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Energy Explained
Get the latest as our experts share their insights on global energy policy.
The Future of LNG Trade: Inflexible, Inefficient, and Polarized?
This Energy Explained post represents the research and views of the author. It does not necessarily represent the views of the Center on Global Energy Policy. The piece...
Podcasts
Hear in-depth conversations with the world’s top energy and climate leaders from government, business, academia, and civil society.
The Nexus of Climate Policy and National Security
As President Biden’s national security advisor, Jake Sullivan laid out a strategy for what he called a “foreign policy for the middle class.” Using the metaphor of a...
Events
Find out more about our upcoming and past events.
April 29, 2025
• 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
edt
Stabilizing Your Career in a Rapidly Changing Industry
Please join the Women in Energy initiative at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia SIPA for a public roundtable featuring Claire Steichen, Founder of Clear Strategy Coaching. The fast-evolving energy...
Event
• Online
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
The Nexus of Climate Policy and National Security
As President Biden’s national security advisor, Jake Sullivan laid out a strategy for what he called a “foreign policy for the middle class.” Using the metaphor of a...
Trade War Turbulence and Clean Energy
It’s hard to overstate how consequential President Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs have been for American economic policy. While the administration has paused the steep reciprocal tariffs it announced...
Front Lines of the Energy Transition
In energy policy circles, the word “resilience” often refers to future-proof systems or infrastructure designed for the transition away from fossil fuels. But resilience means something different to...
Columbia Energy Exchange Podcast
• April 8, 2025
Europe’s Energy Trilemma
The European Union’s energy landscape is transforming rapidly, as the bloc works to reduce emissions, lower energy prices, and decrease dependence on Russian fuel—three goals proving to be...
Relevant
Publications
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.
What Trump Can Do to Reverse US Climate Policy − and What He Probably Can’t Change
While he hasn’t released an official plan, Trump’s playbook the last time he was in office and his frequent complaints about clean energy offer clues to what’s ahead.
