie, a global energy and infrastructure services firm headquartered in Paris, as well as the Josey Centennial Professor in Energy Resources at the University of Texas at Austin. His previous books include “Power Trip: The Story of Energy,” published in 2019 and made into a documentary series for the U.S. public broadcaster PBS in 2020.
Bill reached Roger in Austin and Michael in Paris to talk about the new book, including:
- What new light they shed on the outlook for buildings, transportation and power;
- What they mean when they say “in the future we will be living, working, and moving about inside robots”;
- Why political and policy change moves slower than technological change, and how this mismatch can inhibit progress; and
- What impact the pandemic will have on the pace of change.
The clean energy transition in the U.S. and around the world will require major infrastructure build-outs of all kinds: power lines for renewables, offshore wind, battery storage, pipelines for CO2, hydrogen, port infrastructure, and much more. What investments are needed, how and when they will play out, what’s the role of government vs. private sector--all of this will look different in different parts of the world.
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Jason Bordoff is joined by Matthew Harris to discuss what capital allocation and clean technology infrastructure is needed to support a new era of decarbonization.
Matthew is a founding partner of Global Infrastructure Partners, one of the world’s largest infrastructure investors which currently manages $70 billion in assets. Prior to the formation of Global Infrastructure Partners in 2006, Matthew was a Managing Director in the Investment Banking Department at Credit Suisse, where he was Co-Head of the Global Energy Group. He’s a graduate of UCLA, serves as a member of the World Wildlife Fund Board of Directors, and also helps lead the work of CGEP as the chairman of the board.
From California wildfires and Gulf Coast hurricanes to flooding in China and Pakistan, the impacts of climate change have grown increasingly evident this year. And whether it is agricultural workers, low-income and minority communities, or the world’s poorest in the Global South, the severe inequities in who bears the burden of climate change as well as in air and water pollution is also receiving growing recognition. Journalists play a critical role in telling the stories that help illuminate how climate change affects families and workers around the world.
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Jason Bordoff is joined by one of the leading reporters today writing about the links between a warming planet and such issues as race, conflict, natural disasters, and big tech: Somini Sengupta at The New York Times.
Somini is the international climate reporter for The New York Times. A George Polk Award-winning foreign correspondent, she previously worked in other capacities at The New York Times as its United Nations correspondent, West Africa bureau chief, and South Asia bureau chief. Somini has covered nine conflicts, including Darfur, Iraq, Syria and Sri Lanka. In 2016, she wrote a book called The End Of Karma about the exploding youth population in India and what that might mean for the future of India and the world. She grew up in India, Canada and the United States, graduating from the University of California at Berkeley.
The energy sector landscape is experiencing profound change, complexity and uncertainty--from the impacts of Covid-19 on the global economy and the prospect of reaching peak oil demand, to a rapidly rising recognition of the urgency of combating climate change and accelerated investments in low-carbon technologies. The United Arab Emirates is at the center of these shifts, both as a major Middle Eastern producer of oil and gas but also as an investor in new emerging technologies and low-carbon energy sources.
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Jason Bordoff is joined by Musabbeh Al Kaabi, Chief Executive Officer of the Petroleum & Petrochemicals platform at Mubadala, a sovereign investment firm in Abu Dhabi. Jason and Musabbeh discuss what sectors and regions a company like Mubadala is prioritizing in its investment decisions, particularly in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and ambitious regional and corporate carbon policy commitments.
Prior to his current role, Musabbeh was the CEO of Mubadala Petroleum, Mubadala’s exploration and production company, from 2014 to 2017. Musabbeh holds a degree in Geophysical Engineering from Colorado School of Mines and a Master of Science in Petroleum Geoscience from Imperial College, London.
The offshore wind energy industry is on the cusp of breaking out in the U.S., with the government anticipating 2,000 turbines with 22 gigawatts of capacity in federal waters in the Atlantic Ocean over 10 years.
In this episode of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Bill Loveless is joined by Thomas Brostrøm, whose company is a leader in the industry around the world. Thomas is the president of Ørsted North America and CEO for Ørsted U.S. Offshore Wind. He joined Bill from Boston to talk about plans that Ørsted Energy has to build wind farms in waters up and down the U.S. East Coast.
All told, Ørsted has 10 offshore wind farms in the U.S., including ones in Rhode Island and Virginia that are the first to operate in this country.
Throughout the world, Ørsted has built more offshore wind farms than any other developer. By 2022, it expects to expand its offshore wind capacity to nearly 10 gigawatts, with projects in the U.S., Europe and Asia.
This from a business once known as Danish Oil and Gas Company. Thomas and Bill talk about the transition that Ørsted has undergone in recent years and whether it serves as a model for other fossil fuel companies looking to move into greener forms of energy.
They also look at the policy and economic factors promoting investments in U.S. offshore wind by Ørsted and other companies, the economic development that could accompany the industry’s emergence here, and the challenges it faces in moving ahead.
Prior to joining Ørsted, Thomas was in the investment banking and venture capital business.
Building a low-carbon future will bring significant change to the U.S. economy, especially to employment as alternative forms of energy increasingly take hold. And to go smoothly, that transition will require sound public policy and public support.
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Bill Loveless talks to Richard Trumka, the president and CEO of the AFL-CIO, and former U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, the president and CEO of the Energy Futures Initiative. Earlier this year, their organizations formed the Labor Energy Partnership to promote energy policies that promote economic, racial and gender equity based on quality jobs and the preservation of workers’ rights, all the while addressing the growing climate crisis.
In exclusive podcast discussion, President Trumka and Secretary Moniz explain a new report by the Labor Energy Partnership that lays out the opportunities and pitfalls of such sweeping changes in the economy. The report, called “Energy Transitions: The Framework for Good Jobs in a Low-CarbonFuture,” makes the case that this industrial transition is both different from those in the past and urgently needed because of the existential threat of climate change.
The report opens by acknowledging that industrial transitions have rarely been smooth. In fact, it notes they have been typically marked by community and worker dislocations with significant regional disparities, disproportionate impacts on minority communities, and fraying of existing social institutions.
The AFL-CIO is the largest federation of unions in the U.S., and the Energy Futures Initiative is a Washington-based non-profit dedicated to promoting a clean-energy future.
Richard Trumka was elected president of the AFL-CIO in 2009 after having served as secretary treasurer of the federation since 1995. Previously, he was president of the United Mine Workers from 1982 to 1995.
Ernest Moniz founded the Energy Futures Initiative in 2017. He is also the co-chair and CEO of the Nuclear Threat Initiative. Dr. Moniz was the U.S. energy secretary from 2013 to 2017 and an under secretary at the U.S. Department of Energy from 1997 to 2001.
A long-time member of the faculty at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he was also founding director of the MIT Energy Initiative.
In his latest book, The New Map: Energy, Climate, and the Clash of Nations,” noted energy historian Daniel Yergin captures a screenshot of the energy world as it stands in 2020, both in the shifting balance and rising tensions among nations, and in the dramatic reshaping of global energy supplies and flows. Understanding how geopolitics and energy interact is no easy feat, as even before this year’s coronavirus-induced shock to the global energy markets, the landscape was already being rapidly transformed by such factors as the American-led shale revolution, a new cold war between the United States and Russia, deep tensions in the U.S.-China relationship, the Middle East’s own reckoning with the energy transition, and of course, the urgent challenge of climate change.
Daniel Yergin is a highly respected authority on energy, international politics, and economics. His classic book, The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money and Power, became a bestseller, won a Pulitzer Prize, and put Dr. Yergin on the map as one of the world’s leading thinkers on energy and its vast geopolitical and economic implications. In decades since, Dan has continued to chronicle the global energy system. Going back to Shattered Peace, his first book, his writings from The Prize, updated in 20008, to The Quest and many others have provided the historical perspective for understanding many of today’s energy and security challenges.
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Jason Bordoff is joined by Dr. Yergin to discuss his new book and what's ahead for energy geopolitics and the energy transition.
Daniel Yergin is vice chairman of IHS Markit and co-founder of Cambridge Energy Research Associates. Daniel received the United States Energy Award for “lifelong achievements in energy and the promotion of international understanding,” and the U.S. Department of Energy awarded him the first James Schlesinger Medal for Energy Security.
Dr. Yergin is a director of the Council on Foreign Relations and a senior trustee of the Brookings Institution. He is a member of the National Petroleum Council, a director of the United States Energy Association, and of the US-Russia Business Council. He is a member of the Advisory Boards of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Energy Initiative and of the Columbia University Center on Global Energy Policy and of Singapore’s International Energy Advisory Board. Dr. Yergin holds a BA from Yale University, where he founded The New Journal, and a PhD from Cambridge University, where he was a Marshall Scholar.
For the first time in nearly 20 years, California experienced rolling blackouts in August as record high temperatures placed unusual stress on the state’s electric power grid. The inconvenience to millions of Californians raised questions about the reliability of the grid as the state implements aggressive policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through greater reliance on solar and wind power and other cleaner energy solutions.
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Bill Loveless reached out to Cheryl LaFleur, a former chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and a distinguished visiting fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy, for her take on the blackouts, which she wrote about in an op-ed in “State of the Planet,” an online blog at Columbia University’s Earth Institute.
They talk about what caused the blackouts during the weekend of August 14, when an extreme heat wave blanketed California and other western states, as well as how they compared to the last such occurrences during the California energy crisis of 2001.
In short, Cheryl says, the problem isn’t California’s solar and wind systems, which operated just as they were supposed to do, but rather the state’s failure to make sure there were other energy resources to meet peak demands for electricity – especially for air conditioning to cope with the heat – when the sun wasn’t shining and the wind wasn’t blowing. Adding to the difficulty is California’s preference to control its own power market rather than participate in a regional market, she says.
Bill and Cheryl discuss that as well as the political fall-out from the blackouts, with critics of the state’s climate policies claiming those measures risk the reliability of the California grid, while supporters of those policies saying they’re as necessary as ever to combat climate change.
Of course, with California and much of the rest of the Pacific Northwest suffering from a record spree of wildfires, there’s no avoiding talking about the magnitude of climate-related catastrophes occurring now and the extent to which they affect efforts to transition to cleaner, reliable forms of energy.
Cheryl was one of the longest-serving members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, nominated by President Obama in 2010 and serving until 2019. She was the chairman from 2014-15 and acting chairman from 2013-14 and in 2017.
Earlier, she had more than 20 years of experience as a leader in the electric and natural gas industry, including serving as executive vice president and acting CEO of National Grid USA.
The oil and natural gas sectors have been reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic and its devastating impact on demand for fuels, and that includes liquefied natural gas. U.S. LNG exports fell from a record high of 8 billion cubic feet a day in January to 3.1 BCF a day in July, prompting some new projects to postpone final investment decisions.
Among them was Tellurian, a Houston-based company co-founded in 2016 by a U.S. LNG pioneer, Charif Souki.
In this episode of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Bill Loveless is joined by Charif to get his take on this latest challenge for the U.S. LNG sector. After all, he’s seen this business grow from the start, having founded Cheniere Energy, the largest U.S. LNG exporter, back in 1996, before moving on to Tellurian.
Bill and Charif talked about the circumstances leading to the decline in LNG trade this year and the outlook for a recovery. Interestingly, Charif acknowledged that he’s been surprised by some developments.
They also touched on the fundamental changes in LNG trade, especially involving how the commodity is priced now, as well as on the implications for LNG of the closer scrutiny that natural gas is getting because of its greenhouse gas emissions.
Tellurian’s proposed Driftwood LNG project near Lake Charles, Louisiana, would cost more than $27 billion, including pipelines to deliver natural gas to the export facility. The project has all the required permitting to begin construction, but Tellurian has put off a final investment decision until 2021 in light of the market turmoil this year.
Charif is the executive chairman of Tellurian’s board. He also serves on the advisory board of the Center on Global Energy Policy. He received a B.A. from Colgate University and an MBA from Columbia.
2020 has been a historic year in energy markets, with a dramatic price crash caused by a collapse in economic activity resulting from the pandemic. In recent weeks, major oil and gas companies around the world have been reporting their worst quarterly results in history and seem to be positioning themselves for prolonged pain still to come. Yet we have also seen several companies reaffirm commitments to a net-zero carbon future by 2050, and we continue to have rising concern and evidence of the tangible impacts of climate change around the world. This all raises the question of whether the pandemic will be an accelerator or decelerator of the energy transition, and how leading oil and gas companies are responding to today’s uncertain and challenging environment.
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Jason Bordoff is joined by Mario Mehren, who leads the largest independent oil and gas company in Europe.
Mario Mehren is the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Wintershall Dea. He was previously responsible for the company’s activities in Exploration and Production in Russia, North Africa and South Africa. Before joining Wintershall, Mario worked as a specialist adviser in the BASF Group’s Corporate Finance Department before becoming the Head of Finance and Accounting at BASF Schwarzheide and later its Managing Director of Finance and Administration. Mario studied business administration at Saarland University in Saarbrüken.
Politics is critical to understanding the development of climate policy in the United States, particularly the interest groups influencing the process and the feedback that new laws and regulations experience once they have been enacted.
That’s what political scientist Leah Stokes tells us in her new book, “Short Circuiting Policy,” whose subtitle is “Interest Groups and the Battle Over Clean Energy and Climate Policy in the American States.”
In this episode of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Bill Loveless talks with Leah about her book and its look at climate policies in different states. The discussion is particularly timely now in the aftermath of a scandal in Ohio, one of the states she writes about in the book.
Bill and Leah delve into the situation in Ohio, where an FBI investigation involving a state law providing aid to struggling nuclear and coal power plants led to the arrest of a prominent state legislator and others in an alleged bribery scheme.
They also discuss the ebb and flow of climate policies in states as utilities and other interest groups vie over proposals to implement policies that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.
Leah is an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and affiliated with the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management and the Environmental Studies Department at UC, Santa Barbara.
She completed her PhD in public policy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning and a master’s degree from MIT’s Political Science Department. Before that, she earned an MPA in environmental science and policy at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and the Earth Institute, as well as a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology and East Asian studies at the University of Toronto.
She’s also worked at the Canadian Parliament and the think tank Resources for the Future.
Despite much progress in meeting the ambitious goal of attaining universal access to sustainable and modern energy, nearly 800 million people still lack access to electricity. Even more lack access to clean cooking fuels. This has serious health, gender, economic, and climate consequences -- and those are especially evident during this pandemic when access to basic health and safety protocols, medical services and clean water is hampered in many parts of the world.
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Jason Bordoff is joined by one of the world’s leaders responsible for addressing this crisis, Damilola Ogunbiyi. She is CEO and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All and Co-Chair of UN-Energy.
Special Representative Ogunbiyi previously served as the first female Managing Director of the Nigerian Rural Electrification Agency. In a prior role, Damilola worked in the Federal Government of Nigeria’s Office of the Vice President as Senior Special Assistant to the President on Power and Head of the Advisory Power Team. Damilola was also the first female to be appointed as General Manager of the Lagos State Electricity Board. She first entered public service as the Senior Special Assistant to the Lagos State Governor on Public-Private Partnerships, and prior to her appointment, she was a consultant for the United Kingdom Department for International Development on public-private partnerships.
Young people around the world are speaking out increasingly about the dangers of climate change and taking actions, too, to reduce the risks of global warming in their lifetimes.
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Bill Loveless talks with Akshat Rathi, the editor of a new book called "United We Are Unstoppable," a collection of essays by 60 young people about their determination to save the world from climate change.
The book is a stirring collection of stories about the impacts of climate change that are already taking place or are likely to do so in the future from activists, many of them from developing countries where the results of global warming often go unnoticed.
Bill and Akshat discuss this new book, the message it sends and its significance at a time when the risks of climate change loom large, especially for generations that will live through it this century.
Based in London, Akshat writes for Bloomberg about people and their ideas for tackling climate change. Previously, he was a senior reporter at Quartz and a science editor at The Conversation. He has also worked for The Economist and the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Akshat has a PhD in organic chemistry from the University of Oxford and a degree in chemical engineering from the Institute of Chemical Technology in Mumbai. He was a 2018 participant in the Columbia Energy Journalism Initiative, a program at the Center on Global Energy Policy that helps energy journalists deepen their understanding of complex topics associated with energy and environmental issues.
Long a leader in progressive climate change legislation, the European Union doubled down on those ambitions this week as it pushed forward a groundbreaking green stimulus package to revive its pandemic-ravaged economies. On July 21, 2020, EU leaders reached agreement, subject to ratification by the European Parliament and national legislatures, on their new green stimulus, a package entitled Next Generation EU. This package will make fighting climate change central to Europe’s recovery, with large sums earmarked for green investments and carbon reduction goals. There remains disagreement about the package and criticism from some member states that are heavily dependent on hydrocarbons, as well as from some environmentalists who say it doesn't go far enough. At the end of last week, the EU parliament approved a non-binding resolution criticizing the deal.
On this episode of the Columbia Energy Exchange, host Jason Bordoff is joined by someone who has been at the forefront of the EU’s response, Executive Vice President of the European Commission in Charge of the European Green Deal, Frans Timmermans. Frans Timmermans is a Dutch politician and diplomat who has served as First Vice President of the European Commission since 2014. Since December 2019, he has served as the Executive Vice President of the European Commission for the European Green Deal and simultaneously as the European Commissioner for Climate Action. He was previously Minister of Foreign Affairs and State Secretary for Foreign Affairs for the Netherlands. Earlier in his career, he was a member of the Dutch House of Representatives for the Labour Party and a civil servant in the diplomatic service of the Netherlands before becoming active in politics.
What policies help stimulate economic activity, can be done in a reasonably quick timeframe, and also help address climate change? They discuss what's included in the Next Generation EU package and what the deal might mean for carbon reduction, climate change and economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, both in the EU and around the world.
In the last few weeks, we've seen numerous events with implications for how to think about the twin challenges of developing the energy resources we need while also protecting our public lands, curbing climate change, and protecting the environment. There have been setbacks for three major U.S. pipeline projects, all rooted in flaws that courts found in environmental review processes; a new announcement by President Trump about a “top to bottom overhaul” of the nation’s environmental review process, a cornerstone of the landmark environmental law President Nixon signed half a century ago; and ambitious new plans announced by Vice President Biden to dramatically increase clean energy investments.
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Jason Bordoff is joined by David J. Hayes to discuss what all these changes might mean for energy infrastructure projects on federal lands moving forward, along with other issues like what’s next for clean energy and climate policy, how states are responding to the Trump administration’s recent environmental rollbacks, and much more.
David J. Hayes is an environmental, energy and natural resources lawyer who leads the State Energy and Impact Center at the NYU School of Law, which supports state attorneys general in their advocacy for clean energy, climate and environmental laws and policies. David previously served as the Deputy Secretary at the U.S. Department of the Interior for President Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. He’s also been a visiting lecturer at Stanford Law School, is a member of the board of the Coalition for Green Capital, and is founder of the U.S. Wildlife Trafficking Alliance. Earlier in his career, he worked in private law practice as global chair of the Environment, Land and Resources Department at Latham & Watkins.
To one extent or another, governments around the world are trying to decide how to recover from the economic devastation of the coronavirus pandemic, and that includes measures that might also minimize the risks of climate change. In the U.S., those discussions are increasingly reflecting acknowledgement of racial and environmental justice.
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Bill Loveless is joined by Justin Worland, Time magazine’s reporter covering energy, the environment and climate. Justin spoke with Bill as Time is out with a new double issue largely dedicated to climate change.
Justin wrote the cover story headlined “One Last Chance: The Defining Year for the Planet.” He also filed another piece for this edition called “Why the Larger Climate Movement is Finally Embracing the Fight Against Environmental Racism.”
Bill and Justin talk about what makes 2020 so important for addressing climate change. In fact, Justin writes that this year may be the most pivotal yet in the fight against climate change.
In his second piece, Justin recalls a fire at a Philadelphia refinery in 2019 in explaining why environmental racism is getting more attention amid much broader protests over systemic racism in America.
Bill and Justin also touch on coverage of these issues now and in the past, and the challenges the pandemic presents for Justin and other reporters trying to cover events first hand.
Justin joined Time in 2014. He graduated Harvard University with a bachelor’s degree in history.
A new report from Democrats on the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis calls for comprehensive actions by the U.S. Congress to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. as quickly as possible, make communities more resilient to climate change, and build a durable and equitable clean energy economy.
Called “Solving the Climate Crisis: The Congressional Action Plan for a Clean Energy Economy and a Healthy, Resilient and Just America,” the 550-page report contains hundreds of recommendations. Some call it the most far-reaching report on climate change to ever appear on Capitol Hill.
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Bill Loveless reached the chair of the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, Rep. Kathy Castor, a Florida Democrat, soon after the report was released by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Castor. It was the second appearance on Columbia Energy Exchange by Rep. Castor, who first sat down with Bill last fall when the committee was still gathering material for the report.
Among the report's specific goals are 100% net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and net negative emissions in the second half of the century. The report would also require a clean energy standard for the electric power sector; a standard to ensure that all light duty vehicles sold by 2035 are zero emission; and similar emission requirements for all new commercial and residential construction by 2030.
It comes after a year of hearings, meetings, research and other actions by the panel to come up with a comprehensive climate strategy. Originally due to be released earlier this year, the report was postponed because of the pandemic.
In their latest discussion, Bill and Rep. Castor talk about the report’s recommendations and the outlook for action on it in Washington at a time when the U.S. is struggling with a pandemic, protests over racial inequality and an economic downturn, not to mention a national election in the fall.
Ever since Thomas Edison lit up lower Manhattan in 1882, New York has long been at the forefront of many energy and environmental issues, and that remains true today. New York recently adopted groundbreaking targets to decarbonize the state’s electricity, and eventually its entire energy system. This comes on the heels of an innovative set of regulatory initiatives to modernize and decarbonize New York’s electric grid, called Reforming the Energy Vision, led by Richard Kauffman, now an Adjunct Senior Research Scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy. As the Cuomo administration emerges from the hardest-hit days of the COVID-19 pandemic, questions remain as to how the state plans to achieve these ambitious goals and perhaps show the rest of the nation what a pathway to decarbonization might look like.
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Jason Bordoff is joined by Ali Zaidi, Chairman of Climate Policy and Finance and Deputy Secretary for Energy and Environment in the Office of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. Ali served as top energy official at the White House Office of Management and Budget during the Obama administration, among other positions. Since leaving the Obama administration, Ali has also worked as a transactional and regulatory attorney, co-founded Lawyers for a Sustainable Economy, and was a Non-Resident Fellow at CGEP.
As the dangers of climate change become ever more urgent and the costs of renewable energy plummet, the electricity sector has been experiencing wrenching shifts. More intermittent, distributed sources of energy, new technologies, new competitors, new business models, and policy changes. As we drive toward lower and lower carbon sources of energy, how can the power sector deliver abundant, affordable, secure, flexible power all at the same time? It’s a critical question for the clean energy future, and it also happens to be the subject of a new book by Peter Fox-Penner.
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Jason Bordoff is joined by Peter Fox-Penner, who is Founder and Director of Boston University’s Institute of Sustainable Energy, and is a Professor of Practice in the Questrom School of Business. His extensive research and writing interests, in the areas of electric power strategy and regulation, energy and climate policy, and sustainable finance, include the book Smart Power and now its sequel, Power After Carbon. Earlier in his career, Peter was a Principal at The Brattle Group, where he specialized in energy and regulated industry matters. He served as Principal Deputy Secretary at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy unit, and as a Senior Advisor in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. He also currently serves as Chief Strategy Advisor to Energy Impact Partners. Peter received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago.
Mary D. Nichols has been called “the most influential environmental regulator of all time.” As chair of the powerful California Air Resources Board, she has pioneered several landmark climate initiatives, including the state’s cap-and-trade program, and worked to set stronger automative emission standards, triggering a pitched battle with the Trump Administration as it seeks to roll back Obama-era fuel economy standards and take away California’s ability to set its own pollution rules.
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Jason Bordoff is joined by Chair Mary Nichols, the chair of CARB since 2007, a position she also held from 1979 to 1983. Over a career as an environmental lawyer spanning nearly a half century, Mary Nichols has played a key role in California and the nation’s environmental policymaking. In Mary’s extensive career as an environmental lawyer and policymaker, she founded the LA office of the Natural Resources Defense Council as a senior attorney, served as Executive Director for the Environment Now Foundation, served as the Assistant Administrator of Air and Radiation in the Clinton Environmental Protection Agency, worked in private practice, among many other distinguished roles. Mary is a graduate of Yale Law School and serves on the faculty at the UCLA School of Law.
As China’s reported number of coronavirus cases hovers close to zero and the country begins charting an ambitious economic recovery, one question emerging is how the pandemic affects China’s outlook for energy and climate change. The National People’s Congress, which took place last week following a two-month delay, broke with tradition in not announcing a 2020 growth target for the economy, and likewise, China’s top planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission, has declined to set an energy intensity reduction target for the year due to ongoing global economic uncertainty.
The three biggest producers of greenhouse gases - the European Union, the United States, and China - are signaling quite diverging paths about how green a stimulus and clean energy investment plan might be. How is China considering carbon-intensive industry to restore economic growth? How is it thinking about the role of oil and gas, its relationship with the U.S. and its trade deal, and its leadership in the global climate arena?
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Jason Bordoff is joined by two Center on Global Energy Policy experts, David Sandalow and Erica Downs, to discuss these questions.
David Sandalow is the Inaugural Fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy and co-Director of the Energy and Environment Concentration at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. He directs the Center’s U.S.-China Program and is the author of the Guide to Chinese Climate Policy. Last fall, he was a Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Schwarzman Scholars Program at Tsinghua University in China. David came to Columbia from the U.S. Department of Energy, where he served as Under Secretary of Energy (acting) and Assistant Secretary for Policy & International Affairs. Prior to serving at the Department of Energy, David was a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. He also served in the White House and as an Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of State.
Dr. Erica Downs is a Senior Research Scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy focusing on Chinese energy markets and geopolitics. Erica previously worked as a senior research scientist in the China Studies division of the CNA Corporation, a senior analyst in the Asia practice at Eurasia Group, a fellow in the John L. Thornton China Center at the Brookings Institution, and an energy analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency. Erica holds a Ph.D and M.A. from Princeton University.
For more on Covid-19 and China's energy outlook, check out a new commentary from CGEP's Kevin Tu, COVID-19 Pandemic’s Impacts on China’s Energy Sector: A Preliminary Analysis.
Universal access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy by 2030 has been a goal of the United Nations since 2015. And much progress has been made, as the UN, the World Bank and other international organizations make clear in a new report. But there’s still a long way to go. And the pandemic raging around the world now will only make meeting the goal more difficult.
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Bill Loveless talks with Makhtar Diop, the vice president for infrastructure at the World Bank. He leads the bank’s efforts to develop sustainable solutions and help close the infrastructure gap in developing and emerging economies.
Makhtar discusses the reasons behind the progress that has been made around the world and the impediments keeping the goal of universal access still out of the reach of so many people, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. The latest challenge, he notes, is the pandemic.
He also explains what the World Bank is doing to alleviate these needs, including new initiatives in the works.
The Tracking SDG-7 Energy Progress Report was released by the UN Statistical Division, the World Bank, the International Energy Agency, the International Renewable Energy Agency and the World Health Organization.
Prior to taking on this current role at the World Bank in 2018, Makhtar was the institution’s vice president for Africa, where he oversaw the delivery of a record-breaking $70 billion to Sub-Saharan Africa to address development challenges, like increasing access to affordable and sustainable energy.
Prior to these and other roles at the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, Makhtar started his career in the banking sector and held government positions, including minister of economy and finance in his native Senegal.
He holds degrees in economics from the Universities of Warwick and Nottingham in England.
With the coronavirus wreaking havoc on the U.S. economy, there’s considerable discussion underway about steps that can be taken to get business and consumers back on track. Much of that talk involves energy initiatives that the federal government could undertake. But states have important roles to play, too. Among them is Virginia, which just recently became the first southern state to adopt a 100% clean energy standard.
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Bill Loveless talks with Anthony Artuso, an executive scholar at the University of Virginia’s Center for Economic and Policy Studies, just weeks after Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam signed the new Virginia Clean Economy Act.
Anthony is part of a team at the UVA center working on clean energy modeling and policy analysis in Virginia. He’s also collaborating with a group of faculty and staff at UVA’s Darden Graduate School of Business on economic and sustainability issues, focusing again on clean energy.
In addition to his work at UVA, Anthony is a member of the advisory board of the 100% Clean Energy Collaborative convened by the Clean Energy States Alliance, a nonprofit coalition of public agencies and organizations working together to advance clean energy. Previously, he did research and consulting for U.S. government agencies, state governments, the World Bank and the UN on issues related to clean energy, environmental policy and sustainable development.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental science from Columbia University, a master’s degree from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and a PhD in natural resource policy and management at Cornell University.
Bill reached Anthony at his home in Charlottesville, Virginia.
The Covid-19 pandemic continues to take a massive toll on the U.S. economy, causing widespread job loss and suffering. Congress and the Federal Reserve have moved quickly to respond with trillions of dollars of support, and the Democratic House last week passed another stimulus bill for a staggering $3 trillion. As governments around the world spend money to support businesses and workers, there is a critically important conversation to be had about how we spend that money and whether it is possible to not just get the economy back on its feet, but build a cleaner economy too and make investments today that will help to advance the clean energy transition.
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Jason Bordoff is joined by Jason Furman to hear about how the progressive economic policy community thinks about greening economic recovery. From an economic standpoint, what needs to be done to rebuild the economy, what are the criteria for smart stimulus policies, and how might other social objectives like climate change be considered through that lens.
Jason is Professor of the Practice of Economic Policy at Harvard Kennedy School. He is also nonresident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. Previously, he served for eight years as a top economic advisor to President Obama, including as his chair of the Council of Economic Advisers. He also worked at the Brookings Institution, where he worked with Jason Bordoff, and was a Director of the Hamilton Project and Senior Fellow. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University.
Few countries are as important to the outlook for energy demand and climate change as is India. It uses huge amounts of coal, was projected to be one of the biggest drivers of growth in oil use, and has ambitious targets to grow both the use of renewables and natural gas. So how does the Covid-19 pandemic change that outlook - with weeks of strict lockdown measures by India’s 1.3 billion people cratering transportation activity and other energy use? The skies over normally polluted Indian cities turned clear, and more blue. Now with the economy starting to open up, what are the consequences for energy use, for carbon emissions, and for local air pollution?
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Jason Bordoff explores these and other questions with The Honorable Minister Dharmendra Pradhan. Minister Pradhan is India’s Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Minister of Steel. He previously served as the Minister of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship during Prime Minister Modi’s first term. As Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, he has guided decision-making around production, supply distribution and pricing of petroleum, as well as India’s overall energy sector development.
A transcript of the conversation is available here.
Today's global pandemic is testing the limits of people’s ability to cope with massive disruption in their lives, including steps they take for the public good. And there may be lessons there regarding our response to climate change.
In this edition of the Columbia Energy Exchange, host Bill Loveless is joined by Robert H. Frank, a professor of management and economics at Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management and the author of a new book from Princeton University Press called Under the Influence: Putting Peer Pressure to Work. They discuss human behavior in a crisis, whether it is the COVID-19 pandemic that we are enduring today, or the climate catastrophe that we may be just beginning to experience.
In his book, Robert explains how the strongest predictor of our willingness to support climate friendly policies, install solar panels or buy an electric car is the number of people we know who have already done so. And while climate change may not be uppermost in people’s minds now amid the pandemic, he draws parallels for Bill between our reaction to this health crisis and how we might respond to climate change.
They also talk about another book, one by the journalist David Wallace-Wells called The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming, which Robert says had a big impact on his thinking. David was a guest on Columbia Energy Exchange with Jason Bordoff in September 2019.
In his discussion with Bill, Robert explains his views on the meaning of “behavioral contagion,” its relationship to previous changes in public attitudes about smoking and other controversial issues, and its potential to inspire broad public support for measures to address climate change.
Among his other credentials, Robert is a former economics columnist for the New York Times. His earlier books include The Winner-Take-All-Society, The Economic Naturalist and Success and Luck.
Fifty years ago this week, 20 million Americans came together to march for the planet, demanding action to clean up America’s waterways and air and protect public health. Their efforts launched the first Earth Day and the modern environmental movement. This week on the Columbia Energy Exchange, we reflect back on the U.S. environmental movement in 1970, examine the movement’s successes in reducing pollution, and find lessons for addressing the existential environmental issue of our time -- climate change.
To celebrate this historic milestone, we have a special double episode of Columbia Energy Exchange featuring conversations with two champions of the environmental movement -- one Republican, one Democrat. On Monday, host Jason Bordoff spoke with former Environmental Protection Agency administrator for President George H.W. Bush, Bill Reilly. And today, he speaks with his former Obama Administration colleague, Gina McCarthy.
Gina served as the 13th administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in President Obama’s second term, after serving as assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation in the first term. Earlier this year, she became president and chief executive officer of the Natural Resources Defense Council, one of America’s most important environmental organizations, founded the same year as the first Earth Day -- 1970. Earlier in her career, she held senior environmental policy roles in the state governments in Massachusetts and Connecticut, serving as commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection, deputy secretary of the Massachusetts Office of Commonwealth Development, and undersecretary of policy for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs. She also spent time after the Obama Administration at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, serving as a professor of the practice of public health in the Department of Environmental Health, and is currently chair of the board of advisors at the Harvard Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment (C-CHANGE).
They discuss the current state of the environmental movement, progress made to cut pollution and expand clean energy in the U.S., and the challenges that remain to address the threat of climate change. They also discuss the implications of the Covid-19 pandemic, and how the spread of the virus has highlighted the importance of science and preparedness, and the inequitable burdens of environmental pollution on public health.
Fifty years ago this week, one out of every 10 Americans, 20 million in all, came together for a series of rallies, teach-ins, and speeches, to tell their leaders they were no longer willing to put up with choking air and poisoned water. The fiftieth anniversary of Earth Day is an occasion to celebrate the environmental movement’s vast success cleaning up America’s skies and waterways, but also a moment to take stock of lessons learned - for how to address the existential environmental issue of our time: climate change.
To celebrate this historic milestone, the Columbia Energy Exchange will have a special double episode this week with two conversations with two champions of the environmental movement for many years. Both are former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrators, one Republican and one Democrat, William Reilly and Gina McCarthy.
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Jason Bordoff is joined by William Reilly, who has a remarkable career in the environmental movement. On the first Earth Day in 1970, Bill was at the time one of the first employees at the brand new Council on Environmental Quality that had just been created in the White House. He went on to serve as the President of the World Wildlife Fund, and as Administrator of the EPA during the Administration of President George H. W. Bush, leading efforts to pass the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, and to bring President Bush to the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. He was also appointed by President Obama to co-chair the National Commission on the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, among many other prominent positions in his long and distinguished career. He served in the army to the rank of Captain from 1966-1968, and he graduated from Harvard Law School, and earned his master's degree from Columbia University in urban planning.
Keep an eye out for host Jason Bordoff's conversation with Gina McCarthy, coming out on Wednesday.
Governments around the world are consumed now with the challenge of responding effectively to the coronavirus pandemic, including providing adequate healthcare and alleviating the economic impact of the crisis. But policymakers in Washington and other capitals will eventually need to find ways to stimulate a recovery of their economies to put back to work the legions of people who are now unemployed.
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Bill Loveless talks to Ernest Moniz about the role that energy sectors can play in reinvigorating the U.S. economy, especially those sectors responsible for the early stages of a low-carbon transition that’s taken place over the last decade, and the importance of building coalitions to support such options.
Moniz is well known to listeners as a former U.S. secretary of energy during the Obama administration and a key architect of the Paris Agreement on climate change. He also negotiated the Iran nuclear agreement alongside then Secretary of State John Kerry. Now, he is the founder and CEO of the Energy Futures Initiative, a Washington-based clean-energy nonprofit, and co-chair and CEO of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a nonprofit that works to prevent catastrophic attacks and accidents with weapons of mass destruction.
One of the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic has been an intentional effort to bring much of the economy to a standstill to slow the spread of the virus. A consequence of that has been an unprecedented drop in global oil demand. Oil prices have fallen about two thirds since the beginning of the year, before rebounding and then falling again on speculation that OPEC and some non OPEC nations might cut production when they meet later this week.
This drop in demand and price impacts the United States, the largest oil producer in the world now, in ways that weren’t true a decade ago - leading President Trump to call on Russia and Saudi Arabia to raise oil prices.
In this edition of the Columbia Energy Exchange, host Jason Bordoff is joined by Arjun Murti, Bobby Tudor, and Marianne Kah to discuss the impact of the oil price collapse on the U.S. energy sector, shale oil production in the long run, and what this might mean for the clean energy transition.
Arjun Murti is Senior Advisor at Warburg Pincus and serves on the board of ConocoPhillips. He previously served as Co-Director of Equity Research for the Americas at Goldman Sachs, and he is a member of the Center on Global Energy Policy’s Advisory Board. Bobby Tudor serves as Co-Head of the advisory business of Perella Weinberg Partners and is Chairman and founder of Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. Prior to founding Tudor Capital, he was a partner with Goldman Sachs. Marianne Kah is an Adjunct Senior Research Scholar and Advisory Board member at the Center on Global Energy Policy. She was the Chief Economist of ConocoPhillips for 25 years.
Like most operations, the Columbia Energy Exchange has shifted to be entirely remote, with hosts Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless continuing to make podcast episodes from home. Given the unprecedented circumstances we are all living through and the uncertainty and questions that follow, Jason and Bill will try whenever possible to bring insights into the energy and climate related aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
To that end, there has been much talk in recent weeks about how to think about using emergency economic relief and stimulus funding from Washington, D.C. to not only address the immediate economic fallout from COVID-19, which has resulted in many parts of the economy being shut down, but also to make progress on some of our more urgent longer-term challenges, mainly, climate change. Climate scientists, environmental groups, certain industries and others have been urging lawmakers to jumpstart the economic recovery through a green stimulus package. Ideas range from clean energy tax credits, to requirements that bailed-out airlines commit to decarbonize, to building green infrastructure, and many more ideas.
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Jason Bordoff is joined by Dr. Joe Aldy to gain insight into design of stimulus and how climate policy could factor into it. Joe is a leading environmental economist, currently a Professor of the Practice of Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. His research focuses on climate change policy, energy policy, and more. From 2009 to 2010, he served as the Special Assistant to President Obama for Energy and Environment. It was in that role, and on the presidential transition that preceded it that he was a key White House staffer, that Joe negotiated with Capitol Hill on the Recovery Act that included $90 billion for green goals.
Joe was previously a Fellow at Resources for the Future and served on the staff of the President’s Council of Economic Advisors. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University.
India has laid out an ambitious agenda to expand energy access to all its people, reduce air pollution, increase energy security, and reduce carbon emissions intensity. It has made tremendous progress providing access to electricity and clean cooking to its people. It rapidly increased the deployment of renewables even as coal still supplies two thirds of its electricity mix. The country’s oil consumption is expected to grow faster than any other major economy, as are its CO2 emissions. In short, with a population of 1.4 billion people, and rapidly rising energy demand, India will be a key country, perhaps the key country, for energy markets and climate change in the decades to come.
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Jason Bordoff is joined by Dr. Ajay Mathur, Director General of The Energy & Resources Institute in New Delhi, to discuss the energy outlook in India. Ajay was in New York City in February to attend a workshop hosted by the Center on Global Energy Policy on engaging state-owned enterprises in climate action, based on a recent report from the Center.
Ajay is a member of the Prime Minister's Council on Climate Change. He served as Director General of the Bureau of Energy Efficiency in the Indian government from 2006 until 2016, and previously headed the Climate Change Team at the World Bank, as well as the interim Secretariat of the Green Climate Fund.
The global oil market is in free fall, following the collapse of a meeting last week of OPEC and non-OPEC producers. Saudi Arabia decided to surge its output, sending oil prices tumbling. This historic oil price crash is weighing on stock markets already reeling from the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Low oil prices raise questions about the future of U.S. shale production, OPEC’s credibility and effectiveness, the geopolitical motivations and the fallout for Saudi Arabia and Russia, the fiscal impacts on key oil-producing countries, the implications for the battle against climate change, and much more.
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, Jason Bordoff is joined by three experts who study energy markets, geopolitics, and policy to delve into these complex issues: Helima Croft, Amy Myers Jaffe, and Bob McNally.
Helima Croft is a Managing Director and the Head of Global Commodity Strategy and Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Research at RBC Capital Markets. She is a CNBC contributor, she started her career at the CIA after earning her PhD from Princeton University.
Amy Myers Jaffe is the David M. Rubenstein Senior Fellow for Energy and the Environment and Director of the Program on Energy Security and Climate Change at the Council on Foreign Relations. Amy previously served as Executive Director for Energy and Sustainability at the University of California, Davis, as Founding Director of The Energy Forum at Rice University’s Baker Institute, and she is also the Co-Chair of the Center on Global Energy Policy’s Women in Energy Steering Committee.
Bob McNally is a Non-Resident Fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy, and Founder and President of The Rapidan Energy Group, a consulting firm based in Washington DC. From 2001 to 2003, Bob served as the top international and domestic energy adviser on the White House staff, holding the posts of Special Assistant to the President on the National Economic Council and, in 2003, Senior Director for International Energy on the staff of the National Security Council. He is also the author of Crude Volatility, a history of oil markets and efforts to manage them, published through the Center on Global Energy Policy’s book series with the Columbia University Press.
Capturing carbon emissions, storing them and even using them in novel ways are getting a lot more attention now than they did a few years ago, as policymakers, business leaders, scientists and others look more urgently for ways of addressing climate change.
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Bill Loveless catches up with Julio Friedmann, a senior research scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy and the director of the center’s Carbon Management Research Initiative. He’s one of the most widely known and authoritative experts in the U.S. in this field with expertise in technology, policy and operations.
Julio served as a principal deputy assistant secretary for fossil energy at the U.S. Energy Department during the Obama administration and has held positions at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. With Bachelor and Master of Science degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in geology from the University of Southern California, he also worked for five years as a senior research scientist at ExxonMobil.
Their conversation is timely as Congress considers new legislation that would expand government incentives promoting carbon capture technologies as concerns over the risks of climate change and commitments to address the phenomenon grow. Julio also breaks down the challenges of financing these technologies.
And by the way, keep an eye out for an upcoming paper from Julio and the Center on Global Energy Policy that will examine which policies might work to stimulate investment in carbon capture technology in the U.S. power sector.
As scientists and public health officials race to control the spread of the deadly Coronavirus disease -- COVID-19, which first sickened people in China in December 2019 -- individuals around the world are grappling with the implications of a possible global pandemic. The virus has now spread to 50 countries and will test the strength and resilience of our global health system and infrastructure. This is a public health emergency, and while the leading concern remains the risk to human life, the spread of the virus also creates risk for the global economy and will have significant impacts on our energy system. Traders and investors are anticipating a severe economic slowdown, and oil prices have fallen sharply -- with eyes now focusing on next week’s OPEC meeting in Vienna to see whether the cartel will step in to prop up prices. The energy sector is scrambling to understand the outlook for the virus and efforts to contain it. Our guest today is a leading expert on public health and disaster preparedness, who will help bring the fight against the spread of the Coronavirus into context.
This week on the Columbia Energy Exchange, host Jason Bordoff is joined by Dr. Irwin Redlener, Professor of Health Policy and Management and Pediatrics at the Columbia University Medical Center and Director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at the Earth Institute. Dr. Redlener is a nationally-recognized leader in disaster preparedness and public health system readiness and children's health advocate. He is the author of “Americans at Risk: Why We Are Not Prepared for Megadisasters and What We Can Do Now.”
Dr. Redlener discusses critical and timely information, including what we know now about the COVID-19 disease, how we can prevent the spread of the virus, where to go for reliable information about the outbreak, and what the future impacts might be to public health, travel, the economy and more.
America’s preferences for energy have changed substantially over the past decade, with natural gas, renewable energy and energy efficiency all recording big gains. Now, a new report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) and the Business Council for Sustainable Energy sheds light on just what happened over that time and suggests what may lie in store over the next 10 years.
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Bill Loveless is joined by Ethan Zindler, head of Americas for the research service BNEF, and Lisa Jacobson, president of the Business Council for Sustainable Energy, a coalition of companies and trade associations from the energy efficiency, natural gas and renewable energy sectors.
The topic is the eighth edition of the “Sustainable Energy in America Factbook,” which the two organizations publish each year. This latest report chronicles the transformation in energy taking place in the U.S. not only for the year 2019 but also for the last 10 years. It’s full of details regarding the improving energy productivity of the U.S., the increasing competitiveness of renewable energy, the impact of record U.S. gas production on electric power supplies, and the often-overlooked advantages of energy efficiency.
Bill talked with Ethan and Lisa about these developments, and what may lie in store over the next decade or so for gas, renewable energy and energy efficiency, including how sustainable commitments to gas will be given growing concerns over carbon emissions from that fuel.
Climate change has not been a popular topic with Republicans in the U.S. Congress in recent years. Some deny the phenomenon is even happening, and others simply avoid the topic altogether. But that’s changing in the U.S. House of Representatives, where the Republican leader and others are talking it up now and even offering an agenda for addressing climate change. So, what’s given rise to this burst of activity and what message are Republicans trying to send?
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Bill Loveless talks to Representative Garret Graves, a Louisiana Republican who’s one of the leaders of the climate change movement among members of his party in the House. Graves is the top Republican on the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, a panel formed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last year to develop policy options on climate change.
Bill visited Representative Graves at his office on Capitol Hill just hours after House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy unveiled four pieces of legislation as part of his party’s response to climate change. The measures would support global efforts to plant one trillion trees, promote more research on carbon-capture technologies and uses for carbon, and make permanent a tax break for companies that use the technology. It’s a mix of old and new policy ideas, some of which already enjoy bipartisan support.
In a wide-ranging discussion, the Baton Rouge native talked about what’s motivating him and his Republican colleagues to offer a climate change agenda now and how he distinguishes it from policy approaches taken by Democrats. He also discussed how these plans might fare with President Trump.
The world’s oil and gas supermajors have been managing lots of headwinds these days not only from the market, but also rising social pressures to move more urgently to address the threat of climate change. Some oil majors have been exploring low-carbon sources of energy, expanding their businesses into power and other parts of the energy sector even as most of their capital expenditures remain in their traditional businesses. As such, the role of the oil and gas industry in the energy transition is a timely and increasingly important topic.
This week on the Columbia Energy Exchange podcast, host Jason Bordoff is joined by Maarten Wetselaar, Director of Integrated Gas & New Energies and Member of the Executive Committee of Royal Dutch Shell. He’s responsible for Shell’s gas business, including its industry-leading liquefied natural gas and gas-to-liquids businesses. He also leads the new energies business, including Shell’s investment in new fuels, new energy carriers, and new business models for a low-carbon future.
Jason and Maarten discuss the role of the oil and gas industry in the energy transition, and prospects for addressing climate change and reducing emissions, while meeting the growing demand for energy.
The year 2020 promises to be a tumultuous one in the U.S. for any number of reasons, including a national election, an impeachment of the president and ongoing divisions between Republicans and Democrats over the future course of government. And among the issues that continues to heat up is climate change.
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Bill Loveless meets with two of the leading energy and environment reporters in Washington: Steve Mufson of The Washington Post and Amy Harder of Axios.
Steve has worked at The Post since 1989, covering the White House, China, economic policy and diplomacy as well as energy. His current beat is the business of climate change. Earlier, he worked at the Wall Street Journal in New York, London and Johannesburg.
Amy has been with Axios for three years, with her column, the “Harder Line,” a regular feature of the news service. Previously, she was a reporter at the Wall Street Journal and the National Journal.
Sitting down with top energy and environment reporters in January to talk about what’s in store for energy and climate issues in the new year has been a regular feature for Bill for several years now, and Steve and Amy offer a behind-the-scenes look at some of the major stories and trends taking place.
The program also offers Bill an opportunity to talk about the Energy Journalism Initiative, an annual seminar conducted by the Center on Global Energy Policy to help energy journalists deepen their understanding of complex issues associated with the beat. The deadline for applications is Feb. 16.