Public more receptive to oil and gas bailout than the industry itself (commentary by Deborah Gordon)
March 13, 2020 Morning Consult
Deborah Gordon provided commentary on why the U.S. government should not step in to provide relief for the industry.
Deborah Gordon
Deborah Gordon
Senior Fellow in International and Public Affairs
Former Director, Energy and Climate Program, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
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
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Serving as lead researcher on the continued development of the Oil Climate Index (OCI), a first-of-its-kind analytic tool to assess and compare the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions from oil and gas supply chain
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Researching global opportunities to reduce climate impacts in the petroleum sector and writing a book titled No Standard Oil (forthcoming in 2020, Oxford University Press)
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Applying the OCI to develop government, industry, and NGO strategies to reduce the climate impacts from the petroleum sector
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Collaborating with NASA’s Carbon Monitoring System scientists to assess methane emission impacts from global oil and gas operations
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Conducting research on the impacts vehicle electrification will have on the oil transition strategy in order to advance a low-carbon economy
Publications
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Green Energy for Transport in South Asia: An Approach for a Clean, Sustainable Path, (with Smriti Kumble), Institute for Policy Advocacy and Governance, 2019
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Petroleum Companies Need a Credible Climate Plan, (with Stephen Ziman), Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, November 2018
https://carnegieendowment.org/files/Gordon_Petro_Companies_Need_Climate_Plan_Nov2018.pdf
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LegalPlanet Blog, Is California Extraordinary? Its Oil Resources Certainly Are, (with Frances Reuland), November 15, 2018
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Medium, California’s Dirty Environmental Secret, (with J. Koomey), September 5, 2018
https://medium.com/@dxgordon/californias-dirty-environmental-secret-cd4f77f9afd2
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Global Carbon Intensity of Crude Oil Production, (with M. Masnadi, et. al.), In Science, August 2018
http://science.sciencemag.org/content/361/6405/851
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Advancing Climate Engineering Disclosure, (with David Livingston), Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, May 2018
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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)
http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aaae76
Teaching
Independent study undergraduate course offered (Fall 2018-Spring 2019).
Talks & Media
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Why Are California’s Oil’s Some of the World’s Dirtiest? A Panel with the Oil Climate Index Team,” Stanford University, Bill Lane Center for the American West, April 15, 2019, https://west.stanford.edu/events/why-are-california-s-oils-some-world-s-dirtiest-panel-oil-climate-index-team; Event recording: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1w5tDcNtaNtAgpFOqw8_AnBprNOMTc7k8/view
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“Carbon Bubbles and Climate Futures,” America’s Climate Change Future, Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, February 1, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slI9z0rxCBA&feature=youtu.be
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The Oil Climate Index: Analyzing the Heterogeneous Lifecycle Greenhouse Gas Impacts of Global Oils, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, December 3, 2018, https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/energyconsortium/event/oil-climate-index-analyzing-heterogeneous-lifecycle-greenhouse-gas-impact
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Introducing the Oil Climate Index: Applying NASA’s Satellite Data to Fill Gaps in Resource Decision-making, NASA Goddard Carbon Monitoring Systems, September 6, 2018, https://carbon.nasa.gov/policy_speaker_09062018.html
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Carnegie Podcast: The Oil Climate Index, November 2018, https://youtu.be/eR0fIv_I4B8
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Carnegie Diplopod: The World of Oil, October 2016, https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/diplopod/id1161512268?mt=2
News|Recent News
Can a Big Oil Company Go Carbon-Free? (comments by Deborah Gordon)
December 10, 2019 Scientific American
Deborah Gordon, senior fellow at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, provided commentary on the Spanish oil company Repsol SA's newly announced goal to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
A big oil company wants to be carbon-free. Is that possible? (comments by Deborah Gordon)
December 6, 2019 E&E News
Deborah Gordon, senior fellow at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs provided commentary for this story.
Methane Will Continue to Accelerate Climate Change
November 6, 2019
A new report co-authored by Deborah Gordon underscores the need to more accurately map, measure, and manage methane.
Saudi Arabia’s oil troubles don’t rattle the U.S. as they used to (Deborah Gordon comments)
September 20, 2019 Washington Post
Deborah Gordon comments in the Washington Post, "We are locked in without knowing how locked in we are, which really does make it a crisis."
Oil Shake-Up: Refining Transitions in a Low-Carbon Economy
August 27, 2019
Senior Fellow Deborah Gordon co-authors study on why it is critical to assess how shifting to a low-carbon economy will impact oil refining.
Spill draws attention to steam-based oil extraction (comments by Deborah Gordon)
July 30, 2019 KCET
Senior Fellow Deborah Gordon comments on the frequent oil spills in California, saying "It’s like turning oil from the consistency of peanut butter into the consistency of honey."