Jason Bordoff profile headshot

Jason Bordoff

Professor of Professional Practice in International and Public Affairs

Jason Bordoff profile headshot

1255 Amsterdam Avenue, Room 101D


Personal Details

Focus areas: The intersection of economics, energy, environment, and national security

Jason Bordoff is Founding Director of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University SIPA, where he is a Professor of Professional Practice, and is also Co-Founding Dean of the Columbia Climate School. He is also a Senior Advisor at Macro Advisory Partners. He previously served as Special Assistant to President Barack Obama and Senior Director for Energy and Climate Change on the Staff of the National Security Council, and, prior to that, held senior policy positions on the White House’s National Economic Council and Council on Environmental Quality. One of the world’s leading energy and climate policy experts, Bordoff’s research and policy interests lie at the intersection of economics, energy, environment, and national security. He is a columnist for Foreign Policy magazine, a frequent commentator on TV and radio, including NPR, Bloomberg, CNBC and BBC, has appeared on the Colbert Report, and has published in Foreign Affairs, the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, the Economist, and other leading outlets. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Trilateral Commission, a Trustee of The Nature Conservancy in New York, a board member of Winrock International and Foreign Policy 4 America, and serves on the Leadership Council for Sustainable Energy for All at the United Nations. Earlier in his career, he was a scholar at the Brookings Institution, served in the Treasury Department during the Clinton Administration, and was a consultant with McKinsey & Company. Bordoff graduated with honors from Harvard Law School, where he served on the Harvard Law Review, and clerked on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He also holds an MLitt degree from Oxford University, where he studied as a Marshall Scholar, and a BA magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Brown University. 

For all media inquiries please email: [email protected].

Education

  • JD, cum laude, Harvard Law School
  • MLitt in Politics, Oxford University
  • AB, magna cum laude, Brown University

Affiliations

  • Council on Foreign Relations
  • Association of Marshall Scholars

Research and Publications

In The Media

Geopolitical Stability

“This isn’t the 1970s anymore,” Jason Bordoff, the director of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, told me. “If the U.S. wants more oil, there is a whole menu of potential places where it can invest, starting right here at home.”

Jan 10 2026
The Atlantic
Geopolitical Stability

“I don’t think the adding of oil from Venezuela is a game-changer for the U.S.,” said Bordoff, who worked as the senior director for energy and climate change on the National Security Council during the Obama administration. “But it could be a game-changer for Venezuelans.”

Jan 09 2026
MS Now
Geopolitical Stability

Jason Bordoff of Columbia University discusses the aims by President Trump to rehabilitate the infrastructure and oil production in Venezuela. He also discusses the administrations’ aims behind its’ operations in Venezuela, and its’ implications for China, which is also a big importer of Venezuelan oil.

Jan 08 2026
CNBC
Climate & Sustainable Development

"We're going to have to see in the coming weeks and months and years whether there is, in fact, a stable transition to a democratically elected government," Jason Bordoff told NPR. 

Jan 06 2026
NPR
Geopolitical Stability

Washington’s long-term interests require a smooth political transition in Caracas, not short-sighted mercantilism, writes Jason Bordoff, founding director of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.

Jan 05 2026
Foreign Policy