Jason Bordoff - on the geopolitics of climate change

In the 10th episode of Planet A’s second season, Dan Jørgensen talks with Jason Bordoff, the Director of Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy and the Dean of the University’s Climate School.

They touch upon the lessons learned from the COVID-19 crisis and the temporary decline in global energy consumption, the Biden administration and climate politics in the US. 

And they discuss the geopolitics of climate change, where Bordoff argues there is a difference between the influence that “electro states” such as China will have in the future and “petro states” such as Saudi Arabia have had in the past, which means that the transition to a zero-carbon world will shift power in very unexpected ways.

Last year Bordoff wrote a comment in Foreign Policy magazine on this very subject:

“Everything You Think About the Geopolitics of Climate Change Is Wrong - The transition to a zero-carbon world will shift power in very unexpected ways”.

Over the last eight years, Bordoff has made the Center on Global Energy Policy one of the world’s leading institutions on energy and climate issues.

The Center has not only attracted scores of high-profile speakers, but also covers a wide range of issues from carbon taxation to technology development and the role of geopolitics.

Before joining academia, Bordoff served as Special Assistant to President Barack Obama. And, prior to that, he held several other senior positions at the White House. He has also worked in President Bill Clinton’s Administration, the consultancy

McKinsey & Company and the renowned think tank, the Brookings Institution. Moreover, Bordoff is a regular columnist for Foreign Policy magazine and a frequent commentator for the BBC. Furthermore, he has been writing on energy and climate politics for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times.