Columbia University at Davos 2022

Jun 01,2022

Columbia University at Davos 2022

At this year’s World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, Columbia University featured prominently throughout the weeklong event at a time when both the energy crisis and climate crisis dominated the discussions. Columbia experts served as go-to resources for public and private sector leaders looking for analysis, insights and actionable ideas on how to meet those dual challenges.

The Columbia Climate School and Columbia’s Center on Global Energy Policy held a dinner event that featured U.S. Climate Envoy John Kerry among many other top energy and climate leaders. These included U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island; Cardinal Peter Turkson of Ghana; Laurence Tubiana, a key architect of the Paris Accords; Andrew Steer, president and CEO of the Bezos Earth Fund; and Tom Donilon, former national security advisor and current chairman of BlackRock Investment Institute. The participants engaged in conversation about navigating the current energy crisis in Europe while simultaneously accelerating a clean energy transition.

Columbia experts also played an important role in a range of plenary sessions, dinners, and side events organized by businesses and NGOs. Columbia Climate School Co-dean Jason Bordoff chaired the opening session on energy, “Energy Outlook: Overcoming the Crisis.”  The session included panelists Robert Habeck, Germany’s federal minister for economic affairs and climate action; Catherine MacGregor, CEO of French energy company Engie; Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency; Hardeep Singh Puri, India’s union minister for housing & rrban affairs and minister for petroleum & natural gas; and Vicki Hollub, CEO of Occidental Petroleum.

The public discussion was framed by Bordoff: “What do we do about these multiple crises? How can governments, companies and civil society work together to ensure affordable energy supply for people today while continuing to accelerate the clean energy transition?” Watch the entire session here.

Bordoff also chaired or participated in several high-level meetings that drew heads of state, ministers and CEOs to discuss how to achieve both energy security and a faster clean energy transition, accelerate the energy transition in emerging and developing economies, and several other critical topics.