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

Climate & Sustainable Development

“You can’t walk more than two feet at any global conference today without ‘pragmatism’ and ‘realism’ being thrown around as the order of the day,” says Jason Bordoff, a former Obama energy adviser who now runs Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy.

Sep 16 2025
New York Times

“The transition isn’t accelerating as fast as some people had hoped,” Jason Bordoff, the head of the Center for Global Energy Policy at Columbia University said. “Some of the rosier projections that oil, gas and coal might fall faster aren’t bearing out.”

Aug 18 2025
New York Times
Climate & Sustainable Development

The war with Iran shows why hopes for energy independence are inadequate, writes Jason Bordoff.

Jul 03 2025
Foreign Policy
Climate & Sustainable Development

"We need a huge amount of electricity after 20 years in which we did not have to deal with rising demand," said Jason Bordoff, director of the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University. "Other countries are moving fast and being quite innovative. If we are not adding new power to the grid, companies are going to have to get it from other places."

Jul 03 2025
Washington Post
Geopolitical Stability

Jason Bordoff discusses where the conflict in Middle East goes from here and what it all means for energy markets.

Jun 23 2025
Bloomberg