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Energy Explained
Get the latest as our experts share their insights on global energy policy.
Saudi Arabia Pivots into Global LNG Market
Saudi Arabia’s recent moves into the liquefied natural gas (LNG) market may be a sign the giant oil exporter is looking to expand into a rapidly growing and politically influential market it had long ignored.
Podcasts
Hear in-depth conversations with the world’s top energy and climate leaders from government, business, academia, and civil society.
Trump’s Mideast Diplomacy
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...
Columbia Energy Exchange Podcast
• May 27, 2025
Events
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June 11, 2025
• 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
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Careers at the World Bank: Exploring Opportunities in Global Development
Join us for a virtual information session focused on career pathways at the World Bank, one of the world’s leading international financial institutions dedicated to poverty reduction and...
Event
The past decade has been a turbulent one for the London-based oil and gas major BP, from the serious Deepwater Horizon accident that brought the company to the brink, to navigating its troubled relations with Russia and the oil price collapse of 2014, to charting a path forward – now toward a lower-carbon world to address the challenge of climate change.
In this edition of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Jason Bordoff is joined by BP’s chief executive, Bob Dudley, who has been at the helm of BP for the past decade, and is the first American to head the company. He started his career in the oil and gas industry forty years ago with Amoco Corporation as a chemical engineer. Amoco was then acquired by BP, and Bob took on a number of roles, including working for Lord John Browne, managing BP’s alternative energy business around the time that its Beyond Petroleum Initiative was launched, heading the unique Russian joint oil venture called TNK-BP, and leading American and Asian activities.
Bob is credited for stabilizing, and indeed saving, the company at a pivotal time. Nearly a decade on, BP has emerged as a much stronger company, trying to navigate a rapidly-changing energy landscape, and deal with new pressures, including diversifying into clean energies and figuring out how an oil and gas company responds to climate change.
Bob Dudley steps down as CEO next week, and Jason sat down with him at BP’s London Headquarters to reflect back on his career, and to look ahead on where the company, and the energy industry, may be going.
More Episodes
Trump’s Mideast Diplomacy
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...
Columbia Energy Exchange Podcast
• May 27, 2025
A Framework for Achieving Energy Equity
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...
Japan’s Shifting Energy Strategy
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...
Can Canada Become an Energy Superpower?
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....
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Publications
Is a Good Iran Deal Possible?
What Washington needs from nuclear negotiations with Tehran.
How to make a sovereign wealth fund work for American industry
An asset-backed equipment finance programme would be just the boost US companies need
Weighing Whether the United States Should Dispose of Defense HLW and SNF First: Roundtable Summary
On March 31, 2025, the Center on Global Energy Policy (CGEP) at Columbia University SIPA hosted a private virtual roundtable under the Chatham House rule to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the United States pursuing disposal of defense high-level nuclear waste (HLW) and spent nuclear fuel (SNF) before commercial SNF.
Assessing the Policy Ecosystems and Scaling Pathways of Direct Lithium Extraction
Lithium plays a critical role in the global energy transition. It is the core ingredient of lithium-ion batteries that power electric vehicles (EVs) and are used in stationary energy storage systems.
