Power Map

Greece is emerging as a critical energy hub at the intersection of European grid integration, regional stability, and the global energy transition. This week, Joseph and Quill sit down with Georgios Stassis, Chairman and CEO of the Public Power Corporation, Greece's leading electricity producer and supplier. They discuss the enduring value of the transatlantic relationship, the challenge of ensuring energy affordability, and how European utilities are adapting to rapid changes in demand, technology, and geopolitics.

Congress plays a central role in shaping the U.S.'s energy and conservation policies. This week, Joseph and Quill sit down with Rep. Bruce Westerman, representative for Arkansas's 4th congressional district and Chairman of the House Committee on Natural Resources. Rep. Westerman shares his perspective on the long tradition of conservation in the U.S., the importance of permitting reform to help meet power demand growth, and the need for an all-of-the-above energy approach.

Norway is a global leader in fossil fuel production and clean energy technology deployment. This week, Joseph and Quill sit down with Torgeir Stordal, Director General of the Norwegian Offshore Directorate, where he oversees the responsible development of fossil, wind, mineral, and carbon management resources on the Norwegian continental shelf. They discuss the shifting energy security landscape, the challenges of balancing development with environmental goals, and Norway’s future as an energy-producing nation.

Canada is one of the U.S.’s closest allies and its top trading partner. The U.S. imports more than four million barrels of Canadian crude oil per day, the majority of which come from Alberta. This week, Joseph and Quill sit down with Danielle Smith, Premier of Alberta, to discuss the province's important position in North American energy production. Premier Smith describes the role of oil and gas in driving economic growth, the challenges posed by shifting U.S. energy policy, and Alberta's efforts to balance energy development with environmental goals.

From record-breaking coal consumption to historic energy transition investment, 2024 was a year of contrasts. This week, Joseph and Quill discuss the major trends shaping the global energy landscape with Nat Bullard, co-founder of Halcyon and Managing Director of Business Climate. Nat shares insights from his annual slide deck, offering a data-driven perspective on the diverse stories unfolding within the energy transition.

Welcome to Power Map—a new podcast from the CSIS Energy Security and Climate Change Program. Every other week, Joseph and Quill sit down with policymakers, industry experts, and thought leaders who are shaping the future of energy. Stay tuned for the first episode on February 26.

Over the past three months, we have spoken to thought leaders, former government officials, and top journalists about the themes and issues that will shape energy and climate policy under the second Trump Administration. On the final episode of “The Transition”, Joseph and Quill reflect on what we have learned and what is next alongside Clay Seigle, the Energy Security and Climate Change Program’s new senior fellow.

Why did President Trump declare an energy emergency? How will his administration measure success in energy policy in the coming years? This week, Joseph and Quill break down the implications of recent energy orders with Paul Dabbar, Co-founder and CEO of Bohr Quantum Technologies and former Under Secretary for Science at the Department of Energy under the first Trump administration.

Industrial policy has garnered support from both sides of the aisle in recent years. Will tariffs and reshoring efforts bolster U.S. manufacturing or drive up costs and hinder clean energy progress? This week, Joseph and Quill discuss green industrial policy with Oren Cass, founder and chief economist of American Compass, and Jane Flegal, Executive Director of the Blue Horizons Foundation and former Senior Director for Industrial Emissions at the White House Office of Domestic Climate Policy under President Biden.

The Trump Administration is focused on maximizing U.S. oil production while limiting strategic adversaries' ability to leverage their own oil resources for their economic and geopolitical goals. This week, Joseph and Quill discuss the global oil market and the power of oil sanctions with Clay Seigle, the Energy Security and Climate Change Program’s new Senior Fellow and James R. Schlesinger Chair for Energy and Geopolitics.

Can markets deliver better environmental outcomes than mandates? This week, Joseph and Quill discuss conservative environmentalism with Hannah Downey, Policy Director at the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC), and Jim Connaughton, former Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) and Director of the White House Office of Environmental Policy under President George W. Bush.

As demand for clean, firm power grows in the U.S. and around the globe, nuclear energy is taking center stage. How will the incoming Trump administration shape the future of this critical technology? This week, Jane Nakano and Quill Robinson dive into the nuclear energy landscape with Jeremy Harrell, CEO of ClearPath and ClearPath Action, and Brad Plumer, climate reporter for The New York Times.

Could President-elect Trump’s policies lower greenhouse gas emissions? How much influence does the president have over U.S. emissions? This week, Joseph and Quill discuss opportunities for climate progress in the coming years with Robin Millican of Breakthrough Energy and Lisa Friedman of the New York Times.

The incoming Trump Administration has pledged to unleash American energy by lifting restrictions on energy production and undoing the Biden climate agenda. How will Trump’s deregulatory agenda and proposed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) reshape the U.S. energy landscape? Will Republicans and Democrats find common ground on permitting reform? This week, Joseph and Quill break down deregulation, DOGE, and permitting reform with Mike Catanzaro and Josh Siegel.

Over the last four years, President Biden implemented the most ambitious climate agenda in U.S. history. President-elect Trump and his fellow Republicans have pledged to undo the Biden climate agenda when they take control of the House, Senate, and White House in January. This week, Joseph and Quill discuss what the 2024 election taught us about the politics of climate change and the future of climate policy with Matt Yglesias, author of the Slow Boring newsletter.

China is the largest emitter of greenhouse gases and the leading global renewable energy manufacturer. The United States is the second largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and the world’s top oil and gas producer. This week, Joseph and Quill discuss the role of energy and climate in the U.S.-China relationship and the outlook for the Trump administration with Ilaria Mazzocco and Frank Fannon.

President-elect Trump has pledged to unleash U.S. oil and gas production to achieve American energy dominance. What are the potential risks and benefits of this approach? This week, Joseph and Quill explore the incoming Trump administration's oil and gas strategy with Victoria Coates and Kevin Book.

What are the incoming Trump administration’s energy policy goals? What political, geopolitical, and economic challenges will influence Trump and his officials’ ability to achieve these goals? This week, Joseph and Quill discuss the energy policy outlook for the Trump administration with Tim Puko, Emily Domenech, and Dave Banks.

Energy powers the world. With the re-election of Donald Trump, U.S. energy policy is set to undergo a major shift. "The Transition," an Energy 360° Miniseries, will unpack the future of energy and climate policy under new leadership with political insiders, thinkers, and business leaders reshaping the landscape. The first episode drops on Wednesday, November 13th.

This week, CSIS Energy Security and Climate Change Program Senior Adviser Linda Stuntz, Senior Associate John Larsen, and Fellow Cy McGeady join Quill Robinson to discuss permitting reform. With the introduction of Senator Joe Manchin (I-WV) and Senator John Barrasso's (R-WY) Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024, Washington is once again discussing how the permitting status quo is hindering progress on the United States’ energy security and climate goals.

This week, Kevin Book of Clearview Energy Partners joins Quill Robinson, Senior Program Manager and Associate Fellow, to discuss the climate and energy policy implications of the 2024 presidential election.

This week we discuss Mexico’s post-election landscape with Diego Rivera Rivota of Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy. In June, Claudia Sheinbaum won a resounding victory in Mexico’s presidential election. A climate scientist by background, Sheinbaum is expected to continue many of her predecessor’s energy and climate policies. But how might things shift?

This week, former Senator Mary Landrieu (D-LA) joins Joseph Majkut, director of the CSIS Energy Program, to discuss how policymakers can balance the development of the United States' energy resources with climate goals.

This week, Emily Domenech of Boundary Stone Partners, Adrian Deveny of Climate Vision, and Peter Stahley of Cassidy and Associates join Quill Robinson to discuss the creation of the Inflation Reduction Act, Republicans and Democrats shared and competing energy priorities, and the future of American climate leadership.

This week, the CEO of Shell, Wael Sawan, talks with Joseph Majkut, director of the CSIS Energy Program, about the future of the energy transition, the role of natural gas particularly LNG in ensuring energy security, and the need for reliability and stability when making energy investments. From the live event at CSIS on June 4, 2024. Transcript: https://www.csis.org/analysis/conversation-wael-sawan-ceo-shell

Do U.S. gasoline prices really start to increase after Memorial Day? To find out, Tom Kloza, Global Head of Energy Analysis with OPIS, talks with Ben Cahill about whether prices will be on the rise this summer and the complicated factors that can lead to higher gas prices at the pump.

Adi Imsirovic and Ben Cahill discuss the short term oil market outlook and the impact of embargoes, sanctions, and other interventions on global crude and product flows.

This week, Joseph Majkut talks with Sandeep Pai (Swaniti Global), Neelima Jain (CSIS), and Pradip Swarnakar (IIT-Kanpur) about how a just transition fits into our energy transition. Over the past 2 years, the CSIS Energy Program worked on the Global Just Transition Network, which worked to build a peer-to-peer network between South Africa, India, and the United States to facilitate knowledge sharing and learning from each other's experiences through sub-national engagement.

This week, BCG’s Tom Baker joins Joseph Majkut to discuss opportunities for U.S. leadership in the clean energy transition, highlighting the potential role of technologies like hydrogen and new policies in driving progress. They look at areas that could slow the build-out for low-carbon energy including grid modernization and new infrastructure.

In this week’s special episode, Ben Cahill and Jon Alterman discuss recent developments in the Middle East, U.S. policy objectives in the region, and how the oil market's response to geopolitical risks has changed. Further Reading: A Détente Option for Iran

This week, Ben Cahill speaks with Akshat Rathi, a senior climate reporter for Bloomberg and author of the book Climate Capitalism. In his book, Rathi explores how governments can create the right policy environment to unlock the potential for innovative climate solutions from businesses and individuals.  Further Reading: Climate Capitalism: Winning the Race to Zero Emissions and Solving the Crisis of Our Age.

On this special episode of Energy 360, Ditte Juul Jørgensen, Director General of DG Energy at the European Commission and Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt, Assistant Secretary for Energy Resources at the U.S. State Department, talk with CSIS Energy Program director Joseph Majkut about the U.S.-EU Energy Council and its agenda for jointly addressing energy security and climate change.  Further reading: Joint Statement by the U.S. and EU following the 11th U.S.-EU Energy Council

This week, Ben Cahill talks with Georges Tijbosch about how certifying natural gas could help create a lower-emission energy future. Georges is the CEO of a company called MIQ, or Methane IQ. MIQ is a global leader in methane emissions certification. It aims to create transparency by providing buyers with information about the emissions associated with the natural gas they are purchasing. Read More: Why Methane & Certification?

This week, climate expert Nat Bullard joins Cy McGeady to discuss the key trends that are shaping our decarbonization future. He and Cy talk through surprises and challenges to decarbonization progress, including the impact of interest rates on capital flows, the need for investment in hard-to-decarbonize sectors like steel, the role of technology, and the potential of AI to both increase energy demand and unlock solutions for climate change. Nat emphasizes the importance of maintaining momentum in decarbonization efforts and scaling up existing solutions. Further Reading: Decarbonization: Stocks and flows, abundance and scarcity, net zero

This week, Adam Johnson, Managing Partner with Metis Endeavor, joins Gracelin Baskaran to share his insights on the role of critical minerals in the energy transition. Adam and Gracelin look at the mining sector’s pathway for supporting and sustaining the transition. They drill into the impact of U.S. government policies on private investments, the importance of government support and coordinated efforts across the sector, as well as the need for increased financing for mining projects. Adam also discusses some challenges and risks associated with investing in critical minerals, such as price volatility and competition with China.  Further Reading: Adding a Critical Minerals Agreement to the AGOA Reauthorization  What China’s Ban on Rare Earths Processing Technology Exports Means

This week, Tim Gould, Chief Energy Economist at the International Energy Agency joins Joseph Majkut, director of the CSIS Energy Security and Climate Change Program, to discuss highlights from the World Energy Outlook and the need to scale up renewables, improve energy efficiency, reduce methane emissions, and address critical minerals production in order to maintain momentum for clean energy deployment. Tim Gould was appointed the Agency's Chief Energy Economist in 2021. As Chief Energy Economist, he provides strategic advice on energy economics across a wide range of IEA activities and analysis. Mr. Gould is also Head of the Division for Energy Supply and Investment Outlooks, in which capacity he co-leads the World Energy Outlook, the IEA's flagship publication, and oversees the Agency's work on investment and finance, including the World Energy Investment report. Mr Gould joined the IEA in 2008, initially as a specialist on Russian and Caspian energy, and in recent years has designed and directed the World Energy Outlook together with the IEA's Chief Energy Modeller while contributing to the Outlook as a principal author. Prior to joining the IEA, Mr Gould worked on European and Eurasian energy issues in Brussels and has ten years of experience in Eastern Europe, primarily in Ukraine. He graduated from Oxford University and has a post-graduate diploma from the School of Advanced International Studies of Johns Hopkins University.

This week, André de Ruyter, former CEO of Eskom the South African national power utility, joins Cy McGeady and Gracelin Baskaran to discuss South Africa’s energy sector and its energy transition plans. In the discussion, Andre draws on his time at Eskom to emphasize the importance of long-term planning and policy decisions for the electricity sector in South Africa.

Kevin Book, ClearView Energy Partners and Senior Adviser (non-resident), CSIS Energy Security and Climate Change Program, and Liam Denning, Columnist, Bloomberg Opinion, joined Joseph Majkut, CSIS Energy Security and Climate Change Program to assess which energy developments in 2023 have staying power and look ahead to the energy and climate issues to watch next year. Watch the CSIS Event: 2023 Energy and Climate Review

This week, Trevor Houser, a partner at the Rhodium Group, joins Allegra Dawes (CSIS) to discuss highlights from the Clean Investment Monitor. The Clean Investment Monitor, a joint project of Rhodium Group and MIT’s Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research, tracks public and private climate investments since 2018. In the past year, clean energy investment in the United States totaled $213 billion, a 37 percent increase from the previous year, largely due to new legislation passed in the United States (the Inflation Reduction Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, and the Chips and Science Act) and up 165 percent from five years ago. Further Reading: The Clean Investment Monitor: Tracking Decarbonization Technology in the United States The Clean Investment Monitor

This week, Geoff Dietz with the Coalition for Renewable Natural Gas (RNG Coalition) joins Ben Cahill with the CSIS Energy Security and Climate Change Program to discuss renewable natural gas (RNG). RNG is a domestic clean energy resource derived from the capture, cleaning, and conditioning of methane and other gaseous emissions from organic waste. Landfill projects and agricultural projects, particularly in dairy states, are the main sources of RNG production. Geoff and Ben discuss the future of RNG production, where demand for RNG is rising, and the potential economic and environmental benefits of RNG for the United States.

This week, Rohitesh Dhawan, the President and CEO of the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM), talks with Gracelin Baskaran about responsible mining and the challenges faced by the global mining industry. They discuss the role of ICMM in improving the standards of responsible mining, emphasizing the importance of obtaining the consent of mining-affected communities and the need for a fair and balanced dialogue among stakeholders. Dhawan also shares his personal journey and passion for mining, highlighting the industry's potential to lift people out of poverty, contribute to conservation efforts, and drive the energy transition.

This week, Dr. Seong-ik Oh, Director General of the Korean Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport, joins Jane Nakano, senior fellow with the CSIS Energy Security and Climate Change Program, to look at the differences between South Korea and Japan's energy policies and the factors that developed these different strategies. Dr. Oh also discusses how the dual challenge of energy security and climate change is advancing how Korea and Japan diversifying their energy production, including greater nuclear power and renewable energy resources. Dr. Oh is the author of the recent book: Overseas Energy Investment of Korea and Japan: How did Two East Asian Resources-Rare Industrial Giants Respond to Energy Security Challenges.

In the weeks following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, there was a flurry of articles, commentaries and videos predicting that the event signaled the end of globalization. Part of this prediction was based on policymakers and business leaders seeing the risks of global supply chains in countries with dissimilar political, economic and human rights alignments. What does the push to onshore and friend shore clean energy supply chains mean for global trade? How can trade be used as a tool to address climate change?  Allegra Dawes hosts this episode with Ambassador Jayme White, the Deputy United States Trade Representative; Peter Rashish, the Vice President and Director of the Geoeconomics program at the American German Institute; and Colin Grabow, a research fellow with the Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies at the Cato Institute; and special thanks to Emily Benson, the Director of the Project on Trade and Technology at CSIS.

In this episode, we look at two different sectors – the solar industry and the offshore wind industry. Both technologies are set to play important roles in decarbonizing the US’ and the world’s power supply. Allegra Dawes hosts this episode with MJ Shiao, the Vice President of Supply chain and Manufacturing for the American Clean Power Association; Scott Moskowitz, the Director of Strategy and Market Intelligence at QCells; Atin Jain, Senior Associate, BloombergNEF; and Varun Sivaram, the Group Senior Vice President for Strategy and Innovation at Orsted.

Batteries are critical for the energy transition. Can the US build a domestic industry for batteries from mining for minerals to producing batteries at scale? Allegra Dawes hosts this episode with Jay Turner, a professor of environmental studies at Wellesley College; Jasper Jung, the Executive Director of Global strategic initiatives and public policy with General Motors; Steve LeVine the editor of the online publication, the Electric; and Jon Evans, the CEO and President of Lithium Americas.

Green industrial policy is the new tool to address climate change, stimulate domestic manufacturing, and counter China. Where did this new policy experiment come from and what is at stake? Allegra Dawes hosts this episode with Jane Flegal, the former Senior Director for Industrial Emissions at the White House; David Victor, a professor of innovation and public policy at UC San Diego; and Joanna Lewis, an associate Professor of Energy and Environment at Georgetown University.

It’s been a little over a year since the passage of the IRA. How has the bill impacted the US’ energy transition strategy? Joseph Majkut and Deputy Secretary Dave Turk of the Department of Energy discuss how investment in clean energy has developed in the wake of the IRA.

The CSIS Energy Security and Climate Change team is launching a new podcast miniseries, New Shores, that will dive into the world of clean energy supply chains in the wake of the Inflation Reduction Act. Join us to learn about onshoring and friendshoring the energy transition.

This week Christyan Malek, Managing Director and Global Head of Energy Strategy for JP Morgan and Head of EMEA Oil & Gas Equity Research, joins Joseph Majkut, director of the CSIS Energy Security and Climate Change Program to discuss energy market conditions, energy security, barriers to investment and what’s next for the energy transition.   Christyan Malek, a Managing Director and Global Head of Energy Strategy for JP Morgan and Head of EMEA Oil & Gas Equity Research. Christyan and his team have been consistently top-ranked by Institutional Investor in European Exploration and Production and Oilfield Services over the last 11 years, most recently achieving the #1 rank four years in a row in the 2020-2023 II Surveys for Oil & Gas Exploration and Production in both the Developed Europe and Emerging EMEA categories. He is also ranked the top-rated global energy analyst in the individual category.   Christyan has written extensively on Global and European Majors’ energy transition and disruption, energy macro strategy and the Supercyle thesis, and has hosted a suite of industry thought leaders including Saudi Minister of Energy HRH Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman Al Saud, OPEC Secretary General HE Mohammed Barkindo, US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm and the Executive Director of the IEA Fatih Birol.   He has previously worked at Nomura, DB and BP, and graduated from Imperial College, London, with a First in Chemical Engineering. He is originally Egyptian, and Arabic is his second language.

This week, CSIS experts Joseph Majkut, Ben Cahill, and Gracelin Baskaran cover recent developments in global oil markets, BRICS expansion, critical minerals, and the geopolitics of energy.    Further Reading from the CSIS Energy Security and Climate Change Program Oil Market Tightens but China Looms Large  Six New BRICS: Implications for Energy Trade  Prospects for U.S. Minerals Engagement with Africa

This week, Adi Imsirovic (Surrey Clean Energy) joins Ben Cahill (CSIS) to discuss developments in global oil markets, demand and supply outlooks for the rest of 2023, and the OPEC+ - Russia relationship.  Adi is the Director at Surrey Clean Energy and former Global Head of Oil Trading at Gazprom Marketing and Trading, and was a Senior Research Fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. He is also the author of: ‘Trading and Price Discovery for Crude Oil’ and editor of ‘Brent Crude Oil, Genesis and Development of the World's Most Important Oil Benchmark’.

This week, Simone Tagliapietra, a Senior Fellow with Bruegel, joins CSIS program director Joseph Majkut to discuss how Europe is managing the ongoing energy crisis and moving away from Russian energy supplies while advancing decarbonization efforts, also look at the future of energy security in Europe, and the state of U.S.-EU energy policy cooperation. Further Reading After the great energy crisis: Europe’s new landscape, Testimony before the U.S. Senate Climate Change Task Force Rebooting the Net Zero Industry Act: Testimony before the European Economic and Social Committee

In this week’s episode, Steven Burns, Chief Director of Energy and Infrastructure for Europe and Eurasia, USAID, joins Ben Cahill with the CSIS Energy Security and Climate Change Program, for an update on Ukraine’s energy sector. Steve describes the current state of Ukraine’s energy sector and the extensive damage done by Russian attacks this past winter, especially to the electricity sector. Steve outlines the role that USAID is playing in the reconstruction, with the help of its partners and Ukrainian counterparts, to fix the existing energy infrastructure, restore capacity, and build for a more resilient and lower-emission energy future.

This week, David Fishman, a Senior Manager at The Lantau Group, joins Cy McGeady to look at the Chinese electric power sector. China is leading in renewable energy deployment but at the same time is building and using coal-fired power plants. David and Cy look at the Chinese sector to understand how both these things can be true and what it means for China’s energy future.

This week, Rick Rossow, Chair in U.S.-India Policy Studies here at CSIS, joins Joseph Majkut to discuss India’s ambitious renewable energy targets, where it is exceeding or failing to meet those targets, subnational collaboration with counterparts in U.S. states, and India’s position on the world stage over the next decade. Further Reading: Accelerate: 175: A Plan for Targeted Renewable Energy Cooperation with Key Indian States

This week, Laszlo Varro (Shell) joins Joseph Majkut (CSIS) to discuss the latest Shell Scenarios, called Sky and Archipelago, and how they relate to the world’s present geopolitical, energy, and climate developments. Laszlo Varro is Vice-President, Global Business Environment at Shell, where he leads their analyses of energy scenarios, macroeconomics, climate policy, and geopolitics. Varro joined Shell in 2021, after ten years at the International Energy Agency. For more, check out the Shell Scenarios.

This week, Tatsuya Terazawa, Chairman and CEO of The Institute of Energy Economics, Japan (IEEJ), joins Jane Nakano (CSIS Energy Security and Climate Change Program) to look at key energy and climate issues on the G7 agenda. In April, Japan hosted the G7 Ministers Meeting on Climate, Energy, and Environment, in advance of the upcoming G7 Summit on May 19-21. They discuss highlights from the G7’s Communique, including energy security, decarbonization efforts, and renewable energy development as well as Japan’s priorities for the meetings.

This week, Noah Kaufman (Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University) joins Joseph Majkut (Energy Security and Climate Change Program at CSIS) to discuss the recent Executive Order on modernizing the regulatory review process, and its implications and benefits for the U.S. climate regulations.    Executive Order on Modernizing Regulatory Review Preamble: Proposed OMB Circular No. A-4, “Regulatory Analysis”

This week, Allison Good with S&P Global Market intelligence talks with Cy McGeady with the CSIS Energy Program about how changing conditions in the capital markets may affect the U.S. energy transition. They discuss three recent shifts in the economic landscape and the role these play in shaping the renewable energy sector: the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank, implementation of the Inflation Reduction Act, and the elevated cost of capital.

This week Ben Cahill talks with Joseph Majkut about his recent work on efforts to reduce methane emissions from the oil and gas industry. The EPA is developing new U.S. methane regulations, due out later this year, and the EU is advancing methane legislation, though progress slowed over the last year. Ben also looks head for next steps for both countries, especially in the months leading up to COP28. Further Reading: What’s Next for Oil and Gas Methane Regulations: Emerging Rules in the United States and the European Union

This week, Jamie Webster with the Center for Energy Impact at BCG joins Ben Cahill (CSIS) to discuss energy transitions, what peak demand really means, and the resulting shifts in the global energy system.

This week, Steve LeVine joins Jane Nakano (CSIS) to discuss recent developments in the U.S. electric vehicle market and battery supply chain. Steve is editor of the Electric, a new publication looking at batteries, electric vehicles, and their impact on society, cities, and geopolitics. Further reading: U.S. Push to Secure EV Battery Supply Chains and the Role of China The Electric by Steve LeVine

This week, Hal Harvey (CEO of Energy Innovation and co-author of The Big Fix) joins Joseph Majkut (CSIS Energy Security and Climate Change Program) to talk about the progress he is seeing on clean energy goals and climate solutions, especially in the United States in light of the Inflation Reduction Act. Further Reading:  The Big Fix Seven Practical Steps to Save Our Planet Top State Policies To Cut Carbon Emissions

This week, Senator Kevin Cramer of North Dakota joins Joseph Majkut (CSIS Energy Security and Climate Change Program) to discuss energy and climate issues in the 118th Congress, the potential for bipartisan policymaking, the role of the United States as an energy exporter and the opportunity for U.S leadership in global energy security.

This week, Dr. Tatiana Mitrova (Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University) and Ben Cahill (Energy Security and Climate Change Program at CSIS) provide an outlook for the Russian oil sector, including the EU and G7 price cap on Russian oil and its impacts on the Russian economy. Further Reading: Can Russia’s War Chest Withstand the New Oil Cap? Progress Report on EU Embargo and Russian Oil Price Cap

EIA Administrator Dr. Joe DeCarolis joined CSIS Senior Fellow Ben Cahill for a discussion on priorities for EIA, outlining the role of EIA, how its data can be most useful to policymakers, and his plans for changes and improvements in the coming year.  Dr. Joseph DeCarolis was confirmed Administrator of the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) on March 31, 2022. Before his appointment, Dr. DeCarolis served as a professor in the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering at North Carolina State University (NC State). He also previously worked as an environmental scientist in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Research and Development, where he engaged in energy systems modeling to quantify the air pollution impacts from future energy system development. Dr. DeCarolis received a PhD in Engineering and Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University, and he holds a BS in Physics and Environmental Science and Policy from Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts.

In our final episode of 2022, Kevin Book (ClearView Energy Partners) and Liam Denning (Bloomberg) join Joseph Majkut (CSIS) to make sense of the many energy and climate developments in 2022 and look at some under the radar issues to watch next year.

This week Dr. Friederike Otto with the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment at Imperial College London joins Dr. Joseph Majkut (CSIS) to discuss climate change attribution, which measures how climate change directly affects extreme weather events, like heat waves, floods, or droughts. Dr. Friederike (Fredi) Otto is a Senior Lecturer in Climate Science at the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment at Imperial College. Her main research interest is on extreme weather events such as droughts, heat waves, and storms, and understanding whether and to what extent these are made more likely or intense due to climate change - known by experts as 'climate change attribution'. Fredi is the co-lead of World Weather Attribution (WWA), an international effort to analyze and communicate the possible influence of climate change on extreme weather events. Through rapid attribution studies, which provide timely scientific evidence showing the extent to which climate change influenced a given event, WWA has helped to change the global conversation around climate change, influencing adaptation strategies and paving the way for new sustainability litigation. Read More: World Weather Attribution Climate change likely increased extreme monsoon rainfall, flooding highly vulnerable communities in Pakistan Angry Weather: Heat Waves, Floods, Storms, and the New Science of Climate Change

This week, finance industry veteran and author Terrence Keeley joins Joseph Majkut to discuss his book “Sustainable: Moving Beyond ESG to Impact Investing”, and the promises and limitations of ESG investing. More Reading: Sustainable: Moving Beyond ESG to Impact Investing “Why ESG Funds Fail, and How They Could Succeed” "Was Milton Friedman the First 'Woke' Capitalist?" Terrence Keeley has been an adviser to the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds, national pension plans, endowments, foundations, and asset managers for more than three decades as a senior client officer at BlackRock and UBS Investment Bank. In 2021, he was named a leading global “Knowledge Broker” by Chief Investment Officer.

Did energy and climate play a role in the US midterm elections?  David Goldwyn and Joseph Majkut look at how the energy and climate agendas may have factored into specific elections and what the outcome means now for the U.S. domestic and international energy and climate agendas.    David Goldwyn is president of Goldwyn Global Strategies, LLC, an international energy advisory consultancy and chairman of the Atlantic Council Global Energy Center’s Energy Advisory Group. Mr. Goldwyn served as the U.S. Department of State’s special envoy and coordinator for international energy affairs from 2009 to 2011 and assistant secretary of energy for international affairs (1999-2001). Mr. Goldwyn is a member of the U.S. National Petroleum Council and the Council on Foreign Relations. Mr. Goldwyn holds a B.A. in Government from Georgetown University, an M.A. in Public Affairs from Princeton University Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and a J.D. from New York University.

This week Joseph Majkut talks with David Victor, professor with the School of Global Policy and Strategy at UC San Diego and author, with Charles Sabel, of Fixing the Climate: Strategies for an Uncertain World.  David and Joseph look at how the process of global climate governance has shaped the climate community, providing examples for where leaders in government, civil society and the private sector can craft practices to move faster on global climate action.   David Victor is a professor of innovation and public policy at the School of Global Policy and Strategy at UC San Diego. Victor is the co-director of the campus-wide Deep Decarbonization Initiative, which focuses on real world strategies for bringing the world to nearly zero emissions of warming gases. He is also an adjunct professor in Climate, Atmospheric Science & Physical Oceanography at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Learn More: Fixing the Climate: Strategies for an Uncertain World A Cleaner Future for Flight — aviation needs a radical redesign

This week, Joseph Majkut (CSIS) talks with Mike Catanzaro (CGCN) and Marcela Mulholland (Data for Progress) about the need for permitting reform to allow for new energy infrastructure to be built in the United States. Without significant reforms to the permitting process, energy security and the climate agenda in the U.S. could be at risk as new energy projects will see continued delays and struggle to be built.    Michael Catanzaro is President and Chief Policy Officer at the CGCN Group. Before joining CGCN, Catanzaro served as Special Assistant to President Trump for Domestic Energy and Environmental Policy at the White House National Economic Council. He previously served on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and on the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign as a top adviser on energy and environmental policy. Catanzaro was Associate Director for Policy in the White House Council on Environmental Quality and Associate Deputy Administrator of the EPA under former President George W. Bush. He also served as a senior adviser to then-Speaker John Boehner on energy and environmental policy. Marcela Mulholland is the Political Director at Data for Progress and a member of its senior leadership team. She represents Data for Progress’s work in progressive policy to the media, policymakers, and key partners in the environmental justice and labor movements. Previously, she worked as a Policy Entrepreneur at Next100 developing policy related to the Green New Deal and public housing. Prior to that, Marcela interned with the NAACP’s Environmental and Climate Justice Program and served as an organizer and national spokesperson for the Sunrise Movement. Marcela is a South Florida native and holds a B.A. in political science and sustainability studies from the University of Florida.

Gerassimos Thomas, the Director-General at the European Commission in charge of Taxation and Customs Union, spoke with Joseph Majkut about the energy challenges in Europe this winter, the future of energy security and climate measures, and the state of U.S.-EU cooperation.

Last month, climate and clean energy experts convened in New York for Climate Week 2022 and then Pittsburgh for the Global Clean Energy Action Forum. With ambitious agendas set out for each, we asked 3 people who participated in the formal and informal events which discussions caught their attention: Kartikeya Singh (Climate Imperative Foundation and a CSIS non-resident associate), Sandeep Pai (CSIS Global Just Transition Network), and Morgan Higman (CSIS Energy Security and Climate Change Program). They discussed state-level and federal climate agendas, clean energy technologies and just transitions, with an eye toward COP27 this fall and the G20 meetings next year. Learn More: New York Climate Week 2022 Global Clean Energy Action Forum GCEAF Side Event: Repurposing coal infrastructure and diversifying local economies to enable a just transition in coal regions

Jesse Burton (University of Cape Town) and Joey James (Downstream Strategies) join Sandeep Pai (CSIS) to discuss progress and challenges in creating and implementing Just Transition policies in Coal communities in the United States, South Africa and India.  They look at local remediation efforts, and state policies and frameworks, look forward to how these countries may further integrate just Transition Planning into broader, global climate policies.  Joey James is Principal at Downstream Strategies, an environmental and economic development consulting firm based in West Virginia.  Jesse Burton is a senior associate at E3G in London, and a researcher in the Energy Systems research group at the University of Cape Town.   Read more:   GOT FIVE ON IT: Economic Impacts and Observations of the Abandoned Mine Land Economic Revitalization Program Five Years In  Moving forward at warp speed: Abandoned mine reclamation over the coming years  A Framework for a Just Transition in South Africa: A Presidential Climate Commission Report  Understanding Just Transitions in Coal Dependent Communities: Case Studies from Mpumalanga, South Africa, and Jharkhand, India  Just Transition Finance Roadmap

This week, Paul Farnan, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army Installations, Energy and Environment, and Allison Riley, Assistant Professor in the School of Engineering at the University of Maryland, join Morgan Higman, Fellow in the Energy Security and Climate Change program, to discuss climate preparedness strategies of the U.S. Army and state and local governments.   Guests Paul W. Farnan is Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Installations, Energy and Environment. In this role, he is the principal deputy advisor to the Secretary of the Army and Chief of Staff of the Army on all matters related to Installation policy and oversight and the coordination of energy security and management. He is also responsible for policy and oversight of sustainability and environmental initiatives and resource management.   Dr. Allison Coffey Reilly is a civil engineer specializing in risk and resilience of infrastructure systems. She is Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland A. James Clark School of Engineering. Her work focuses on characterizing the interplay between the resilience of infrastructure and individual decision-making. Her recent projects include examination of investment decisions by managers of interdependent infrastructure systems and the Evolution of vulnerability of communities facing repeated hazards.

This week, Dr. Sarah Burch (University of Waterloo, Canada) talks with Joseph Majkut (CSIS Energy Security and Climate Change Program Director) about key findings from the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) - Climate Change 2022: Mitigation of Climate Change, which provided an updated assessment of global climate change mitigation progress and pledges.   Dr. Sarah Burch holds a Canada Research Chair in Sustainability Governance and Innovation and is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management, University of Waterloo, Canada. She is an expert in transformative responses to climate change at the community scale, innovative strategies for making progress on sustainability, and the unique contributions that small businesses can make to this solving this complex challenge. She is currently a Lead Author of the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.    Listen to our previous episodes: Making Sense of the IPCC Report with Dr. Robert Kopp, October 11, 2021 Making Sense of the IPCC Report, Climate Change 2022 Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability with Dr. Maarten van Aalst, March 21, 2022

This week, Kevin Book (ClearView Energy Partners and CSIS) joins Joseph Majkut (CSIS) to discuss how energy issues are at play in the upcoming U.S. midterm elections and what it may mean for the future of the U.S. energy and climate agenda.

In this special episode, Joseph Majkut (CSIS) talks with Kyle Danish (Van Ness Feldman) and John Larsen (Rhodium Group) about the future of U.S. climate policy following the news that Senator Joe Manchin rejected the proposed energy and climate investments that were part of the budget reconciliation package and the recent Supreme Court decision limiting the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate carbon emissions at existing power plants. Further Reading The Climate Change Agenda can Survive the Supreme Court’s EPA ruling U.S. Supreme Court Constrains EPA’s Climate Authorities Taking Stock 2022: US Greenhouse Gas Emissions Outlook in an Uncertain World

This week, Raad Alkadiri, Managing Director for Energy, Climate & Resources at the Eurasia Group and an CSIS affiliate and Ben Cahill, CSIS Energy Security and Climate Change Program talk about President’s upcoming trip to the Middle East.  Ben and Raad talk about why the President is going now and expectations for the trip’s success. They look at the energy issues likely to be addressed, especially as global oil prices are easing off their recent highs, and the role that Saudi Arabia and OPEC+ play in managing the oil markets.    Further Reading CSIS Press Briefing: Previewing President Biden’s Trip to the Middle East, July 6, 2022 To Boost Energy Security, Keep It Simple: Add Supply, Cut Demand by Ben Cahill, July 7, 2022 Don't Expect Saudi Arabia to Save the Day by Ben Cahill, July 13, 2022

This week, Laszlo Varro, Vice President for Global Business Environment at Shell, joins Joseph Majkut (CSIS) to discuss the Shell Scenarios, and how these different scenarios can help us navigate the energy security, geopolitical, and climate concerns of our present-day energy landscape. For more, check out the Shell Scenarios.

This week Kay Harrison, New Zealand’s Climate Ambassador joins Joseph Majkut (CSIS) to discuss how New Zealand is advancing its national and regional climate actions. Kay was appointed to her position in 2019 and participated in COP26 where New Zealand updated its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) and announced increased climate finance, signalling further commitment to its climate change action. They talk about New Zealand’s national net zero commitment and how it is being integrated across the country. Lastly, Kay and Joseph look back to if there has been progress on the COP26 commitments look at ahead to COP27 in Egypt and what needs to happen there to keep up the momentum on global climate action.

This bonus episode is from the recent event with U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm and Canadian Minister of Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson. They joined Joseph Majkut, director of the CSIS Energy Security & Climate Change Program, for a conversation on areas of U.S.-Canada energy cooperation, including efforts to decarbonize, actions to address the current global energy crisis, and joint efforts to enhance North American energy security.

This week on Energy 360, Peter Irvine (University College London) and Jesse Reynolds (Paris Peace Forum) talk with Joseph Makjut (CSIS) about the future of combatting climate change and how human interventions, including the potential of technologies like solar geoengineering, could play a role.   Guests: Dr. Peter Irvine, Lecturer in Climate Change & Solar Geoengineering, University College London (UCL) Earth Sciences. Dr. Jesse Reynolds, Senior Policy Officer, the Global Commission on Governing Risks from Climate Overshoot, Paris Peace Forum For more, check out their podcast, Challenging Climate

On May 11th, the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) will hold its first offshore wind energy lease sale of the Carolinas. Ahead of this sale, Morgan Higman (CSIS) talks with officials from North Carolina, Massachusetts, and New York, about how their states are working to secure economic benefits for their states from the development of the offshore wind sector. Guests: Jennifer R.F. Mundt, Assistant Secretary of Clean Energy Economic Development, North Carolina Department of Commerce, where she leads the state’s efforts to secure economic development and workforce opportunities in the clean energy sector. Bruce Carlisle, Managing Director, Offshore Wind, Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, where he leads efforts to advance the successful and responsible development of the offshore wind sector in Massachusetts. Georges Sassine, Vice President, Large Scale Renewables, New York State Energy Research & Development Authority (NYSERDA), where he works to advance land-based renewable energy and offshore wind resources in New York.   Further Reading from the CSIS Clean Resilient States Initiative: State Strategies for Expanding Economic Opportunity in Clean Energy

This week Dr. Martin Skiba, chairman of the World Forum Offshore Wind and a board member of the Offshore Wind Power Foundation, spoke with Joseph Majkut, director of the CSIS Energy Security and Climate Change Program about offshore wind developments. Dr. Skiba walks us through how Germany was able to grow its domestic offshore wind industry and how the industry is moving into global markets.

This week Ed Crooks (WoodMac) joins Joseph Majkut (CSIS) to focus on energy security in light of the ongoing Russian invasion in Ukraine. Ed and Joseph discuss the sanctions on Russia, how the U.S. and Europe are rethinking energy security, and what policy options are available to alleviate the short term supply side challenges without upsetting long term climate goals.

This week, Mzila  Mthenjane with Exxaro Resources in South Africa and Dr. Raju Evr with the Indian Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change, join Sandeep Pai of the Just Transition Initiative to look at the role of environmental remediation plays in the just transition agenda.  For more, read Understanding Just Transitions in Coal Dependent Communities: Case Studies from Mpumalanga, South Africa, and Jharkhand, India

This week, climate risk expert Maarten van Aalst talks with Joseph Majkut, CSIS Energy Security and Climate Change Program Director, about key findings from the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) - Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability, released last month. Dr. van Aalst, Director, Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre and Chair in Climate and Disaster Resilience at ITC, University of Twente, is the Coordinating Lead Author in Working Group II chapter on key risks and impacts.

Methane is a potent greenhouse gas and reducing methane emissions across the oil and natural gas supply chain is an important part of meeting global climate goals. This week, Fiji George and Arvind Ravikumar joined my colleague Ben Cahill to help us understand why this is so important and what needs to be done to speed up emissions reductions. Fiji George is Senior Director for Climate & Sustainability at Cheniere Energy, Inc., and Dr. Arvind Ravikumar is Research Associate Professor in the Petroleum Engineering department at the University of Texas at Austin and a fellow at the Payne Institute for Public Policy at the Colorado School of Mines.  Further Reading from the CSIS Project on Engaging Global Gas Players on Methane Emissions: Methane Emissions and the Gas Ecosystem: Buyers, Sellers, and Banks   Disclosure: Dr. Ravikumar’s research group at UT Austin is supported in part through funding provided by Cheniere. CSIS also receives general funding from Cheniere.

In the United States, states are often leaders in advancing climate and energy objectives. The state regulatory utility commissioners who oversee electricity and gas services can be especially influential in guiding the development of new, clean energy infrastructure. This week on Energy 360, Morgan Higman (Clean Resilient States Initiative, CSIS) spoke with commissioners from Arizona, Colorado, and Washington to understand their roles and learn their perspectives and agendas for climate and energy policies.  Guests:  Chairman Eric Blank, Colorado Public Utilities Commission  Chairwoman Lea Márquez Peterson, Arizona Corporation Commission  Commissioner Ann Rehndal, Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission  Further Reading from the CSIS Clean Resilient States Initiative: State Strategies for Expanding Economic Opportunity in Clean Energy

This week, the CSIS Energy Security and Climate Change Program looks at some of the energy implications from growing tensions between Ukraine and Russia. Joseph Majkut, Nikos Tsafos, and Ben Cahill look at recent developments to understand what a possible invasion of Russia into the Ukraine would mean for EU energy security and international energy markets. They also discuss the policy and market levers that the United States and the EU have available to counter any interruptions to the energy supply or to punish potential actions by Russia.  For more, please see recent CSIS analysis: Ben Cahill: Oil Market Cannot Afford to Lose Russian Supplies https://www.csis.org/analysis/oil-market-cannot-afford-lose-russian-supplies Nikos Tsafos: Can European Energy Cope with a Conflict in Ukraine? https://www.csis.org/analysis/can-european-energy-cope-conflict-ukraine Nikos Tsafos: To Deter Russia, Threaten its Role in the Green Economy https://www.euractiv.com/section/energy/opinion/to-deter-russia-threaten-its-role-in-the-green-economy/ CSIS: Press Briefing: The Russian Threat to Ukraine https://www.csis.org/events/press-briefing-russian-threat-ukraine CSIS: Crisis Crossroads: Ukraine https://www.csis.org/programs/crisis-crossroads-ukraine

This week on Energy 360, Dr. Joshua Rhodes, an energy expert at the University of Texas at Austin, joins Morgan Higman (CSIS Energy) to look back at the February 2021 electric power crisis in Texas. Last year, a major winter storm caused devastating power outages across Texas. Joshua and Morgan look at some of the underlying reasons that Texas was not able to manage the electric grid during that storm, what preventative and resilience measures or changes to the grid have been put into place since the storm, and whether these would be enough to prevent something similar from happening again.

This week, John Larsen (Rhodium Group) joins Joseph Majkut (CSIS) to look at how the United States could create a policy action plan to meet the Biden administration’s target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50-52 percent by 2030. John and his colleagues provided an in-depth look at the federal and state level steps needed to meet this target in their report, Pathways to Paris: A Policy Assessment of the 2030 US Climate Target.  https://rhg.com/research/us-climate-policy-2030

This week, Sarah Ladislaw (RMI) and Liam Denning (Bloomberg) join Nikos Tsafos (CSIS) to look back at what happened in energy and climate over the last year. 2021 saw the world’s climate leaders focused on the November U.N. Climate meetings in Glasgow and the Biden Administration come in with a sweeping new agenda. Where was real progress made or lost?  How could it impact energy and climate policy developments as we move into 2022? (Recorded on December 14, 2021).

This week, Artem Abramov (Rystad Energy) and Casey Merriman (Energy Intelligence) join Ben Cahill (CSIS) for a discussion about what’s next for U.S. shale production.  They look at recent production trends and investor pressure in U.S. oil and gas sector and what that might indicate for the coming year. They also consider possible impacts from recent policy actions coming from the Biden administration, especially those concerning drilling on public lands.

This week, David Terry, Executive Director of the National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO) joins Morgan Higman (Clean Resilient States Project, CSIS) to look at how states are working together and with the federal government to craft workable and innovative solutions to implement energy policies. They cover the recent fall NASEO meeting and issues important to the agenda, including transportation, grid resiliency, energy efficiency, equity, and workforce development. They also discuss how states engaged with the international agendas at the recent COP meeting in Glasgow. For more, please read The Role of U.S. States in Addressing Climate Action.

This week, Gaylor Montmasson-Clair with Trade & Industrial Policy Strategies (TIPS) and Srestha Banerjee with iForest join Sandeep Pai (CSIS) to explore the opportunities and challenges for coal dependent regions in India and South Africa to create just and sustainable pathways to diversify their economies. For more, read Understanding Just Transitions in Coal Dependent Communities: Case Studies from Mpumalanga, South Africa, and Jharkhand, India

This week, Chandra Bhushan with iFOREST and Jesse Burton with the University of Cape Town join Sandeep Pai (CSIS) to look at how key themes of just transitions are important in the context of CoP26 meetings. They then discuss the key priorities on the ground for a just transition away from coal in the major economies of South Africa and India.  For more, read Understanding Just Transitions in Coal Dependent Communities: Case Studies from Mpumalanga, South Africa, and Jharkhand, India