How Trump could undo portions of Biden’s climate legacy
Biden's most recent climate initiatives are all but certain to be short-lived, mostly thanks to an obscure law that tends to come into play every four years.
Energy Explained
Get the latest as our experts share their insights on global energy policy.
Trade Policy Disputes at COP Are Here to Stay
This year’s Conference of the Parties (COP-29) broke new ground with the Baku Initiative for Climate Finance, Investment, and Trade (BICFIT)—the first high-profile COP initiative to place trade...
Podcasts
Hear in-depth conversations with the world’s top energy and climate leaders from government, business, academia, and civil society.
Transforming America’s Power System
This week host Jason Bordoff talks with Cheryl LaFleur and David Hill about the incoming Trump administration, its impact on FERC, and the status of permitting reform measures.
Events
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January 30, 2025
• 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm
est
Can AI Help Reduce Emissions of Greenhouse Gases?
Please join the Center on Global Energy Policy (CGEP) at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs for a special webinar "Can AI Help Reduce Emissions of...
Webinar
• Zoom Webinar
Biography
David Sandalow is the Inaugural Fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy (CGEP) and Co-Director of the Energy and Environment Concentration at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. He is the lead author, most recently, of the Artificial Intelligence for Climate Change Mitigation Roadmap (December 2023) and Guide to Chinese Climate Policy (October 2022).
Mr. Sandalow chairs the ICEF Innovation Roadmap Project. In that capacity, he has led development of roadmaps on artificial intelligence for climate change mitigation, low-carbon ammonia, biomass carbon removal and storage, industrial decarbonization, direct air capture and carbon dioxide utilization, among other topics.
Mr. Sandalow founded and directs CGEP’s US-China Program. He teaches a 1-2 month short course on the energy transition as a Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Schwarzman Scholars Program at Tsinghua University.
Mr. Sandalow has served in senior positions at the White House, State Department and U.S. Department of Energy. He came to Columbia from the U.S. Department of Energy, where he served as Under Secretary of Energy (acting) and Assistant Secretary for Policy & International Affairs. Prior to serving at DOE, Mr. Sandalow was a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. He has served as Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans, Environment & Science and a Senior Director on the National Security Council staff.
Mr. Sandalow writes and speaks widely on energy and climate policy. In addition to the publications mentioned above, his writings include “Using AI to Craft Better Climate Policy,” Wall Street Journal (July 20, 2023); “Greenhouse Gas Emissions from the Food System: Building the Evidence Base,” Environmental Research Letters (June 2021) (co-author); “Finding and Fixing Food System Emissions: The Double Helix of Science and Policy,” Environmental Research Letters (June 2021) (co-author); Food and Climate InfoGuide (CGEP, May 2021) (lead author); Energizing America (CGEP September 2020) (co-author); Leveraging State Funds for Clean Energy (CGEP, September 2020) (with Richard Kauffman); Green Stimulus Proposals in China and the United States (CGEP, August 2020) (with Xu Qinhua); China’s Response to Climate Change: A Study in Contrasts (Asia Society Policy Institute, July 2020); China and the Oil Price War (CGEP, March 2020) (co-author); Decarbonizing Space Heating With Air Source Heat Pumps (December 2019, co-author); Electric Vehicle Charging in China and the United States (February 2019) (with Anders Hove); A Natural Gas Giant Awakens (June 2018) (lead author); The Geopolitics of Renewable Energy (2017) (CGEP and Harvard Kennedy School, co-lead author); Financing Solar and Wind Power: Lessons from Oil and Gas (2017, co-author); and The History and Future of the Clean Energy Ministerial (CGEP, 2016). Other works include Plug-In Electric Vehicles: What Role for Washington? (Brookings Institution Press, 2009) (editor), Overcoming Obstacles to U.S.-China Cooperation on Climate Change (Brookings Institution, 2009) (with Ken Lieberthal) and Freedom from Oil (McGraw-Hill, 2007).
Mr. Sandalow serves as a director of Enagás, SA and Fermata Energy and as a senior advisor to BCG. He is a Distinguished Research Fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies and Distinguished Non-Resident Fellow at the Atlantic Council. Mr. Sandalow is a member of the Zayed Sustainability Prize Selection Committee, Electric Drive Transport Association’s “Hall of Fame” and Council on Foreign Relations. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School and Yale College.
Relevant Articles
Can AI Transform the Power Sector?
CGEP is pleased to announce a new AI & Energy series—part of our Energy Explained blog. In the first entry, the authors write about AI's potential impacts on the...
🔦 IEA to spotlight AI and power use
IEA to spotlight AI and power use
ICEF 2024 Roadmap on ‘ICEF Artificial Intelligence for Climate Change Mitigation Roadmap (Second Edition)’
ICEF develops roadmaps on how key innovative technologies can contribute to a transition to clean energy. Roadmaps consider industrial, academic and governmental perspectives to identify a realistic, fact-based pathway and meaningfully inform the work of all stakeholders.
Waning EV Demand in the US
David Sandalow from Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy, takes us through some of the reasons behind the dwindling demand for EVs in the US. He joins David Westin on Wall Street Week daily. (Source: Bloomberg)
The Risks and Rewards of AI for Climate
A whirlwind package of deals this weekend ‘may be the single most important day in the history of COPs.’
The Climate Summit Embraces A.I., With Reservations
The idea of using artificial intelligence to fight emissions has made a splash at COP28, but there’s a catch: The energy it requires could make matters worse.
They’re talking, but a climate divide between Beijing and Washington remains
The two superpowers are a long way from the days when a surprise U.S.-Chinese agreement to cooperate on climate change had the power to land a landmark global pact.
China and US push through tensions in reaching climate deal
The two countries agreed to new commitments ahead of upcoming climate talks, but the relationship between the world's top two emitters remains challenging.