The Columbia Global Energy Summit 2024, hosted by the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University SIPA, is an annual event dedicated to thought-provoking discussions around the critical energy and climate challenges facing the global community.
This year’s day-long Summit will address myriad issues at the heart of today’s complex geopolitical, environmental and economic landscape, including the impact of climate change and the energy transition on geopolitics and security; the outlook for clean energy deployment in the face of growing policy support, as well as challenges such as interest rates, permitting reform and trade conflict; pathways to mobilize finance for clean energy in emerging and developing economies; energy justice imperatives; and the impact for energy and climate policy in key elections around the world in 2024.
The Summit will also be livestreamed and virtually accessible to all. In addition to the formal program, the Summit also offers opportunities for participants and attendees to network and develop partnerships and relationships.
8:30 a.m.
Welcome Remarks
- Keren Yarhi-Milo, Dean, Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs
8:35 a.m.
Opening Remarks
- Jason Bordoff, Founding Director, Center on Global Energy Policy; Professor, Columbia SIPA; Professor and Co-Founding Dean Emeritus, Columbia Climate School
8:40 a.m.
Fireside Chat with Lynn Good
Moderator
- Daniel Yergin, Vice Chairman, S&P Global
Speaker
- Lynn Good, Chair and Chief Executive Officer, Duke Energy
9:10 a.m.
Driving the Energy Transition in Emerging and Developing Countries
Emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs) need roughly $2.4 trillion annually by 2030 to stay on track to meet global climate goals. However, these countries remain heavily reliant on public financing and funding from multilateral development banks to develop the infrastructure needed to accelerate the energy transition. This panel will focus on the investment challenges facing EMDEs, and the challenges that financial institutions funding the energy transition in EMDEs are encountering while investing in sustainable, profitable, and equitable clean energy projects globally.
Moderators
- Akshat Rathi, Senior Climate Reporter, Bloomberg
Speakers
- Damilola Ogunbiyi, CEO of Sustainable Energy for All , Special Representative, UN Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All, and Co-Chair, UN-Energy
- Avinash Persaud, Special Advisor on Climate Change to the President, Inter-American Development Bank
- Samaila Zubairu, President and CEO, Africa Finance Corporation
10:05 a.m.
Fireside Chat with Thomas E. Donilon
Moderator
- Jason Bordoff, Founding Director, Center on Global Energy Policy; Professor, Columbia SIPA; Professor and Co-Founding Dean Emeritus, Columbia Climate School
Speaker
- Thomas E. Donilon, Chairman, BlackRock Investment Institute; Former US National Security Advisor
10:35 a.m.
Financing a Clean Energy Future with Public and Private Capital
Recent historic investments and policy initiatives focused on energy infrastructure in the United States, Europe and throughout the world are shaping how the private sector will work to meet global decarbonization goals. This panel will focus on how investors and financiers are assessing and funding the development of clean energy projects, and headwinds and tailwinds facing the private sector in utilizing this funding to develop the infrastructure needed for the clean energy transition.
Moderator
- Amy Harder, Executive Editor, Cipher
Speakers
- David Foley, Senior Managing Director in the Private Equity Group and Global Head of Blackstone Energy Partners, Blackstone
- Karen Karniol-Tambour, Co-Chief Investment Officer, Bridgewater Associates
- Sarah Ladislaw, Special Assistant to the President, NSC Senior Director for Climate and Energy
- Vera Songwe, Chair and Founder of the Liquidity and Sustainability Facility
11:15 a.m.
Addressing Energy Insecurity at Home
Each year, millions of households across the United States experience some form of energy insecurity, with people of color and economically disadvantaged communities being disproportionately impacted by current energy systems shortcomings. This panel will focus on the intersection of energy and poverty, the rural and urban communities most affected by energy insecurity, and the policy solutions that can address inequality and bring the benefits of a clean energy economy throughout the United States.
Moderator
- Somini Sengupta, International Climate Reporter, The New York Times
Speakers
- Shalanda H. Baker, Director of the Office of Energy Justice and Equity, U.S. Department of Energy
- Kate R. Finn, Executive Director, First Peoples Worldwide
- Doreen Harris, President and CEO, NYSERDA
Lunch
1:00 p.m.
The Diplomacy and Geopolitics of the Energy Transition
Long simmering geopolitical tensions have unraveled into military conflicts, involving some of the great powers and some key regions in the global energy industry. These conflicts have complicated diplomatic dynamics and directly brought energy security to the forefront of dialogues needed to accelerate the clean energy transition. This panel will focus on these evolving diplomatic and geopolitical dynamic tensions, and their significant impact on global energy markets, energy security, international climate negotiations, and the energy transition.
Moderators
- Carlos Pascual, Sr. Vice President Geopolitics and International Affairs, S&P Global Commodity Insights
Speakers
- Selwin Hart, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Climate Action and Just Transition
- Sir Stephen Lovegrove, Former National Security Adviser, United Kingdom
- Jennifer Morgan, State Secretary and Special Representative for International Climate Action Federal Foreign Office of Germany
- Mari Elka Pangestu, Former Minister of Trade, Former Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy, Indonesia
1:40 p.m.
Fireside Chat with John Podesta
Moderator
- Jason Bordoff, Founding Director, Center on Global Energy Policy; Professor, Columbia SIPA; Professor and Co-Founding Dean Emeritus, Columbia Climate School
Speaker
- John Podesta, Senior Advisor to the President for International Climate Policy
2:10 p.m.
Navigating Turbulence in the Energy Sector
The rapidly accelerating clean energy transition has created challenges for both established and emerging energy companies as they navigate an increasingly turbulent future. This panel will focus on how leading energy companies and industries are addressing challenges, such as an influx of public capital and policy incentives, the rising cost of private capital, evolving disruptive market dynamics, and regulatory and policy issues created as a result of the demands of the energy transition.
Moderator
- Vijay Vaitheeswaran, Global Energy & Climate Innovation Editor, The Economist
Speakers
- Henrik Andersen, CEO, Vestas
- Mary Landrieu, Senior Policy Advisor, Van Ness Feldman, LLP
- Scott D. Sheffield, CEO, Pioneer Natural Resources
- Lorenzo Simonelli, Chairman and CEO, Baker Hughes
3:05 p.m.
Where Energy Infrastructure, Trade, and Industrial Policy Meet
A rise in green industrial and infrastructure policies globally has served as both a leading example of climate action while also re-surfacing decades-old conversations surrounding free and open international trade. This panel will focus on the growing tensions between the need for new energy infrastructure, the pull of green industrial policies, rising national security concerns in an era of Great-Power Competition, and the challenges of navigating protectionism and rising government intervention in trade policy.
Moderator
- Shannon K. O’Neil, Vice President, Deputy Director of Studies, and Nelson and David Rockefeller Senior Fellow for Latin America Studies, Council on Foreign Relations
Speakers
- William J. Berger, CEO, Sunnova Energy International, Inc.
- Sarah Bianchi, Senior Managing Director and Chief Strategist of International Political Affairs and Public Policy, Evercore
- Matthew Harris, Founding Partner, Global Infrastructure Partners, Board Chair, CGEP Advisory Board
- Luis Alberto Moreno, Former President, Inter-American Development Bank
3:45 p.m.
Decarbonizing Electricity in an Era of Rising Demand
As power demand continues to rise, challenges remain in meeting demand reliably while responding to increased calls for cleaner energy. This panel will focus on how domestic and global power providers and developers are working with industry to meet rising demand while accounting for clean energy goals, how the private sector is innovating in the development and deployment of new clean energy technologies, and how to rethink the existing energy infrastructure as we enter an era of rising demand.
Moderator
- Justin Worland, Senior Climate Correspondent, TIME
Speakers
- Pedro Pizarro, President and CEO, Edison International
- Maria Pope, President and CEO, Portland General Electric
- Sumant Sinha, Founder, Chairman and CEO, ReNew
- Scott Strazik, CEO, GE Vernova