China Briefing 20 August 2026: Oil and gas plan | Xi on climate change | Coal five-year plan
In this issue, Carbon Brief examines China’s five-year plan for coal.
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.
Our work is committed to independent and nonpartisan research that meets the high standards of academic integrity and quality at Columbia University.
Our initiatives and programs are designed to address critical needs in key focus areas around energy and climate policy.
Explore our expert insights and analysis in leading energy and climate news stories.
In this issue, Carbon Brief examines China’s five-year plan for coal.
Get the latest as our experts share their insights on global energy policy.
President Trump issued a proclamation on August 6 imposing tariffs on polysilicon and solar products.
Hear in-depth conversations with the world’s top energy and climate leaders from government, business, academia, and civil society.
Abundance and affordability have become buzzwords among policymakers, who often have sharply different interpretations of how to attain them. To some, an energy abundance agenda means fewer regulatory...
Find out more about our upcoming and past events.
PCCMs facilitate the generation, trading, and retirement of carbon credits from projects that remove, reduce, or avoid greenhouse gas emissions. By creating a revenue stream from verified climate...
We are the premier hub and policy institution for global energy thought leadership. Energy impacts every element of our lives, and our trusted fact-based research informs the decisions that affect all of us.
Senior Fellow
John J. MacWilliams served as Associate Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy after being appointed in August 2015. He also served as DOE’s Chief Risk Officer. He is currently serving in the Biden-Harris administration. In that capacity he worked to advance Secretarial priorities of enterprise-wide approaches to innovative finance, risk management, project management, nuclear and cyber security. MacWilliams originally joined DOE in May 2013 as a Senior Advisor to the Secretary, serving as his senior finance advisor and a member of his national security team.
Prior to DOE, MacWilliams was a partner of Tremont Energy Partners, LLC, a private investment firm based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Prior to Tremont, he was Vice Chairman, Investment Banking, at JP Morgan Chase and a Partner of JP Morgan Partners. Mr. MacWilliams was a founding partner in 1993 of The Beacon Group, LLC, a private investment firm located in New York, which was acquired by JPMorgan Chase in 2000. He was also Partner and Co-Head of the Beacon Group Energy Investment Funds, a portfolio of more than 30 global private equity investments throughout the energy industry, ranging from traditional (oil and gas, coal mining, petrochemicals, pipelines), to early-stage venture (micro-turbines, power technology, fuel cells, smart grid, and environmental controls). Prior to the formation of The Beacon Group, Mr. MacWilliams was with Goldman Sachs & Co., where he was head of Goldman Sachs’ international structured finance group based in London. Prior to joining Goldman Sachs, he was an attorney at Davis Polk & Wardwell in New York.
MacWilliams holds a B.A. from Stanford University, an M.S. from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.
The Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) bankruptcy, which was caused by liabilities resulting from massive wildfires, has widely been called the first climate change bankruptcy.
Get the latest news and research on energy & climate policy.
"(required)" indicates required fields