Dr. Tom Moerenhout is a Research Scholar at the Center on Global Energy Policy, and an Adjunct Associate Professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. He is also an advisor on energy subsidy reform to the World Bank’s Infra Energy Global Program, and a Senior Associate at the International Institute for Sustainable Development. Tom also leads the energy subsidy program at Johns Hopkins’ Initiative for Sustainable Energy Policy.

Tom’s research expertise and practical engagements focus on international affairs, political economy and international economic law. Tom’s main expertise lies in the role of trade, investment and industrial policies in sustainable development, the sustainability dimension of economic globalization and resource valuation & regulation. He has published extensively on sustainable development and energy policy reforms in developing and emerging economies, specifically on energy subsidies, critical minerals, and electric mobility. He supports a more proactive integration of behavioral psychology into development policy.

For over 10 years, Tom has also worked as a practitioner supporting in-country reforms. In this capacity, he managed development projects with and for various organizations such as the OECD, OPEC, IRENA, UNEP, ADB, GIZ, Nestle and Greenpeace. He has also consulted for the World Bank, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Institute for Development Studies and the Government of Nigeria. In recent years, Tom has provided practical, in-country support to energy and development policy reforms in Lebanon, India, Nigeria, Egypt, Iraq, Iraqi Kurdistan, Morocco and Jordan.

Tom holds two master’s degrees and a PhD at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. Prior to joining Columbia University, he was a visiting fellow at the LSE Department of Government and Aramco-OIES fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. In 2015-2016 he was a Fulbright fellow at Columbia University.