Columbia Energy Exchange

Carbon credit markets have become one of the most hotly debated tools in the fight against climate change. Supporters call them essential to closing the gap between corporate climate pledges and what companies can actually achieve on their own. Critics call them a shell game that lets polluters buy their way out of real action.
But the debate is about more than just whether carbon credits can work; it's about the integrity of the markets designed to trade them. The promise of these markets is fairly straightforward. The complexity comes in determining whether the credits actually deliver the climate benefits they're supposed to. 
New research from the Center on Global Energy Policy, supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies, examines the state of one type of carbon trading: project-based carbon credit markets. The study looks at how these markets are regulated and how they might be scaled.
Today on the show, Bill Loveless speaks with Gautam Jain and Ned Shell about the state of project-based carbon credit markets, where they're headed, and what they're watching closely on the road to global rules under the Paris Agreement's Article 6.
Gautam Jain is a senior research scholar here at the Center on Global Energy Policy. He focuses on the role of financial markets and carbon markets in the transition to net-zero emissions—particularly in emerging countries. Gautam previously worked in the financial industry where he covered emerging markets as a portfolio manager and strategist for asset management firms and investment banks, including The Rohatyn Group, Barclays Capital, and Millennium Partners. 
Ned Shell is director of public policy and climate finance programs at Bloomberg. He is also a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Prior to Bloomberg, he served as counselor to the under secretary for domestic finance in the U.S. Department of the Treasury and held roles at Bain & Company and the World Bank.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff, Bill Loveless, and Daniel Sternoff. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.

Global gas markets, especially in Europe, are approaching winter under serious pressure. With storage inventories lagging behind historical averages and shipping disruptions from the Middle East threatening key liquefied natural gas flows, many nations find themselves deeply exposed. 
The supply shocks from both the Russia-Ukraine war and now the Strait of Hormuz closure have revealed vulnerabilities in a market that is more interconnected than ever, but also more geopolitically complex. 
With less global LNG supply and growing sensitivity to weather, the case for new security frameworks is getting stronger, built on closer international cooperation, new reserve mechanisms and greater market flexibility.
Where does the global gas market stand right now? How much LNG is actually moving through the Strait of Hormuz? What are European countries doing to prepare for the winter? Is Russian gas coming back on the table? Will renewed concerns about energy security spur a faster transition away from gas and toward clean energy? And how do China and the rest of Asia factor into this high-stakes calculus for global supplies? 
On today's show—Anne-Sophie Corbeau, Ira Joseph, and Tatiana Mitrova. All three are research scholars at the Center on Global Energy Policy and have deep expertise in geopolitics and energy markets.
They joined host Jason Bordoff to discuss the global gas market, what's behind the looming European supply crisis this coming winter, and how the markets—and European leaders—are responding. They played out some scenarios regarding supply and demand going forward and the role that Asian markets, global geopolitics, coal, renewables, and electrification could play.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff, Bill Loveless, and Daniel Sternoff. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Dara Diamond, Doug Halsey, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.

Seven months into the largest oil supply disruption in history, there's still no resolution in sight. This week, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, US and Iranian officials held their first indirect talks since the Memorandum of Understanding collapsed in July—but neither side appears ready for concessions.
Energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz remain contested and hard to track. A US blockade has pushed Iranian crude exports close to zero, while naval escorts and dark transits near the Omani coast have allowed a partial, volatile recovery in flows from Arab Gulf states—still well below pre-war levels. Attacks on shipping continue, and the Houthis have opened a new front against Saudi Arabia, choking flows through the Bab al-Mandab and striking key infrastructure like the East-West pipeline.
Brent crude sits at $105​ a barrel, below April's $126 peak, but that headline number masks just how tight markets really are: diesel ​i​s over $6.50 per gallon in the US, up 85% from pre-war levels​; tanker rates​ are 20 times normal; and markets are visibly scrambling for crude. Meanwhile Republican senators from US farm states are pushing for a diesel export ban, and the Trump administration is reportedly considering it over objections from members of his cabinet.
How much crude is actually flowing through the Strait of Hormuz. Why is diesel the most acute pressure point in oil markets? What would a US diesel export ban mean? And why have tanker rates gone stratospheric? 
T​oday on the Iran Conflict Brief, ​D​aniel Sternoff talks with Jan Stuart, global energy strategist at Piper Sandler. Jan has built leading energy franchises at Credit Suisse, Macquarie, and UBS, was a journalist in the 1990s, and began his career at the International Energy Agency in Paris.
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff, Bill Loveless, and Daniel Sternoff. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Dara Diamond, Doug Halsey, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.

This week, Chinese President Xi Jinping travels to Washington for a state visit with President Trump, their second face-to-face meeting this year. Energy is likely to be high on the agenda, particularly the fallout from the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. 
One of the more surprising developments since Iran largely closed off the Strait of Hormuz has been how little damage it's done to China's economy. Analysts widely expected the disruption—given China's heavy reliance on Gulf crude—to hit hard. The data tells a different story. 
What happened? How much of this outcome is owed to the country's careful planning, diverse energy sourcing, or demand reduction? And what does all of this say about the ways energy security is shifting—and perhaps being redefined—in China?
Today on the show, Bill Loveless speaks with Erica Downs and Michal Meidan about how China has responded to the biggest oil shock in history, and what it reveals about the future of energy security.
Erica Downs is a senior research scholar at CGEP, where she focuses on Chinese energy markets and geopolitics. 
Michal Meidan leads China Energy Research at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. 
Read their post, How China Is Managing Lower Oil Imports, on the Center on Global Energy Policy's blog, Energy Explained. 
Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O'Connor, Dara Diamond, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.

More than six months into the war with Iran, the Strait of Hormuz crisis continues to cause turmoil in the Gulf region and global energy markets with no apparent end in sight. 
Tanker traffic through the strait has collapsed to a fraction of its pre-war baseline, and the fallout is spreading. Brent crude broke $100 a barrel for the first time since July, and US diesel prices have climbed above $6 a gallon for the first time in history.
The US Navy blockade has all but shut down Iranian oil exports, but the conflict is no longer confined to Iran and the strait. Last week, Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline was struck and could stay offline for weeks. Iran-aligned Houthi forces seized Yemen's Red Sea coastline. And a Panama-flagged tanker carrying Iraqi fuel oil caught fire in the crossfire—a sign that oil flows well beyond Iran's borders are now at risk.
Meanwhile, President Trump continues to predict the war will end shortly after the US midterms—even as his own administration reportedly warns privately that Iran can hold out longer than that. 
So, with the conflict spreading, has this become a multi-front regional war? How much further could oil and diesel prices climb? And how does this conflict unwind and actually end?
On today's show, Jason Bordoff speaks with three scholars at the Center on Global Energy Policy: Richard Nephew, Daniel Sternoff, and Karen Young. Together, they discuss the widening war, its impacts on global energy markets, and Middle East geopolitics.