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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...
Today’s global pandemic is testing the limits of people’s ability to cope with massive disruption in their lives, including steps they take for the public good. And there may be lessons there regarding our response to climate change.
In this edition of the Columbia Energy Exchange, host Bill Loveless is joined by Robert H. Frank, a professor of management and economics at Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management and the author of a new book from Princeton University Press called Under the Influence: Putting Peer Pressure to Work. They discuss human behavior in a crisis, whether it is the COVID-19 pandemic that we are enduring today, or the climate catastrophe that we may be just beginning to experience.
In his book, Robert explains how the strongest predictor of our willingness to support climate friendly policies, install solar panels or buy an electric car is the number of people we know who have already done so. And while climate change may not be uppermost in people’s minds now amid the pandemic, he draws parallels for Bill between our reaction to this health crisis and how we might respond to climate change.
They also talk about another book, one by the journalist David Wallace-Wells called The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming, which Robert says had a big impact on his thinking. David was a guest on Columbia Energy Exchange with Jason Bordoff in September 2019.
In his discussion with Bill, Robert explains his views on the meaning of “behavioral contagion,” its relationship to previous changes in public attitudes about smoking and other controversial issues, and its potential to inspire broad public support for measures to address climate change.
Among his other credentials, Robert is a former economics columnist for the New York Times. His earlier books include The Winner-Take-All-Society, The Economic Naturalist and Success and Luck.
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
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
MP Materials Deal Marks a Significant Shift in US Rare Earths Policy
The US Department of Defense has announced a multibillion-dollar public-private partnership with MP Materials.
GNL, il ruolo strategico delle infrastrutture
Il mercato globale cresce come mai prima, ma affronta sfide geopolitiche e incertezze sulla domanda futura. Le infrastrutture – per l’esportazione e l’importazio...
