Columbia Energy Exchange

Nearly a month in, the conflict in Iran appears to have hit a critical inflection point. Over the weekend, President Trump gave Iran a 48-hour ultimatum to open the Strait of Hormuz or face strikes on its power infrastructure, which Iran credibly warned would trigger reciprocal attacks on GCC energy infrastructure. President Trump then postponed those strikes after what the administration describe...

As the conflict in ​the Middle East enters its 20th day, events on the ground have shifted into a critical new phase marked by direct strikes on core​ energy infrastructure. With the Strait of Hormuz closed for three weeks, effectively bottling up nearly a fifth of the world's oil and LNG supply, recent escalations have turned the crisis from energy flow disruptions to potentially long-term physic...

The climate policy landscape in the US is in flux. Last month, the Environmental Protection Agency repealed its own power to regulate greenhouse gases. Two weeks later, the Supreme Court said it will hear a case which the city of Boulder, Colorado, brought against the oil companies ExxonMobil and Suncor that could determine the fate of lawsuits brought by cities and states against fossil fuel comp...

As the US-Israeli military campaign against Iran enters its third week, the complexities of the global energy landscape are deepening by the hour. Shut-ins of Middle Eastern upstream oil production are now approaching 10 million barrels per day, 20% of the world's liquefied natural gas remains shuttered, and the Strait of Hormuz is effectively closed to normal maritime traffic. And while a histori...

In energy markets, all eyes are on the Strait of Hormuz. As of March 11, 2026, this vital passage is effectively closed to tanker traffic, stranding almost a fifth of world supplies of crude oil, oil products, and liquefied natural gas.  Yesterday, oil prices retreated sharply on a tweet from US Energy Secretary Chris Wright, claiming that the US Navy had escorted a tanker through Hormuz. That twe...

The conflict in the Middle East is evolving with incredible speed, creating a landscape where the complexities of understanding both immediate and long-term outcomes have never been greater. W​e'll still be here every Tuesday for our deep-dive conversations​ on the global energy landscape. But the ​speed of events in Iran and ​across the region demands a different kind of coverage. That's why we'r...

Since the US-Israeli bombing campaign began in Iran, energy markets around the world have been on edge as the conflict threatens immediate and long-term energy supplies. We've seen major disruptions throughout the Gulf region, with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and massive price spikes and swings in oil and natural gas.   This is of course exposing serious vulnerabilities across global energ...

On February 28, the United States and Israel launched a campaign against Iran targeting military infrastructure and the regime's core leadership. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several senior officials died in the attacks, which triggered a leadership crisis and inflamed tensions throughout the Middle East.   In the immediate aftermath, Iran launched extensive barrages of drones and bal...

President Trump has aggressively used tariffs as an economic tool, but a US Supreme Court decision on Friday struck down his sweeping tariffs, bringing new uncertainty. The court, in a 6-to-3 decision, ruled that the president had exceeded his authority when he imposed tariffs on nearly every US trading partner last year. President Trump moved swiftly to work around the court by imposing levies us...

Under the second Trump administration, the US Department of Energy significantly shifted its priorities to align with its "energy dominance" agenda. But one significant point of continuity with the Biden years is a continued emphasis on energy security. Energy security means different things today than it did even a decade ago. It's about competing in the global race for artificial intelligence, r...

The Trump administration has prioritized nuclear energy expansion, aiming to increase US nuclear capacity fourfold by 2050. This nuclear energy resurgence in the US is a rare issue with bipartisan support, and tech companies have poured billions of dollars into sustaining nuclear power plants and building new reactors to supply AI data centers. But accelerating nuclear power could mean changing en...

As political support for clean energy has waxed and waned over the past twenty years, so has the government's financial backing. In the 2010s, critics pointed to the failed solar startup Solyndra, which the Department of Energy had backed to the tune of half a billion dollars, as a poster child of wasteful spending.  But under President Biden, in addition to major clean energy incentives passed in...

With electricity prices on the rise, the future of our power grid is attracting a lot more attention. Surging demand is at the center of the story, but the power sector is also grappling with supply chain bottlenecks and aging infrastructure – all while trying to balance capacity growth with reducing emissions. This isn't just a technical challenge. Energy affordability and equity are reshaping de...

From the affordability crisis and the data center boom, to the US government's campaign to reinvigorate the Venezuelan oil market, energy is dominating headlines in unusual ways.  And that's all happening against a backdrop of upheaval in federal energy policy, which started on day one of the second Trump administration. As we begin the new year and head into midterm elections, there's a dizzying...

Great power competition—particularly between the United States and China—is intensifying. This rivalry is reshaping everything from technology supply chains and energy security to the future of artificial intelligence.  This is happening at a time when US relations with India and Europe are under strain,  largely due to policy uncertainty and the administration's new trade strategies. So how shoul...

Early on January 3, 2026, the United States apprehended Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife and removed Maduro from power. Maduro was transported to New York, where he now faces federal charges of narco-terrorism and drug trafficking.  The situation in Venezuela remains highly fluid, as does the US policy response. President Trump has signaled a dramatic expansion of US objectives. He...

This has been a crucial year for US energy policy. The passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act eliminated many of the clean energy incentives that were centerpieces of Biden-era climate policy.  The rollback of key climate provisions from the Inflation Reduction Act led to contentious debate over America's energy future. With so many shifting priorities and questions around the direction and the...

Over the past week, President Trump has intensified pressure on Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro by targeting the regime's economic lifeline—oil. The United States has seized two oil tankers and is in pursuit of another, following President Trump's declaration of what he called a "total and complete blockade" of vessels carrying Venezuelan crude subject to US sanctions. The move places one of V...

If it seems like you're hearing a lot more about geothermal energy lately, that's because this clean, firm energy source is at a technological turning point. With roots in the 1970s, enhanced geothermal systems aren't exactly new. But they're finally hitting paydirt — or rather, steam — thanks to improved drilling techniques borrowed from the fracking boom. These advances have made geothermal ener...

Investment in clean energy technologies is on course to hit a record $2.2 trillion this year, according to the International Energy Agency. That's more than twice the amount invested in fossil fuels.  But 2025 also brought lots of geopolitical, economic, and political uncertainty to clean technology investing. Waning enthusiasm for climate action in some governments and intensifying trade wars hav...

The national conversation around climate change is shifting. There's more focus on energy affordability and demand, as well as on the dual role artificial intelligence plays as both a climate problem and potential tool for lowering emissions. Likewise, there's been a shift in how the media covers these issues.   Research shows that news coverage of climate has declined in recent years — as have th...

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission regulates the United States' energy transmission, pipeline networks, and wholesale rates for electricity. For much of its history, FERC was a little-known federal agency. But that's changing.  Today, topics like energy affordability and the urgent build-out of data centers to support AI are putting FERC in the spotlight. The Trump administration is also exe...

Around the globe, and here in the United States, energy markets face huge uncertainties. They include everything from rising geopolitical tensions to a wave of new liquefied natural gas supply, and from concentrated critical mineral supply chains to growing demand for electricity. These uncertainties are reflected by the International Energy Agency in this year's World Energy Outlook , which explo...

Elected officials face huge challenges when it comes to energy policymaking. They have very little time to learn complicated, nuanced issues. They're bombarded by information — some of it from organizations that are tightly aligned with ideological or political movements.  Whether it's from industry or civil society, the information policymakers receive, even if accurate, can often come with an ag...

The ten years since the Paris Agreement was signed at the UN Climate Change Conference, COP 21, have been the ten hottest years on record. And the outcome that the Paris Agreement sought — limiting global temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels — is now widely considered unattainable. There are other hurdles as well. Many nations have not submitted climate action plans, or...