Julio Friedmann
Dr. Julio Friedmann is a Senior Research Scholar at the Center for Global Energy Policy at Columbia University. He recently served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Fossil Energy at the Department of Energy where he was responsible for DOE’s R&D program in advanced fossil energy systems, carbon capture, and storage (CCS), CO2 utilization, and clean coal deployment. His expertise includes Large-Scale Carbon Management, CO2 removal, CO2 recycling, Oil and Gas systems, international engagements in clean fossil energy, and inter-agency engagements within the US government. He has also held positions at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, including Senior Advisor for Energy Innovation and Chief Energy Technologist. He is also the CEO of Carbon Wrangler, LLC, is a Distinguished Associate at the Energy Futures Initiative, and serves as a special advisor to the Global CCS Institute. He was recently named as a Senior Fellow to the Breakthrough Institute and the Climate Leadership Council.
Dr. Friedmann is one of the most widely known and authoritative experts in the U.S. on carbon removal (CO2 drawdown from the air and oceans), CO2 conversion and use (carbon-to-value), and carbon capture and sequestration. His expertise includes technology, policy, and operations. In addition to close partnerships with many private companies and NGOs, Julio has worked with the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S. Treasury.
Dr. Friedmann received his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), followed by a Ph.D. in Geology at the University of Southern California. He worked for five years as a senior research scientist at ExxonMobil, then as a research scientist at the University of Maryland. He serves as a formal and informal advisor to several clean energy and CarbonTech companies.
Recent Publications
Energizing America: A Roadmap to Launch a National Energy Innovation Mission
The U.S. government should triple its annual investment in energy innovation over the next five years to speed clean energy transitions around the world and build advanced-energy industries at home.
To Confront the Climate Crisis, the U.S. Should Launch a National Energy Innovation Mission
America has successfully launched national innovation missions time and again, but it has not launched a mission to counter the gravest threat of our time: climate change.
Recent Events and Presentations
Decarbonizing Industrial Heat
ITIF and the Aspen Institute hosted the Washington, DC release of the Innovation for a Cool Earth Forum’s (ICEF’s) Industrial Heat Decarbonization Roadmap and convened an expert panel exploring the challenges of industrial heat decarbonization.