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Energy Explained
Get the latest as our experts share their insights on global energy policy.
Assessing the Energy Impacts of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act
This special CGEP blog series, featuring six contributions from CGEP scholars, analyzes the potential impacts of the OBBBA across a range of sectors.
Blog
by Jack Andreasen Cavanaugh, Anne-Sophie Corbeau, Tom Moerenhout, Matt Bowen, Ashley Finan & Noah Kaufman • July 14, 2025
Podcasts
Hear in-depth conversations with the world’s top energy and climate leaders from government, business, academia, and civil society.
Climate Shocks Are Redefining Energy Security
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...
Podcast
Can U.S. Coal Make a Comeback?
August 28, 2017
Guest
Trevor Houser
Partner at Rhodium Group
Over the last six years coal prices have gone from record highs to plummeting lows, putting three of the four largest U.S. coal firms into bankruptcy. Although coal mining employment has been declining for decades, Donald Trump campaigned for the U.S. presidency on a platform that promised to reverse what he called his predecessor’s “war on coal.” Since taking office, the new administration has begun to reverse Obama-era environmental policies, and is fielding increasing calls from policymakers and industry alike to do more for coal firms and jobs. This month, West Virginia governor Jim Justice proposed that the federal government provide subsidies to revive the Appalachian coal industry, calling the issue a matter of national security. Yet the Trump Administration rejected a coal industry push to win a rarely used emergency order to protect coal-fired power plants, a decision that has angered some coal executives.
To put all of these recent developments into context, host Jason Bordoff sits down with Trevor Houser, a partner at the Rhodium Group, to discuss a report they co-authored together with Peter Marsters this year–Coal Make a Comeback?–about the U.S. coal industry, its decline, and prospects for its recovery.
More Episodes
Climate Shocks Are Redefining Energy Security
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...
Is AI Friend or Foe to the Clean Energy Transition?
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...
Peaks and Valleys in the Energy Transition
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...
Navigating Israel-Iran Ceasefire Uncertainties
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...
Columbia Energy Exchange Podcast
with Richard Nephew
, Karen E. Young
and Daniel Sternoff
• June 25, 2025
Relevant
Publications
Climate Finance (CliF) Vulnerability Index: Technical Methodology
The Climate Finance (CliF) Vulnerability Index is designed to provide a comprehensive understanding of climate vulnerability for nation states in order to improve the targeting and provision of climate change adaptation financing.
External Publications
with Gautam Jain & Andrew Kamau •
Columbia University Academic Commons
• May 21, 2025
Energy Abundance Alone Won’t Fix the Climate
Energy abundance isn't a climate strategy—it delays clean energy progress, harms global cooperation, and repeats past policy mistakes.
Energy and Climate Issues During the Trump Administration’s First 100 Days
President Donald Trump has made energy a clear focus for his second term in the White House. Having campaigned on an “America First” platform that highlighted domestic fossil-fuel growth, the reversal of climate policies and clean energy incentives advanced by the Biden administration, and substantial tariffs on key US trading partners, he declared an “energy emergency” on his first day in office.
