Noah Kaufman
@noahqkaufman.bsky.social
Climate economist. Opinions are my own.
We’ve got a new report out assessing Biden-era federal efforts to boost economic resilience in fossil fuel-reliant parts of the country.
The findings are a mixed bag 🧵
www.energypolicy.columbia.edu/wp-content/u...
The findings are a mixed bag 🧵
www.energypolicy.columbia.edu/wp-content/u...
www.energypolicy.columbia.edu
February 5, 2026 at 7:45 PM
We’ve got a new report out assessing Biden-era federal efforts to boost economic resilience in fossil fuel-reliant parts of the country.
The findings are a mixed bag 🧵
www.energypolicy.columbia.edu/wp-content/u...
The findings are a mixed bag 🧵
www.energypolicy.columbia.edu/wp-content/u...
Reposted by Noah Kaufman
I've been privileged over the years to write a sequence energy modelling methodology papers with (now Professor 🥳) Steve Pye of UCL, along with a rotating cast of amazing people. The latest dropped today in Nature Energy ➡️ rdcu.be/e2tt6
Addressing context-specific energy modelling risks and dynamics in low- and middle-income countries
Nature Energy - Low- and middle-income countries face unique challenges when it comes to balancing growing energy needs with broader, long-term development needs. This Perspective argues for...
rdcu.be
February 5, 2026 at 2:24 PM
I've been privileged over the years to write a sequence energy modelling methodology papers with (now Professor 🥳) Steve Pye of UCL, along with a rotating cast of amazing people. The latest dropped today in Nature Energy ➡️ rdcu.be/e2tt6
At the end of a 2 hour lecture on technologies for deep decarbonization (polices are next week) I left my students with these 5 takeaways. Thoughts?
February 3, 2026 at 12:46 AM
At the end of a 2 hour lecture on technologies for deep decarbonization (polices are next week) I left my students with these 5 takeaways. Thoughts?
I learned a ton from this podcast with David Sandalow and Peter Fox Penner on power prices and the new PJM agreement podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/p...
Power Prices, Data Centers and the Bipartisan PJM Agreement: Peter Fox-Penner
Podcast Episode · AI, Energy and Climate Podcast · 01/21/2026 · 53m
podcasts.apple.com
February 1, 2026 at 12:40 PM
I learned a ton from this podcast with David Sandalow and Peter Fox Penner on power prices and the new PJM agreement podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/p...
I’m a big supporter of putting monetary values on death risks caused by pollution. But imagine you are one of the many (most?) people who dislike this practice but still want regulations. How would you feel about this framing?
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/21/c...
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/21/c...
Trump’s E.P.A. Has Put a Value on Human Life: Zero Dollars
www.nytimes.com
January 21, 2026 at 3:23 PM
I’m a big supporter of putting monetary values on death risks caused by pollution. But imagine you are one of the many (most?) people who dislike this practice but still want regulations. How would you feel about this framing?
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/21/c...
www.nytimes.com/2026/01/21/c...
How are state governments building economic resilience amid a transitioning energy landscape? Tune into our Resilient Energy Economies brownbag this Friday to hear about lessons from Arizona and New Mexico, featuring Kayla Lucero-Matteucci! Register here:
us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: Resilient Energy Economies brownbag: Economic resilience in Arizona, with Kayla Lucero-Matteucci. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email a...
Join the Resilient Energy Economies initiative for our January brownbag!
We'll hear from Kayla Lucero-Matteucci, Manager of Finance for the Arizona Governor's Office of Resiliency, about her efforts...
us02web.zoom.us
January 21, 2026 at 2:13 AM
How are state governments building economic resilience amid a transitioning energy landscape? Tune into our Resilient Energy Economies brownbag this Friday to hear about lessons from Arizona and New Mexico, featuring Kayla Lucero-Matteucci! Register here:
us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
I'm grateful for the responses to this. I also understand the pushback, even if I don't agree, that highlighting the limits of our capabilities will only add ammo to those stripping away climate protections.
It may also be worth noting that nobody has seriously pushed back on...🧵
It may also be worth noting that nobody has seriously pushed back on...🧵
Most economists disagree with extreme voices on debates about climate risks, and yet we keep providing fuel to both sides. This article tries to explain why.
www.theatlantic.com/science/2026...
www.theatlantic.com/science/2026...
The Climate Question That Economists Cannot Answer
Models can predict catastrophic or modest damages from climate change, but not which of these futures is coming.
www.theatlantic.com
January 20, 2026 at 8:43 PM
I'm grateful for the responses to this. I also understand the pushback, even if I don't agree, that highlighting the limits of our capabilities will only add ammo to those stripping away climate protections.
It may also be worth noting that nobody has seriously pushed back on...🧵
It may also be worth noting that nobody has seriously pushed back on...🧵
Great conversation with @danielraimi.bsky.social here: energythinks.com/podcasts/tri...
Trim Your Sails - Adamantine Energy
Listen here Realism isn’t retreat; it’s how progress becomes durable. What you’ll get in this episode of Energy Thinks Climate activists have overplayed
energythinks.com
January 20, 2026 at 3:04 PM
Great conversation with @danielraimi.bsky.social here: energythinks.com/podcasts/tri...
Even tho we disagree I’m really grateful to Bob for engaging. In my experience people don't want to have these debates about aggregated climate damage estimates due to concerns that legitimate disagreements will be weaponized by opponents of climate action. I think we really need these debates now.
Actually, it’s quite useful to be able to say, “given the only impact data we actually have — how people have responded to an adapted to weather and climate in the past —here are what’s those relationships would imply about impacts and costs under a range of future climate and emissions scenarios.”
Most economists disagree with extreme voices on debates about climate risks, and yet we keep providing fuel to both sides. This article tries to explain why.
www.theatlantic.com/science/2026...
www.theatlantic.com/science/2026...
January 16, 2026 at 9:12 PM
Even tho we disagree I’m really grateful to Bob for engaging. In my experience people don't want to have these debates about aggregated climate damage estimates due to concerns that legitimate disagreements will be weaponized by opponents of climate action. I think we really need these debates now.
Reposted by Noah Kaufman
Reposted by Noah Kaufman
NOW ONLINE:
Heatmap’s 2026 Climate Insider Survey
This is our annual questionnaire of climate academics, business leaders, engineers, and former officials…
…answering some of the biggest open questions in the field.
And you can find it all online now: heatmap.news/insiders-sur...
Heatmap’s 2026 Climate Insider Survey
This is our annual questionnaire of climate academics, business leaders, engineers, and former officials…
…answering some of the biggest open questions in the field.
And you can find it all online now: heatmap.news/insiders-sur...
January 14, 2026 at 4:04 PM
NOW ONLINE:
Heatmap’s 2026 Climate Insider Survey
This is our annual questionnaire of climate academics, business leaders, engineers, and former officials…
…answering some of the biggest open questions in the field.
And you can find it all online now: heatmap.news/insiders-sur...
Heatmap’s 2026 Climate Insider Survey
This is our annual questionnaire of climate academics, business leaders, engineers, and former officials…
…answering some of the biggest open questions in the field.
And you can find it all online now: heatmap.news/insiders-sur...
Most economists disagree with extreme voices on debates about climate risks, and yet we keep providing fuel to both sides. This article tries to explain why.
www.theatlantic.com/science/2026...
www.theatlantic.com/science/2026...
The Climate Question That Economists Cannot Answer
Models can predict catastrophic or modest damages from climate change, but not which of these futures is coming.
www.theatlantic.com
January 14, 2026 at 5:38 PM
Most economists disagree with extreme voices on debates about climate risks, and yet we keep providing fuel to both sides. This article tries to explain why.
www.theatlantic.com/science/2026...
www.theatlantic.com/science/2026...
Here's a few things I learned digging into electricity affordability and decarbonization in Connecticut 🧵
November 20, 2025 at 3:25 PM
Here's a few things I learned digging into electricity affordability and decarbonization in Connecticut 🧵
Big fan of Jigar but I hate this comparison. Lomberg fraudulently claims there's empirical evidence to show climate risks are small. Gates may have somewhat different priorities or expectations about future tech evolution. If we can't differentiate between these two, I think we're in trouble.
Bill Gates hasn’t made sense on Climate since he teamed up with Bjorn Lomberg in 2009. This is just a restating of Bjorn’s book from this year about how we have a finite amount of money and we shouldn’t use it for climate. What they get wrong is that climate solutions are now fully profitable.
Bill Gates has a new memo out calling for a “strategic pivot” on climate change, downplaying “doomsday” talk to focus on filling enormous post-USAID budget gaps in global health and vaccine funding. I got an early glimpse of his thinking last week:
November 3, 2025 at 2:01 PM
Big fan of Jigar but I hate this comparison. Lomberg fraudulently claims there's empirical evidence to show climate risks are small. Gates may have somewhat different priorities or expectations about future tech evolution. If we can't differentiate between these two, I think we're in trouble.
🚨A new funding opportunity from the Resilient Energy Economies initiative! For research projects that will help communities facing acute economic risks from the energy transition. Check it out:
www.energypolicy.columbia.edu/resilient-ec...
www.energypolicy.columbia.edu/resilient-ec...
Resilient Economies Initiative Announces New RFP to Help US Fossil Fuel-dependent Communities Transition - Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University SIPA | CGEP
The Resilient Energy Economies (REE) initiative, a collaborative project of the Center on Global Energy...
www.energypolicy.columbia.edu
September 30, 2025 at 7:07 PM
🚨A new funding opportunity from the Resilient Energy Economies initiative! For research projects that will help communities facing acute economic risks from the energy transition. Check it out:
www.energypolicy.columbia.edu/resilient-ec...
www.energypolicy.columbia.edu/resilient-ec...
Fascinating stuff is happening in Minnesota.
Tomorrow (Fri) at 2pm ET we have Carla Vita, who directs the Energy Transition Office, discussing efforts to diversify the state economy and support fossil fuel workers affected by the energy transition.
Register here: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Tomorrow (Fri) at 2pm ET we have Carla Vita, who directs the Energy Transition Office, discussing efforts to diversify the state economy and support fossil fuel workers affected by the energy transition.
Register here: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
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us02web.zoom.us
September 11, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Fascinating stuff is happening in Minnesota.
Tomorrow (Fri) at 2pm ET we have Carla Vita, who directs the Energy Transition Office, discussing efforts to diversify the state economy and support fossil fuel workers affected by the energy transition.
Register here: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Tomorrow (Fri) at 2pm ET we have Carla Vita, who directs the Energy Transition Office, discussing efforts to diversify the state economy and support fossil fuel workers affected by the energy transition.
Register here: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
I wrote an article about the policy irrelevance of the social cost of carbon in the hopes of prompting an uncomfortable conversation about the future use of the metric.
So I was excited to see that @Revkin asked @CassSunstein about my critique 🧵
revkin.substack.com/p/a-fresh-lo...
So I was excited to see that @Revkin asked @CassSunstein about my critique 🧵
revkin.substack.com/p/a-fresh-lo...
A Fresh Look at Climate [In]Justice (and Trump 2.0) with Cass Sunstein
I hope you’ll listen to, and share, this conversation on climate policy in the age of Trump (and lots more) with the wide-ranging Harvard economist Cass Sunstein. Sunstein worked under two presidents ...
revkin.substack.com
August 13, 2025 at 3:23 PM
I wrote an article about the policy irrelevance of the social cost of carbon in the hopes of prompting an uncomfortable conversation about the future use of the metric.
So I was excited to see that @Revkin asked @CassSunstein about my critique 🧵
revkin.substack.com/p/a-fresh-lo...
So I was excited to see that @Revkin asked @CassSunstein about my critique 🧵
revkin.substack.com/p/a-fresh-lo...
Reposted by Noah Kaufman
@noahqkaufman.bsky.social has a very interesting, and certainly controversial, take on trump administration abandoning the SCC. I strongly agree with many of his SCC critiques, but the alternative is also unclear, and very well could be worse. 💡🔌
www.energypolicy.columbia.edu/the-social-c...
www.energypolicy.columbia.edu/the-social-c...
The Social Cost of Carbon Is Gone — and That May Be Good News for Future US Climate Policy - Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University SIPA | CGEP %
Get the latest as our experts share their insights on global energy policy.
www.energypolicy.columbia.edu
August 6, 2025 at 6:33 PM
@noahqkaufman.bsky.social has a very interesting, and certainly controversial, take on trump administration abandoning the SCC. I strongly agree with many of his SCC critiques, but the alternative is also unclear, and very well could be worse. 💡🔌
www.energypolicy.columbia.edu/the-social-c...
www.energypolicy.columbia.edu/the-social-c...
Question for state climate policy folks: digging into how RGGI operates in CT is depressing me.
A carbon price should be making clean energy more attractive than dirty energy, but as far as I can tell, we don’t really let RGGI do that here (1/2)
A carbon price should be making clean energy more attractive than dirty energy, but as far as I can tell, we don’t really let RGGI do that here (1/2)
May 29, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Question for state climate policy folks: digging into how RGGI operates in CT is depressing me.
A carbon price should be making clean energy more attractive than dirty energy, but as far as I can tell, we don’t really let RGGI do that here (1/2)
A carbon price should be making clean energy more attractive than dirty energy, but as far as I can tell, we don’t really let RGGI do that here (1/2)
ICYMI, I wrote about ending federal support for regional economic development, including diversification efforts in fossil fuel communities.
A fossil fuel behemoth like the USA will not decarbonize if doing so will wreck local economies. heatmap.news/ideas/trump-...
A fossil fuel behemoth like the USA will not decarbonize if doing so will wreck local economies. heatmap.news/ideas/trump-...
Trump’s Budget Would Be a Bust for Oil Boomtowns
And coal communities and fracking villages and all the rest.
heatmap.news
May 29, 2025 at 1:17 PM
ICYMI, I wrote about ending federal support for regional economic development, including diversification efforts in fossil fuel communities.
A fossil fuel behemoth like the USA will not decarbonize if doing so will wreck local economies. heatmap.news/ideas/trump-...
A fossil fuel behemoth like the USA will not decarbonize if doing so will wreck local economies. heatmap.news/ideas/trump-...
Reposted by Noah Kaufman
“Communities that depend on fossil fuel industries will be vulnerable to severe economic shocks when demand for their products eventually declines,” writes @noahqkaufman.bsky.social.
How Trump’s budget bill would wreck fossil fuel communities:
How Trump’s budget bill would wreck fossil fuel communities:
Trump’s Budget Would Be a Bust for Oil Boomtowns
And coal communities and fracking villages and all the rest.
heatmap.news
May 28, 2025 at 2:23 PM
“Communities that depend on fossil fuel industries will be vulnerable to severe economic shocks when demand for their products eventually declines,” writes @noahqkaufman.bsky.social.
How Trump’s budget bill would wreck fossil fuel communities:
How Trump’s budget bill would wreck fossil fuel communities:
I wrote about how we were finally helping fossil fuel-reliant communities build more resilient local economies. And now we're taking that support away.
heatmap.news/ideas/trump-...
heatmap.news/ideas/trump-...
Trump’s Budget Would Be a Bust for Oil Boomtowns
And coal communities and fracking villages and all the rest.
heatmap.news
May 28, 2025 at 2:12 PM
I wrote about how we were finally helping fossil fuel-reliant communities build more resilient local economies. And now we're taking that support away.
heatmap.news/ideas/trump-...
heatmap.news/ideas/trump-...
Reposted by Noah Kaufman
Our next Resilient Energy Economies virtual brownbag is tomorrow featuring Wade Buchanan who directs the Colorado Office of Just Transition.
Register here! us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Register here! us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: Resilient Energy Economies: Colorado's Wade Buchanan. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar.
Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: Resilient Energy Economies: Colorado's Wade Buchanan. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar.
us02web.zoom.us
May 15, 2025 at 4:47 PM
Our next Resilient Energy Economies virtual brownbag is tomorrow featuring Wade Buchanan who directs the Colorado Office of Just Transition.
Register here! us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Register here! us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Our next Resilient Energy Economies virtual brownbag is tomorrow featuring Wade Buchanan who directs the Colorado Office of Just Transition.
Register here! us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Register here! us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: Resilient Energy Economies: Colorado's Wade Buchanan. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar.
Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: Resilient Energy Economies: Colorado's Wade Buchanan. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar.
us02web.zoom.us
May 15, 2025 at 4:47 PM
Our next Resilient Energy Economies virtual brownbag is tomorrow featuring Wade Buchanan who directs the Colorado Office of Just Transition.
Register here! us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
Register here! us02web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
I was lucky to part of this amazing group exploring Oklahoma's plans for future economic resilience given its heavy reliance on the oil and gas industry.
Here's our summary report (1/3)
cdn.prod.website-files.com/65f9f863036e...
Here's our summary report (1/3)
cdn.prod.website-files.com/65f9f863036e...
May 14, 2025 at 3:03 PM
I was lucky to part of this amazing group exploring Oklahoma's plans for future economic resilience given its heavy reliance on the oil and gas industry.
Here's our summary report (1/3)
cdn.prod.website-files.com/65f9f863036e...
Here's our summary report (1/3)
cdn.prod.website-files.com/65f9f863036e...