This website uses cookies as well as similar tools and technologies to understand visitors’ experiences. By continuing to use this website, you consent to Columbia University’s usage of cookies and similar technologies, in accordance with the Columbia University Website Cookie Notice.
Energy Explained
Get the latest as our experts share their insights on global energy policy.
Making Nuclear Regulatory Reform Durable: Efficiency Backed by Credibility and Predictability
The United States is at a rare inflection point for nuclear energy, with unprecedented momentum behind deployment and regulatory reform as nuclear becomes central to energy security, AI competitiveness, and state and corporate climate goals.
Podcasts
Hear in-depth conversations with the world’s top energy and climate leaders from government, business, academia, and civil society.
Laura Holgate on the Promise and Perils of Nuclear Innovation
The Trump administration has prioritized nuclear energy expansion, aiming to increase US nuclear capacity fourfold by 2050. This nuclear energy resurgence in the US is a rare issue...
Events
Find out more about our upcoming and past events.
February 16, 2026 - February 18, 2026
• 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
est
The Energy Transition from a Fiscal Angle – A Two Part Workshop
This workshop will be conducted in two parts: Part one on February 16 from 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM EST, and Part two on February 18 from 1:00 PM to...
Event
• Center on Global Energy Policy
1255 Amsterdam Ave, New York, NY 10027
1255 Amsterdam Ave, New York, NY 10027
On this episode of Columbia Energy Exchange, host Jason Bordoff sits down with Richard Rhodes, a Pulitzer Prize- and National Book Award-winning author, and author of newly released book, Energy: A Human History, to discuss what history can tell us about our current energy transition.
In the book, Richard takes us on a journey through the history behind energy transitions over time—from wood to coal to oil to electricity and beyond – by looking back on five centuries of progress, through such influential figures as Queen Elizabeth I, Benjamin Franklin, John D. Rockefeller, Henry Ford, and others.
Richard and Jason discuss this history and more, including the successes and failures that led to various energy innovations, the threat of climate change, and how to provide affordable, reliable, and sustainable energy for a growing global population.
More Episodes
Laura Holgate on the Promise and Perils of Nuclear Innovation
The Trump administration has prioritized nuclear energy expansion, aiming to increase US nuclear capacity fourfold by 2050. This nuclear energy resurgence in the US is a rare issue...
Jigar Shah Wants to Depoliticize Energy
As political support for clean energy has waxed and waned over the past twenty years, so has the government’s financial backing. In the 2010s, critics pointed to the...
Michael Webber on What’s Behind Rising Energy Costs
With electricity prices on the rise, the future of our power grid is attracting a lot more attention. Surging demand is at the center of the story, but...
Reporters’ Roundtable: What’s Driving US Energy Policy News in 2026?
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...
Columbia Energy Exchange Podcast
• January 20, 2026
Relevant
Publications
Assessing US Government Efforts to Support Fossil Fuel–Reliant Communities
The decline of domestic fossil fuel production in the United States poses serious economic risks for communities that rely on fossil fuel industries for jobs and public revenues. Many of these communities lack the resources and capacity to manage those risks on their own. The absence of viable economic strategies for affected regions is a barrier to building the broad, durable coalitions needed for an equitable national transition to cleaner energy sources.
Reports
by Noah Kaufman • February 05, 2026
Making Nuclear Regulatory Reform Durable: Efficiency Backed by Credibility and Predictability
The United States is at a rare inflection point for nuclear energy, with unprecedented momentum behind deployment and regulatory reform as nuclear becomes central to energy security, AI competitiveness, and state and corporate climate goals.
How a Conflict in Iran Could Affect Oil Markets in the Gulf Arab States
Multiple US–Iran conflict scenarios carry materially different risks for global oil infrastructure, transit routes, and prices.
Where China Gets Its Oil: Crude Imports in 2025 Reveal Stockpiling and Changing Fortunes of Certain Suppliers, Including Those Sanctioned
China’s crude oil imports hit a record-high 11.6 million barrels per day in 2025, as geopolitical tensions, low oil prices, and global oversupply spurred China to increase its oil stockpiles, a trend likely to continue in 2026.
