The Center on Global Energy Policy (CGEP) at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs announced today that former Congressman Carlos Curbelo, a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 2015 to 2018 for the 26th Congressional District of Florida, will join the center as a Distinguished Visiting Fellow.
At CGEP, Curbelo will produce expert commentary and content focused on the nexus of energy and climate policy and support the center’s carbon tax research. He will contribute to the strong community of energy and climate scholars and practitioners at SIPA and across the university, and participate in public and private events organized by the center.
“In Congress, Representative Curbelo gained a reputation for developing pragmatic, bipartisan solutions on energy and climate issues,” said Jason Bordoff, professor of Professional Practice in International and Public Affairs and founding director of the Center on Global Energy Policy. “We are delighted that he will contribute his policy experience and insights to the Center on Global Energy Policy, particularly to our Carbon Tax Research Initiative. Putting a price on carbon is a key piece of a long-term climate solution, and Representative Curbelo has unique experience not only developing the specifics of a plan, but also working to build bipartisan support for a carbon price.”
Curbelo was the co-founder and co-chair of the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus in the House of Representatives and introduced the first carbon pricing legislation by a Republican member of Congress in more than a decade. In 2018, Curbelo received the New Frontier Award from the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation in recognition of his efforts to build bipartisan consensus in support of sound climate policy in Congress.
“Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy is at the leading edge of climate and energy research and analysis, and I’m honored to join its community of scholars at a critical moment for developing policy solutions to climate change,” said Curbelo.
Prior to his time in Congress, Curbelo founded and managed a media and public relations firm in South Florida, served as a member of the Miami-Dade County School Board, the Miami-Dade Transportation Planning Organization, and as state director for former U.S. Senator George LeMieux.
The CGEP Distinguished Fellows Program brings veterans of public and private sector life into the Columbia community. Distinguished Fellows serve as adjunct research scholars, collaborate on articles and op-eds published through CGEP, participate in public events at Columbia University, speak to campus and faculty groups, and may teach a course or supervise a student research team.
About the Center on Global Energy Policy
CGEP’s mission is to enable public and private sector leaders to make more informed choices about the world’s most pressing energy issues by providing an independent, interdisciplinary, and nonpartisan platform for insights and data-driven analysis, convening and information-sharing, education and training, and actionable recommendations on the current and future global energy system. We accomplish this using the following key strategies:
- Produce best-in-class research rooted in academic work, but delivered in formats and on timeframes that are accessible and useful to those outside academia.
- Provide a global platform to communicate the insights from that research across traditional and new media, public events, and private roundtables, leveraging Columbia’s exceptional faculty and global reach.
- Train tomorrow’s leaders and communicators by teaching students how to do and apply research, training journalists and others on the key factors influencing the global energy system, and providing opportunities and mentorship to the next generation of energy policy and market leaders.
