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Venezuela holds 70% of Latin America's natural gas reserves, which it could export to Colombia and Trinidad to increase revenues.
Hear in-depth conversations with the world’s top energy and climate leaders from government, business, academia, and civil society.
From the affordability crisis and the data center boom, to the US government’s campaign to reinvigorate the Venezuelan oil market, energy is dominating headlines in unusual ways. And...
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The Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University SIPA's Women in Energy initiative and Accenture invite you to join us for an evening of conversation and networking...
Past Event
April 16, 2013
11:00 am - 12:30 pm
Please join the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University for a presentation by SIPA alum Sharon Burke, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Operational Energy. Last year, the Department of Defense spent $16.4B on petroleum, consumed 4.3B gallons of fuel, and was the world’s single largest consumer of energy. Assistant Secretary Burke will discuss the DoD’s current energy landscape and its energy future, focusing on how the Defense Department views energy security and national security issues. The presentation will be followed by Q&A moderated by Center Director Jason Bordoff. Registration is required.
Biography:
Sharon E. Burke was sworn in as the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Operational Energy Plans and Programs on June 25, 2010.
As the Assistant Secretary, Ms. Burke is the principal advisor to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense on operational energy security and reports to the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics. She is the inaugural Assistant Secretary for the office, which was created to strengthen the energy security of U.S. military operations. The mission of the office is to help the military services and combatant commands improve military capabilities, cut costs, and lower operational and strategic risk through better energy accounting, planning, management, and innovation. Operational energy, or the energy required to train, move, and sustain forces, weapons, and equipment for military operations, accounted for 75 percent of all energy used by the Department of Defense in 2012.
Prior to her appointment at the Department of Defense, Ms. Burke was a Vice President and Senior Fellow at the non-partisan and independent Center for a New American Security (CNAS), a defense policy think tank. At CNAS, Ms. Burke directed research on energy security and initiated the Natural Security Program, which looked at the national security implications of global natural resources challenges.
Ms. Burke has extensive previous U.S. government service. She served as a member of the Policy Planning Staff at the Department of State, a Country Director in the Department of Defense’s Office of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs, and a speechwriter to Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and Secretary of Defense William Cohen. She started her career in the Energy and Materials program of the U.S. Office of Technology Assessment, contributing to a multi-year study of energy in developing countries.
First joining the Department of Defense as a Presidential Management Fellow, Ms. Burke has received medals for Exceptional Public Service from the Department of Defense and the Superior Honor Award from the Department of State. She has served on the Leadership Team of the American Assembly’s Next Generation Project, as the Director of the National Security Project at Third Way, as the Middle East Advocacy Director at Amnesty International USA, and is the author of numerous reports, including A Strategy for American Power: Energy, Climate, and National Security.
Ms. Burke graduated from Williams College and Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, where she focused on international energy policy and earned a Certificate of Middle Eastern Studies. At Columbia, she also was
The Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University SIPA is pleased to host a virtual webinar with experts from Kenya, India, and Brazil to discuss and better understand the landscape...
Join us on February 25 for an in-depth, student-only conversation. Registration is required, and space is limited. The Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University SIPA’s Women...
The recent military operation to remove Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores raises several implications for the future of Venezuela and Latin America, geopolitics, and energy markets. Cosponsored by SIPA’s Institute of Global Politics (IGP) and Center for Global Energy Policy (CGEP), along with Columbia’s Institute of Latin American Studies (ILAS), this webinar will analyze the circumstances and impact of their capture and extradition to New York to face narcoterrorism and drug trafficking charges.
On January 1, 2026, the European Union's highly-anticipated Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) will take effect. Introduced in 2023, CBAM will require the importers of certain carbon-intensive goods...
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