Deborah Gordon

Biography

Deborah Gordon is the former Director of the Energy and Climate Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Trained as a chemical engineer and policy analyst, Gordon works on global oil and climate change issues. After beginning her career with Chevron, Gordon managed an energy and environmental consulting practice, taught at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and directed the Energy Policy Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. Gordon regularly testifies before Congress, collaborates with government agencies, industry, and NGOs, and has served on National Academy of Sciences committees. Gordon’s op eds, articles, and quotes have appeared in The National Interest, The Hill, Pacific Standard, Financial Times, Scientific American, International Economy Magazine, About Oil, Boao Review, Xinghua News, Huffington Post, Newsweek, Time, Washington Post, and New York Times. She has been featured on ABC News, PBS Great Decisions, NPR’s To the Point, E&E TV's On Point.

Research

Serving as Principal Investigator on the Oil Climate Project, a research initiative aimed at developing new knowledge and indicators using a novel systems approach so that stakeholders can make more strategic and sustainable environmental decisions throughout the petroleum sector

Researching global opportunities to reduce climate impacts in the petroleum sector and expanding the Oil Climate Index Plus Gas (OCI+), a first-of-its-kind analytic tool to assess and compare the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions throughout the oil and gas supply chain

Writing a new book, There Is No Standard Oil, based on extensive research findings from the Oil Climate Project, under contract at Oxford University Press with expected publication in 2021

Collaborating with NASA’s Carbon Monitoring System scientists to assess methane emission impacts from global oil and gas operations

Conducting research on the impacts vehicle electrification will have on the oil transition strategy in order to advance a low-carbon economy

Investigating carbon and methane pricing that fairly assess fees across the oil and gas supply chain

Publications

Green Energy for Transport in South Asia: An Approach for a Clean, Sustainable Path, (with Smriti Kumble), Institute for Policy Advocacy and Governance, 2019

Petroleum Companies Need a Credible Climate Plan, (with Stephen Ziman), Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, November 2018

LegalPlanet Blog, Is California Extraordinary? Its Oil Resources Certainly Are, (with Frances Reuland), November 15, 2018

Medium, California’s Dirty Environmental Secret, (with J. Koomey), September 5, 2018

Global Carbon Intensity of Crude Oil Production, (with M. Masnadi, et. al.), In Science, August 2018

Advancing Climate Engineering Disclosure, (with David Livingston), Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, May 2018

Climate-wise Choices in a World of Oil Abundance, In Environmental Research Letters, IOP Science, April 2018, (with A. Brandt, M. Masnadi, J. Englander, and J. Koomey)

News|Recent News

Managing Methane Needs to Become a Top Priority (co-written by Deborah Gordon)

November 23, 2020 Brink News

Deborah Gordon co-wrote this piece on the potent climate pollutant methane, which is 100 times more powerful than carbon dioxide.

How Big Oil Cleans Up on Oil Spills (commentary by Deborah Gordon)

October 9, 2020 Environmentalists Against War

In this article, Deborah Gordon provides commentary on California’s Midway-Sunset field, the site where her team conducted research on greenhouse gases.

Gavin Newsom and Big Oil: It’s complicated (commentary by Deborah Gordon)

October 7, 2020 Salon

In this article, Deborah Gordon provides commentary on energy and the process of extracting oil in California.

Dozens of little-known California oil spills have earned companies millions of dollars (commentary by Deborah Gordon)

September 18, 2020 The Desert Sun

Deborah Gordon offered commentary on California's Midway-Sunset field, where many surface oil spills occur.

An all-electric Houston would save lives and money: Report (interview with Deborah Gordon)

September 16, 2020 Governing

In this article, Deborah Gordon said a switch to electric vehicles should not make Houstonians who rely on the petrochemical industry nervous.

BP Says Oil Demand Could Be Almost Dead By 2050 (commentary by Deborah Gordon)

September 15, 2020 E&E

In this article, Deborah Gordon offered commentary on the business of the oil industry.

Some Gases Far, Far Greener Than Others (Deborah Gordon research cited)

August 27, 2020 Energy Intelligence

Deborah Gordon's research cited in Energy Intelligence, "Natural gas resources have life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions that are just as wide-ranging as oil. In fact, depending on the asset and how it is managed, some of those resources are much worse for the climate than oil."

People