The Center on Global Energy Policy is a research center located within the

School of International and Public Affairs The School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) is the List of schools of international relations in the United States, international affairs and public policy school, public policy school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League univers ...

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. The center's director is Jason Bordoff, and it features senior research scholars such as Richard Nephew and

Varun Sivaram Varun Srinivasan Sivaram (born 1989) is an American physicist, clean energy executive, and former U.S. diplomat. He is Group Senior Vice President, member of the Group Executive Team, and Head of Strategy, Innovation, Portfolio, and Partnership ...

, as well as visiting fellows and adjunct senior research scholars such as Cheryl LaFleur and

Richard Kauffman Richard L. Kauffman (born February 10, 1955) is the first New York State "energy czar," officially referred to as the ''Chairman of Energy and Finance for New York'' in the administration of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. In this role, Kauffman ...

. The center's stated mission is to "advance smart, actionable and evidence-based energy and climate solutions through research, education and dialogue".

History

On April 24, 2013 the Center for Global Energy Policy was founded within Columbia's

. The launch event filled Columbia's historic

Low Memorial Library The Low Memorial Library (nicknamed Low) is a building at the center of Columbia University's Morningside Heights campus in Upper Manhattan in New York City. The building, located near 116th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue, w ...

, where mayor

Michael Bloomberg Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman and politician. He is the majority owner and co-founder of Bloomberg L.P., and was its CEO from 1981 to 2001 and again from 2014 to 2023. He served as the 108th mayo ...

spoke about how “New York is where the energy future is taking place”. The center's director, Jason Bordoff, a professor of professional practice and a former special assistant to President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

, said that he hoped that the center would "break new ground in energy research".

Publications

The Center’s research agenda emphasizes an economic and geostrategic approach to key energy policy areas. Current research programs encompass a wide variety of specific studies and topics, focused both on U.S. policy and specific regions around the world.

Criticism

The Center has been criticized for receiving funding from fossil fuel companies by the Columbia hub of the

Sunrise Movement Sunrise Movement is an American 501(c)(4) political action organization that advocates political action on climate change alongside other progressive causes. When launched in 2017, the movement's goal was to elect proponents of renewable energ ...

. An estimate b
Sunrise Columbia University
found that the Center has received almost $16 million from oil and gas companies since its founding. A 2022 study categorized the Center as one of three "fossil-funded centres" (along with the MIT Energy Initiative and Stanford’s Precourt Institute for Energy) and found that reports from the Center are more favorable to natural gas than renewable energy technologies, when compared to non-fossil-funded energy centers.

Current members of the advisory board

The center has a large international advisory board. Members include: *Nick Beim, Partner at

Venrock Venrock (portmanteau of Venture and Rockefeller) is an American venture capital firm formed in 1969 to build upon the successful investing activities of the Rockefeller family that began in the late 1930s. It has offices in Palo Alto, California, ...

Thomas E. Donilon Thomas Edward Donilon (born May 14, 1955) is an American lawyer, business executive, and former government official who served as the 22nd National Security Advisor in the Obama administration from 2010 to 2013.Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank focused on Foreign policy of the United States, U.S. foreign policy and international relations. Founded in 1921, it is an independent and nonpartisan 501(c)(3) nonprofit organi ...

and former National Security Advisor *

Reid Hoffman Reid Garrett Hoffman (born August 5, 1967) is an American internet entrepreneur, venture capitalist, podcaster, and author. Hoffman is the co-founder and former executive chairman of LinkedIn, a business-oriented social network used primarily ...

, Co-Founder and Executive Chairman,

LinkedIn LinkedIn () is an American business and employment-oriented Social networking service, social network. It was launched on May 5, 2003 by Reid Hoffman and Eric Ly. Since December 2016, LinkedIn has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft. ...

, Partner,

Greylock Partners Greylock Partners is one of the oldest venture capital firms, founded in 1965, with committed capital of over $3.5 billion under management. The firm focuses on early-stage companies in consumer and enterprise software. History Greylock wa ...

*Dr. Paul Joskow, President of the

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is an American philanthropic nonprofit organization. It was established in 1934 by Alfred P. Sloan Jr., president and chief executive officer of General Motors. The Sloan Foundation makes grants to support origina ...

* Lady Barbara Judge, Chair of the Energy Institute at

University College, London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

*John Knight, Executive Vice President at

Statoil Equinor ASA (formerly Statoil and StatoilHydro) is a Norwegian multinational energy company headquartered in Stavanger, Norway. It is primarily a petroleum company operating in 36 countries with additional investments in renewable energy. In th ...

*General (Ret.)

Stanley A. McChrystal Stanley Allen McChrystal (born 14 August 1954) is a retired United States Army general best known for his command of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) from 2003 to 2008 during which his organization was credited with the death of Abu Mu ...

, Co-Founder and Partner at McChrystal Group LLC and former commander,

International Security Assistance Force The International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was a multinational military mission in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2014. It was established by United Nations Security Council United Nations Security Council Resolution 1386, Resolution 1386 ac ...

*Dr. Edward L. Morse, Managing Director, Global Head of Commodities at

Citi Citigroup Inc. or Citi (stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company based in New York City. The company was formed in 1998 by the merger of Citicorp, the bank holding company for Citibank, and ...

*Joel Moser, Founding Chief Executive Officer, AQM Capital LLC and former Partner and Head, Energy & Infrastructure Group at

Kaye Scholer Kaye Scholer was a law firm founded in 1917 by Benjamin Kaye and Jacob Scholer. The firm had more than 450 attorneys in nine offices located in the cities of Chicago, Frankfurt, London, Los Angeles, New York City (headquarters), Shanghai, Palo A ...

Daniel Poneman Daniel Bruce Poneman (born March 12, 1956) is an American lawyer and businessman. He served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Centrus Energy, a publicly traded energy company, (LEU) from 2015 to 2023. Prior to joining Centrus Energy, ...

, former Deputy Secretary at the

U.S. Department of Energy The United States Department of Energy (DOE) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government that oversees U.S. national energy policy and energy production, the research and development of nuclear power, the military's nuclear we ...

Steven Rattner Steven Lawrence Rattner (born July 5, 1952) is an American investor, media commentator, and former journalist. He is currently chairman and chief executive officer of Willett Advisors, the private investment firm that manages billionaire former ...

, Chairman at

Willett Advisors Willett Advisors LLC (Willett) is an investment firm based in New York City that serves as the family office of Bloomberg L.P. owner and former mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg. It is currently managed by Quadrangle Group co-founder Ste ...

LLC and former lead adviser to the

Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry The Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry was an ''ad hoc'' group of United States cabinet-level and other officials that was formed by President Barack Obama to deal with the financial bailout of automakers Chrysler and General Motors. B ...

Theodore Roosevelt IV Theodore Roosevelt V ( ; born November 27, 1942), also called Theodore IV, is an American investment banker and managing director at Barclays Investment Bank. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Economic Club of New York, an ...

, Managing Director, Investment Banking at

Barclays Barclays PLC (, occasionally ) is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services ...

*Zachary Schreiber, Chairman and Chief Investment Officer, PointState Capital *

Mona Sutphen Mona K. Sutphen (born November 10, 1967) was the White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy in the Obama administration from 2009 to 2011. She is currently a Senior Partner and Head of Investment Strategies at The Vistria Group, a Chicago-based ...

, Partner at Macro Advisory Partners LLP and former

White House Deputy Chief of Staff The White House Deputy Chief of Staff is officially the top aide to the White House Chief of Staff, White House chief of staff, who is the senior aide to the president of the United States. The deputy chief of staff usually has an office in the Wh ...

for Policy * Susan Tierney, Managing Principal at

Analysis Group Analysis Group, Inc. (AG), founded in 1981 by economists Bruce E. Stangle and Michael F. Koehn, is an economic consulting firm based in North America. It provides economic, financial, and strategic analysis and expert testimony to law firms, cor ...

and former Assistant Secretary of Energy for Policy at the

*Michael D. Tusiani, Chairman at Poten & Partners * Bill White, Chairman at Lazard Houston and former Mayor of

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

*Dr.

Daniel Yergin Daniel Howard Yergin (born February 6, 1947) is an American author, economic historian, and consultant within the energy and economic sectors. Yergin is vice chairman of S&P Global. He was formerly vice chairman of IHS Markit, which merged with ...

, Vice Chairman at

IHS IHS may refer to: Religious * Christogram#IHS, Christogram IHS or ΙΗΣ, a monogram symbolizing Jesus Christ * ''In hoc signo'', used by Roman emperor Constantine the Great Organizations * Indian Health Service, an operating division of the US D ...

and author of The Prize and The Quest *

Cathy Zoi Cathy Zoi is an American business executive, and former CEO of EVgo the US's largest fast charging network for electric vehicles. She is the former Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) at the U.S. Department of ...

, Consulting Professor at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

and former Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy at the

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Center on Global Energy Policy Columbia University research institutes 2013 establishments in New York City