David Victor Named Co-Chair of Brookings Initiative on Energy and Climate

Washington, D.C. – David Victor, noted expert on climate and energy policy, has been named the co-chair of the Brookings Institution’s Initiative on Energy and Climate. Victor currently serves as a professor at the University of California, San Diego’s School of Global Policy and Strategy and as the director of the Laboratory on International Law and Regulation.

Recognized as one of the world’s leading scholars on energy policy and climate governance, Victor previously served as director of the Program on Energy and Sustainable Development at Stanford University. He is a member of the World Economic Forum Global Agency Council on Energy Security and has been a contributor to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, as well as to National Research Council task forces.

“I am delighted that David has agreed to join Brookings Initiative on Energy and Climate,” said Bruce Jones, vice president for Foreign Policy. “He possesses a tremendous depth of knowledge on global energy markets and climate governance that will compliment Brookings’s existing strengths. David also brings with him a network of contacts in the climate and energy field that will help us mobilize our bench strength on energy security, climate policy and the social and geopolitical dimensions of both.”

Brookings President Strobe Talbott noted, “We’re fortunate to welcome David Victor to the leadership of our climate and energy team, especially given that the period ahead cries out for expert, pragmatic, objective, and independent research and convening power that brings the climate and energy worlds together.”

This announcement coincides with the introduction of Brookings Centenary Strategic Plan, a roadmap for the Institution’s next 100 years. As part of the strategic plan, Brookings will focus on energy and climate governance as one of its top five priorities, increasing collaboration among its scholars and emphasizing research efforts on energy, climate, and sustainable development.

“The 21^st century poses a series of complex governance challenges that can’t be addressed by one discipline alone,” said Brookings Executive Vice President Martin Indyk. “Brookings is breaking down the silos between our programs to promote collaborative efforts to tackle the world’s toughest problems – energy and climate foremost among them.”

Victor will join other Brookings scholars focused on energy and climate policy, including: Charles Ebinger (energy security); Adele Morris (energy economics and finance within U.S. markets); Tim Boersma (energy markets in Europe); Rahul Tongia (energy access and development in India); Qi Ye (climate policy in China); Phil Wallach (energy and climate regulation); Amar Bhattacharya (climate finance and development); and Mark Muro (climate and urbanization). Brookings also has a strong team of nonresident scholars that contribute to its work on energy, climate and development.

Victor is widely published on energy, the geopolitics of energy, and climate change. Among his most cited books are Oil and Governance: State-Owned Enterprises and the World Energy Supply (with David Hults and Mark Thurber, 2012), Global Warming Gridlock: Creating More Effective Strategies for Protecting the Planet (2011) and Reforming Electric Power Markets in Developing Countries: Politics, Law and Institutions (with Thomas Heller, 2007).