Noah Kaufman
@noahqkaufman.bsky.social
Climate economist. Opinions are my own.
Thanks to the @rooseveltinstitute.org for publishing my essay with @hboushey.bsky.social that describes why the federal government has failed to usefully incorporate climate change and the energy transition into economic modeling, based on our experiences at the White House 🧵
What can oil-reliant communities learn from the OG oil community, Titusville and the surrounding Oil Region in Pennsylvania?
Climate advocates have tried to motivate action with precise projections of future harms. But it's actually the deep uncertainty about how bad things could get that makes the strongest case for action. Jason Bordoff and I wrote about this in @foreignpolicy.com foreignpolicy.com/2026/06/30/s...
Doomsday Climate Scenarios Were Wrong. That Doesn’t Help Europe.
Recent scientific reassessments strengthen the case for rapid climate action rather than weaken it.
foreignpolicy.com
Communities with waterway restoration in mined areas had 6 percentage points (!) more population growth than otherwise similar communities whose waterways remained impaired, according to new research by Jeremy Weber, Max Harleman et al. www.resilientenergyeconomies.org/publications
Publications
We’re helping fossil fuel–dependent communities across the United States develop strategies to support their local economies.
resilientenergyeconomies.org
The next installment of our results webinars for Resilient Energy Economies initiative grantees is about to start. Please join us: www.rff.org/events/webin...
Resilient Energy Economies | Local Perspectives on Economic Futures: The View from Oil and Gas Communities
rff.org
I don't think it's possible to navigate the challenges of the energy transition without a realistic understanding of the economic benefits of fossil fuels (on both the consumer and producer sides)
Energy Institute at Haas@ucenergyinstitute.bsky.social · 3mo ago"According to the calculations in the paper, shale gas has saved U.S. natural gas consumers $4.5-$5.3 trillion since 2007, equivalent to savings of $237-$276 billion annually." New Energy Institute research and blog post from Lucas Davis. energyathaas.wordpress.com/2026/05/11/h...
Listen to Daniel Raimi about building more resilient fossil fuel-reliant communities www.resources.org/resources-ra...
What Makes an Energy Economy Resilient?, with Daniel Raimi
Daniel Raimi chats about his research on energy communities and the unique challenges they face in a quickly changing energy landscape.
resources.org
At some point I’d like to live somewhere with such a coherent climate strategy that people debate other energy policy issues on their own merits instead of thru a climate lens. Too much to ask?
With most industries journalists know not to pass along advocates’ propaganda as fact but for whatever reason this happens all the time with energy efficiency (EE programs are sometimes expensive and sometimes cheap)
Sean Casten@seancasten.bsky.social · 3mo agoThere is no better way to lower your energy costs than investing in energy efficiency. And therefore no more foolish strategy to lower energy bills than to cut EE programs. And here we are. www.latitudemedia.com/news/states-...
I think this is actually a pretty good climate policy article from a politician, with generally accurate info and reasonable opinions. I remain utterly baffled why the two sides can't come to a reasonable compromise in a state like NY. Do your jobs! 2 issues with the oped🧵
Pete Sikora@petesikora.bsky.social · 3mo agoMore lies from @GovKathyHochul In fact, she has raised our energy bills by keeping NYers shackled to expensive, polluting oil & gas. She wants to gut the climate law because she is enacting the Trump energy agenda on behalf of the oil & gas lobby. Legislators: say NO 🧵
Listening to today’s Daily on this article, I don’t get the sense the reporters understand the absurdity of Roberts’ claim about a regulation to reduce coal to ~25-30% of power generation by 2030.
Noah Kaufman@noahqkaufman.bsky.social · 4mo agoWild symptom of a broken epistemic environment: in 2015 the evidence showed the Clean Power Plan to be a weak, inexpensive regulation. But climate opponents said it would have huge costs, and climate advocates said it would have huge benefits. And the Chief Justice was fooled.
Wild symptom of a broken epistemic environment: in 2015 the evidence showed the Clean Power Plan to be a weak, inexpensive regulation. But climate opponents said it would have huge costs, and climate advocates said it would have huge benefits. And the Chief Justice was fooled.
The diverse coalition against useful emissions targets: -Opponents of climate policy -Advocates who insist on infeasible targets -Economists who think we can value damages instead -Advocates who think we just need to make clean energy cheap And they’re all wrong 🙃
Noah Kaufman@noahqkaufman.bsky.social · 4mo agoFights in the northeast over emissions targets remind me of fights with my kids when they’re already late for school. Governors: We can’t make it to school on time! Advocates: You must make it to school on time! Meanwhile, nobody’s making a plan to get to school… www.nytimes.com/2026/04/11/c...
Fights in the northeast over emissions targets remind me of fights with my kids when they’re already late for school. Governors: We can’t make it to school on time! Advocates: You must make it to school on time! Meanwhile, nobody’s making a plan to get to school… www.nytimes.com/2026/04/11/c...
Northeast States Set Big Climate Goals. Now Those Plans Are in Trouble.
nytimes.com
Howarth and Jacobson respond to Zeke's post. They ignore his substantive argument about the merits of GWP-20, focusing instead on the importance of near-term climate action. But the case for GWP-20 shouldn't rest whether we like the policy outcomes it produces. www.howarthlab.org/docs/GWP20_i...
howarthlab.org
Zeke Hausfather@zekehausfather.com · 4mo agoUsing a 20-year period to compare methane the CO2 is a terrible idea. It heavily discounts the future and locks in greater warming. New York should move away from it, and instead set separate targets for CO2 and short-lived climate pollutants:
Great new Resilient Energy Economies policy brief from scholars at the U of Wyoming about fiscal shocks to energy producing states: cdn.prod.website-files.com/65f9f863036e...
cdn.prod.website-files.com
Great discussion here, including the age-old question of how to properly scope industrial policy. I have a view on this that I've recently learned is unpopular (but, as it turns out, is also entirely correct 😊) A 🧵 www.energypolicy.columbia.edu/daleep-singh...
Daleep Singh on the Need for a US Industrial Policy Playbook - Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University SIPA | CGEP
Hear in-depth conversations with the world’s top energy and climate leaders from government, business, academia, and civil society.
energypolicy.columbia.edu
What's so frustrating about the New York climate policy situation is that the loud propaganda on all sides seems to be getting in the way of fairly clear and good compromises that state policymakers could pursue. Maybe I'm missing something, but... 🧵
This suggestion that we should ignore climate impacts beyond 20 years (the premise of GWP20) because we implement policy over that time horizon is a very misleading defense of GWP20. The long term impacts are what make climate change scary!
Erik Schlenker-Goodrich@riogranderift.bsky.social · 4mo agoThree hot takes: 1. GWP-20 can be a policy-appropriate metric given it better reflects time horizon where regulators have control over O&G infrastructure, esp. given cost-effective opportunities to reduce CH4 from O&G production + fact CH4 redux key way to blunt near-term warming. [cont.]
One point from our new blog: the GWP metric is supposed to put CO₂ and methane on equal footing, but GWP-20 does this by counting 80% of methane's lifetime climate impact against less than 10% of CO₂'s
Noah Kaufman@noahqkaufman.bsky.social · 4mo agoNew York is genuinely in a difficult spot. Our new blog tries to lay out some key facts to help stakeholders forge a pathway that balances climate, economic, and other concerns www.energypolicy.columbia.edu/new-yorks-cl...
New York is genuinely in a difficult spot. Our new blog tries to lay out some key facts to help stakeholders forge a pathway that balances climate, economic, and other concerns www.energypolicy.columbia.edu/new-yorks-cl...
New York's Climate Law: Understanding the Trade-offs - Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University SIPA | CGEP %
Get the latest as our experts share their insights on global energy policy.
energypolicy.columbia.edu
A newly published Resilient Energy Economies policy brief assesses the place-based support from the federal government to fossil fuel-reliant communities during the Biden Era. Take a look and let us know your thoughts! cdn.prod.website-files.com/65f9f863036e...
cdn.prod.website-files.com
Advocates for more domestic production or electrification will always use global shocks to argue for preferred policies, but these are 2nd order solutions. More international cooperation/integration and less geopolitical conflicts are the ways to avoid these shocks.
Such an important point made on this pod: work like @gruberte.bsky.social's on the mid-transition is the natural consequence of actually taking the energy transition seriously...something far too few people in the energy world do www.volts.wtf/p/the-fate-o...
The fate of fossil fuel systems in the "mid-transition"
I talk with Emily Grubert about the hidden dangers of letting the free market manage the decline of our legacy energy infrastructure.
volts.wtf
We often leap from “every tenth of a degree matters” (basically true) to “all incremental climate progress matters equally” (not true). We’re no longer pursuing the major economic shifts needed to sustain emissions reductions over decades. heatmap.news/ideas/trump-...
The Energy Transition Won’t Work Without Coal Towns
A senior scholar at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy on what Trump has lost by dismantling Biden’s energy resilience strategy.
heatmap.news
Join us on Friday (tomorrow!) for our next Resilient Energy Economies brownbag discussion with Brandon Dennison about economic development in coal country us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: Resilient Energy Economies brownbag: Lessons from Coalfield Development's work in Appalachia, with Brandon Dennison. After registering, you will receive a c...
Join the Resilient Energy Economies initiative for our February brownbag! We'll hear from Brandon Dennison, founder of Coalfield Development, about the organization's mission, successes, and challen...
us02web.zoom.us
The Biden-era climate strategy involved trying to make households, communities, and the U.S. economy less vulnerable to a decline of fossil fuels (with limited success). That strategy has been abandoned. heatmap.news/ideas/trump-...
The Energy Transition Won’t Work Without Coal Towns
A senior scholar at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy on what Trump has lost by dismantling Biden’s energy resilience strategy.
heatmap.news
I have lots of opinions, but here's a published one with @noahqkaufman.bsky.social. Energy modelling, when done properly, can be scientific, but isn't "a science". At best, it's an iterative learning tool that should be used combined with real world experiments. www.researchgate.net/publication/...
And, the key takeaways from their deep decarbonization policy lecture. Thoughts?
Noah Kaufman@noahqkaufman.bsky.social · 6mo agoAt the end of a 2 hour lecture on technologies for deep decarbonization (polices are next week) I left my students with these 5 takeaways. Thoughts?
