David Sandalow

David Sandalow is the Inaugural Fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy and co-Director of the Energy and Environment Concentration at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. He founded and directs the Center’s U.S.-China Program and is author of the Guide to Chinese Climate Policy. During Fall 2019, he was a Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Schwarzman Scholars Program at Tsinghua University.

Mr. Sandalow has served in senior positions at the White House, State Department and U.S. Department of Energy. He came to Columbia from the U.S. Department of Energy, where he served as Under Secretary of Energy (acting) and Assistant Secretary for Policy & International Affairs. Prior to serving at DOE, Mr. Sandalow was a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution. He has served as Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans, Environment & Science and a Senior Director on the National Security Council staff.

Mr. Sandalow writes and speaks widely on energy and climate policy. Recent works include Decarbonizing Space Heating With Air Source Heat Pumps (December 2019, co-author), Industrial Heat Decarbonization Roadmap (December 2019, project chair), Guide to Chinese Climate Policy 2019 (September 2019), Electric Vehicle Charging in China and the United States (February 2019, co-author), Direct Air Capture of Carbon Dioxide Roadmap (December 2018, project chair), A Natural Gas Giant Awakens (June 2018, co-author), The Geopolitics of Renewable Energy (2017, co-author), Financing Solar and Wind Power: Lessons from Oil and Gas (2017, co-author), CO2 Utilization Roadmap 2.0 (2017, project chair) and The History and Future of the Clean Energy Ministerial (2016). Other works include Plug-In Electric Vehicles: What Role for Washington? (2009) (editor), U.S.-China Cooperation on Climate Change (2009) (co-author) and Freedom from Oil (2008).

Mr. Sandalow is a member of the Innovation for Cool Earth Forum (ICEF) Steering Committee and chair of ICEF Innovation Roadmap Project. He serves as a director of Fermata Energy. Mr. Sandalow is a member of the Zayed Future Energy Prize Selection Committee, Global CO2 Initiative Advisory Board, Electric Drive Transport Association’s “Hall of Fame” and Council on Foreign Relations. Mr. Sandalow is a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School and Yale College.