On October 13, the Center on Global Energy Policy was honored to welcome Dr. Ernest J. Moniz as a guest speaker at our annual Energy Leaders Forum in New York City. Secretary Moniz offered reflections on the Department of Energy's role in key international efforts to ensure America’s national security and advance low-carbon economies globally under the Obama Administration. Following the Secretary's remarks, Center Director Jason Bordoff moderated a discussion with questions submitted from the audience.

Jason Bordoff sits down with David Fyfe, Chief Economist at the Gunvor Group, a global commodities trading house in Geneva Switzerland, to talk about the future of oil markets. David, who has more than 20 years of experience in oil and energy markets, previously was Manager of the International Energy Agency’s Oil Industry and Markets Division as well as editor of the IEA’s monthly Oil Market Report. They discuss: OPEC's November deal to curb production; the realities of peak oil demand; natural gas spot price markets; and the role of U.S. shale in response to an oil price increase. 

Host Jason Bordoff sits down with Frances Beinecke, the former President of the Natural Resources Defense Council, to discuss the outlook for U.S. energy and environment policy following the election of Donald Trump. Frances, a recipient of The National Audubon Society's prestigious Rachel Carson Award, is a member of the U.S. Secretary of Energy's advisory board and she serves on the boards of the MIT Energy Initiative, the National Academies of Science and the World Resources Institute. They discuss: Why climate change was not a central issue in the 2016 U.S. election; Strategies environmental NGOs will employ under Trump; The role of natural gas as the world strives for a zero carbon economy; How states and local governments can address environment and climate issues.

To achieve the Paris Agreement goals, public and private actors need to either deploy far more energy that is zero carbon like wind and solar, or develop technologies that remove greenhouse gas emissions, such as carbon capture and storage (CCS). Host Jason Bordoff speaks with Stephen Bull, a Senior Vice President for Wind and Carbon Capture and Storage in Statoil's New Energy Solutions business about: The revolution of offshore wind energy and declining costs; CCS research and financing; The impact of the Paris Agreement on wind and CCS technologies; Development and implementation challenges for both wind and CCS.

The geopolitics of energy is playing a growing role in American foreign policy. As the United States ushers in a new president who has signaled a sharp shift in approach to energy and the environment, the new Administration must examine how these changes will impact relations with the rest of the world. Host Jason Bordoff speaks with Carlos Pascual, a non-resident Fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy and Senior Vice President at IHS, about the role of geopolitics and foreign policy priorities for the new Administration. Prior to his current position, Carlos served as U.S. Ambassador in Mexico and Ukraine, as the State Department's Special Envoy and Coordinator for International Energy Affairs where he established and directed the Energy Resources Bureau and as senior advisor to the Secretary of State on global energy diplomacy. They discuss: Energy and foreign policy priorities and challenges for the new president including Russia, the Middle East and Asia; the link between energy, international security and international development; how the reduction of hydrocarbon demand as a result of climate change initiatives will influence geopolitics.

Following COP22 in Marrakech where global leaders were overcome with uncertainly about the United States' commitment to greenhouse gas reduction under a new Trump Administration, host Bill Loveless speaks with Carl Pope, former executive director and chairman of The Sierra Club, about the path forward against climate change through both international and local initiatives. Pope is also a senior climate adviser to former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the U.N. Secretary General’s special envoy for cities and climate change. They discuss: Reactions to Donald Trump’s election and other challenges and opportunities coming out of the Marrakech Climate Summit; The heightened roles for cities, states, investors and business in providing U.S. direction for climate initiatives; A sneak peek at the upcoming book by Carl and Michael Bloomberg called, “Overheated: How Cooler Heads Can Cool the World” that seeks to reset the conversation about climate change.

India's energy challenges are diverse and compounded by a growing global commitment to climate change, which has serious implications for India’s reliance on cheap coal to power its cities and villages alike. On this episode, host Jason Bordoff talks with Sunita Narain, Director General of the Center for Science and Environment, one of India’s leading environment NGOs based in Delhi, and one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People for her work on climate change and the poor. They discuss: The role energy access and energy poverty play in India's energy narrative; How to prevent fossil-fuel addiction among India's citizens; The challenge of transitioning India off of cheap coal and the role of natural gas in the developing world; The need for smart fuel subsidies; Whether the Paris Agreement is a good deal for India and other developing nations.

For many years, the petroleum industry has had the reputation of being a male club. With far more men than women occupying jobs and running the business, the sector faces the challenge of bridging the gender gap. On this episode of the Columbia Energy Exchange, host Bill Loveless speaks with Hosnia Hashim, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Kuwait's Petrochemical Industries Company, who has more than 25 years of experience in the sector. Their conversation followed a Women in Energy event at the Center on Global Energy Policy in New York where Hashim was a guest speaker. Among the topics they discussed include: How Hashim arrived in Kuwait's petroleum industry and her path through the ranks; Opportunities for women in Kuwait's petroleum sector compared to other Middle East nations; Steps taken by Kuwait's government to promote education of women in science,  technology, engineering and math; Hashim's advice for women interested in entering the petroleum industry; Changes in Kuwait's oil and gas industry.

Next week governments from around the world will convene in Marrakech, Morocco for the 22nd Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. In this episode Sir David King, the U.K. Foreign Secretary's Special Representative for Climate Change, sits down with Columbia Energy Exchange host David Sandalow, Inaugural Fellow at the Center, to discuss the role of clean energy technologies in fighting climate change. Previously, Sir David served as Chief Scientific Adviser to the U.K. Government, Founding Director of the Smith School of Enterprise and Environment at Oxford and head of the Department of Chemistry at Cambridge University.  He has published over 500 papers on science and policy and holds 22 Honorary Degrees from universities around the world.

Their conversation, recorded at the Innovation for Cool Earth Forum in Tokyo this month, includes discussion on topics including Mission Innovation and clean energy innovation, new technologies shaping the energy transition, the need for intelligent smart grid systems, how to achieve net zero emissions and the implications of Brexit for climate change commitments in the U.K.

The 2016 elections come at a transformative time for energy and the environment, with major decisions faced by the next president and Congress having far-reaching implications for the world. In the second episode of a two part series on the elections and what they mean for energy and environment policy, host Bill Loveless sits down with former Democratic Senator Byron Dorgan who spent 30 years in the U.S. House and Senate representing North Dakota. During their talk, Bill and Byron discussed: Priority energy and environmental issues facing the new president and Congress; Prospects for changes in Congress that will make it possible to reach bipartisan agreement on energy and environmental legislation; The inherent conflicts between the need to curb emissions and to promote development of oil and natural gas resources in the U.S.; Differences between a Clinton and Trump presidency when it comes to energy and the environment; Who to look to for leadership in Congress on energy issues.

In the first episode of a two part series with former U.S. senators on the challenges an opportunities when it comes to energy and the environment for the next president of the United States, host Bill Loveless sits down with Trent Lott, a former U.S. Senate Majority Leader who served his home state of Mississippi in both the House and Senate from 1973 to 2007. They talk about: the breakdown in relations between Republicans and Democrats and whether Congress can work on a bipartisan basis to legislate on energy and the environment; energy challenges since the 1970s, and how Congress dealt with them; how a Clinton and Trump presidency would differ on energy and climate policies.

Officials from around the world will soon gather in Morocco, a country that is increasingly investing in renewable energy technologies, to discuss implementation of the newly ratified climate agreement reached in Paris last December. On this episode of the Columbia Energy Exchange host Bill Loveless talks with Said Mouline, director general of Morocco’s national agency for the development of renewable energy and energy efficiency, and a member of Morocco’s steering committee. They discussed: What to expect at COP22 in Marrakech and to what extent renewable energy can help address the goals of the Paris agreement; Morocco's development of the world's largest concentrated solar plant, the Noor complex; How Morocco might serve as a model for other nations, especially within Africa, to integrate renewables into their energy mix; The role of public-private partnerships in meeting Morocco’s renewable energy goals and the challenges posed by this model

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries took many by surprise last week with its decision to consider making cuts in crude oil production to help lift prices and rebalance the market. Now the world will wait to see if a firm decision is made at OPEC’s next regular meeting in November. Host Bill Loveless sits down with one of our Fellows at the Center on Global Energy Policy, Jamie Webster, to discuss OPEC’s decision, a change in course from the last two years of free-flowing oil.

Innovation is changing the energy sector. Advances in solar power, energy storage and oil and gas production are disrupting established industries and business models. What changes in these and other energy technologies lie ahead?

In the latest episode of the Columbia Energy Exchange, Inaugural Fellow David Sandalow sits down with Steven Chu, the 12th and longest serving U.S. Secretary of Energy, to discuss new and emerging technologies that are revolutionizing the energy sector.  They discuss: Advances in solar and storage technologies; Changes in oil and gas production from hydraulic fracturing, horizontal drilling and other technologies; Extending the lifetime of existing nuclear plants and cutting the cost of building new ones; The role of big data and computer simulation in energy innovations.

The political debate over U.S. energy policy has grown more polarized in recent years, making consensus difficult to reach and leaving the country with an uncertain roadmap for supply and demand. Former U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu, who served as Chairman of the Senate Energy Committee and gained a reputation on Capitol Hill as a centrist who worked with Republicans on energy and other national priorities, sits down with host Bill Loveless to talk about why it's time for the U.S. to take an entirely new approach to making those decisions. Landrieu weighs in on: The differences among regions of the U.S. over energy production and demand; How Democrats and Republicans managed to strike deals and enact major new energy legislation in the past; Fundamental changes in the political parties that have deepened divisions between lawmakers and made legislating more difficult; The opportunities for energy security in the U.S. as production of oil, natural gas and renewable energy increase; Her plans for a new approach to energy policymaking that she says could overcome the gridlock in Washington.

The Great White Fleet, dispatched by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1907 and a milestone in U.S. Navy history, is today becoming the Great Green Fleet. Admiral Dennis McGinn, the Navy’s assistant secretary for energy, installations and environment as well as a retired rear admiral and former commander of the Third Fleet, sits down in his Pentagon office with host Bill Loveless to discuss the Navy’s commitment to sustainable and green energy in order to cut the service’s energy costs, reduce its emissions and make its fuel supplies more secure.