Tom Moerenhout- SIPA

Tom Moerenhout

Research Scholar; Adjunct Associate Professor of International and Public Affairs


Personal Details

Focus areas: International relations, sustainable development, energy, climate change, political economy, international economic law, development policy, trade, investment, subsidies

Dr. Tom Moerenhout is a research scholar at SIPA’s Center on Global Energy Policy and an Adjunct Associate Professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. He is also a Senior Advisor at the World Bank, and a Senior Associate at the International Institute for Sustainable Development. He also teaches at NYU Stern School of Business and is a Scholar in Practice at Columbia University’s Committee on Global Thought.

Tom’s research expertise and practical engagements focus on geopolitics, political economy, and international economic law. Tom’s main expertise lies in the role of trade, investment, and industrial policies of relevance to the energy transition, the sustainability dimension of economic globalization, and the economic development of resource rich countries. He has published extensively on sustainable development and energy policy reforms in developing and emerging economies, specifically on energy subsidies, critical minerals, and electric mobility.

For over 12 years, Tom has been responsible for conducting strategic research and market intelligence for governments and development practitioners. In recent years, he has provided in-country support to energy and development policy reforms in India, Nigeria, Lebanon, Egypt, the US, Iraq, Iraqi Kurdistan, Morocco, and Jordan. Tom has worked closely with various organizations such as the World Bank, OECD, OPEC, IRENA, UNEP, ADB, GIZ, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Nestle, and Greenpeace.

Tom holds two master’s degrees and a PhD at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. Prior to joining Columbia University, he was a visiting fellow at the LSE Department of Government and an Aramco-OIES fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. In 2015-2016 he was a Fulbright fellow at Columbia University. In his free time, Tom enjoys reading, good food, football, skiing, and chess.