I have had the great pleasure of engaging in conversations over the past 5 years with outstanding individuals from the worlds of academia, private industry, NGOs, government, and journalism in my monthly podcast series, “Environmental Insights: Discussions on Policy and Practice from the Harvard Environmental Economics Program.” My most recent guest was certainly no exception, because I was joined by Lisa Friedman, a leading climate reporter at the New York Times, and previously for eight years at Climatewire/E&E News, where she was international reporter, deputy editor, and eventually Editor-in Chief.
Since moving to the Times in 2017, she has become widely regarded as one of the leading journalists in the world covering climate policy, and unlike most climate reporters who focus primarily on climate science, her reporting has emphasized government decision-making, regulation, international negotiations, energy economics, and the political economy of climate and energy policy.
She is about to undertake a major career transition, moving from the Climate Desk to the Business Desk as the Times’s London-based Energy Correspondent covering Europe and the Middle East. So, I thought this was an excellent time to reflect with Lisa on her near-decade covering climate change and climate change policy for the New York Times, and to think about her path ahead. Please listen to our full conversation here.
At the outset, Lisa emphasizes her excitement about this transition covering an increasingly important set of issues with ripple effects across multiple domains.
“Covering climate change is, of course, about covering energy choices, but it is also about politics and policy. It is also about food security. It is also a story about national security. It’s a story about everything from migration to intellectual property decisions,” she remarks.
She goes on to argue that dramatically shifting U.S. climate policies in recent years have cast the nation as an unreliable climate partner on the world stage, something that is becoming even more pronounced since President Trump’s re-election in 2024.
“We have seen efforts to impose regulations, EPA regulations on power plants, on automobiles, that were put in place under Democratic administrations, repealed under Republican administrations, [and then] put back in place and strengthened under the next Democratic administration,” she says. “And now with this second Trump administration, what we’re seeing is a real effort to not just wind back regulations but try to make sure that they are not ever able to be reinstated. That’s a huge shift.”
Friedman recognizes that her new beat will be a significant and very attractive challenge as she expands her purview to a European perspective.
“I don’t see myself as leaving the climate story. I am learning another side of the coin,” she says. “I think that as we think about things like the global energy transition, it’s really important for climate reporters to understand the oil and gas industry a lot better and understand where this industry is going to go in the future. That’s one of my big questions. The speed or slowness of the transition right now in this moment of how countries are reacting to the energy shocks brought about by the closing of the Strait of Hormuz. These are all just incredible stories that I’m excited to start telling.”
Lisa acknowledges that while there is support for the clean energy transition in the European Union (EU), there are also concerns about energy security and affordability at a time when citizens in many countries are feeling economic pressures.
“I spoke with Dan Jørgensen, Commissioner for Energy in the EU, and he pointed out that the block spends about 370 billion euros, that’s about 423 billion dollars, in imported energy every year. His argument, [as well as] the argument of many people who believe like him that electrification is important to Europe’s future, say, ‘Look, that is leaving Europe vulnerable to global market price swings. And by the way, we also don’t want to be vulnerable to a country that may put pressure on us in other ways for imported fuel.’”
“At the same time, you have many others in Europe who are… using the phrase ‘energy realism’ now, particularly in Greece and Cyprus, who are saying that the future of Europe is about diversification,” she states. “These are battles that are going to play out for many years now.”
Despite the disappointment many people have with the U.S. withdrawing from the Paris Agreement and with plans to withdraw from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), Friedman says the issue of climate change isn’t going away.
“Yale University just came out with a poll that showed… no matter what the administration says about climate change, two thirds of Americans say they are worried about climate change. And figuring out how to cover climate change in this moment is a struggle for all of us,” she remarks. “But let’s not pretend the issue has gone away just because a particular administration doesn’t prioritize it or actively works against addressing it.”
For this and much, much more, I encourage you to listen to this 76th episode of the Environmental Insights series, with future episodes scheduled to drop each month. You can find a transcript of our conversation at the website of the Harvard Environmental Economics Program. Previous episodes have featured conversations with:
- Gina McCarthy, former Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- Nick Stern of the London School of Economics discussing his career, British politics, and efforts to combat climate change
- Andrei Marcu, founder and executive director of the European Roundtable on Climate Change and Sustainable Transition
- Paul Watkinson, Chair of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA) within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
- Jos Delbeke, professor at the European University Institute in Florence and at the KU Leuven in Belgium, and formerly Director-General of the European Commission’s DG Climate Action
- David Keith, professor at Harvard and a leading authority on geoengineering
- Joe Aldy, professor of the practice of public policy at Harvard Kennedy School, with considerable experience working on climate change policy issues in the U.S. government
- Scott Barrett, professor of natural resource economics at Columbia University, and an authority on infectious disease policy
- Rebecca Henderson, John and Natty McArthur University Professor at Harvard University, and founding co-director of the Business and Environment Initiative at Harvard Business School.
- Sue Biniaz, who was the lead climate lawyer and a lead climate negotiator for the United States from 1989 until early 2017.
- Richard Schmalensee, the Howard W. Johnson Professor of Management, and Professor of Economics Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
- Kelley Kizier, Associate Vice President for International Climate at the Environmental Defense Fund.
- David Hone, Chief Climate Change Adviser, Shell International.
- Vicky Bailey, 30 years of experience in corporate and government positions in the energy sector.
- David Victor, professor of international relations at the University of California, San Diego.
- Lisa Friedman, reporter on the climate desk at the The New York Times.
- Coral Davenport, who covers energy and environmental policy for The New York Times from Washington.
- Spencer Dale, BP Group Chief Economist.
- Richard Revesz, professor at the NYU School of Law.
- Daniel Esty, Hillhouse Professor of Environment and Law at Yale University.
- William Hogan, Raymond Plank Research Professor of Global Energy Policy at Harvard.
- Jody Freeman, Archibald Cox Professor of Law at Harvard Law School.
- John Graham, Dean Emeritus, Paul O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University.
- Gernot Wagner, Clinical Associate Professor at New York University.
- John Holdren, Research Professor, Harvard Kennedy School.
- Larry Goulder, Shuzo Nishihara Professor of Environmental and Resource Economics, Stanford University.
- Suzi Kerr, Chief Economist, Environmental Defense Fund.
- Sheila Olmstead, Professor of Public Affairs, LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas, Austin.
- Robert Pindyck, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Professor of Economics and Finance, MIT Sloan School of Management.
- Gilbert Metcalf, Professor of Economics, Tufts University.
- Navroz Dubash, Professor, Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi.
- Paul Joskow, Elizabeth and James Killian Professor of Economics emeritus, MIT.
- Maureen Cropper, Distinguished University Professor, University of Maryland.
- Orley Ashenfelter, the Joseph Douglas Green 1895 Professor of Economics, Princeton University.
- Jonathan Wiener, the William and Thomas Perkins Professor of Law, Duke Law School.
- Lori Bennear, the Juli Plant Grainger Associate Professor of Energy Economics and Policy, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University.
- Daniel Yergin, founder of Cambridge Energy Research Associates, and now Vice Chair of S&P Global.
- Jeffrey Holmstead, who leads the Environmental Strategies Group at Bracewell in Washington, DC.
- Daniel Jacob, Vasco McCoy Family Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry & Environmental Engineering at Harvard.
- Michael Greenstone, Milton Friedman Distinguished Service Professor of Economics, University of Chicago.
- Billy Pizer, Vice President for Research & Policy Engagement, Resources for the Future.
- Daniel Bodansky, Regents’ Professor, Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, Arizona State University.
- Catherine Wolfram, Cora Jane Flood Professor of Business Administration, Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley, currently on leave at the Harvard Kennedy School.
- James Stock, Harold Hitchings Burbank Professor of Political Economy, Harvard University.
- Mary Nichols, long-time leader in California, U.S., and international climate change policy.
- Geoffrey Heal, Donald Waite III Professor of Social Enterprise, Columbia Business School.
- Kathleen Segerson, Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor of Economics, University of Connecticut.
- Meredith Fowlie, Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics, U.C. Berkeley.
- Karen Palmer, Senior Fellow, Resources for the Future.
- Severin Borenstein, Professor of the Graduate School, Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley.
- Michael Toffel, Senator John Heinz Professor of Environmental Management and Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School.
- Emma Rothschild, Jeremy and Jane Knowles Professor of History, Harvard University.
- Nathaniel Keohane, President, C2ES.
- Amy Harder, Executive Editor, Cypher News.
- Richard Zeckhauser, Frank Ramsey Professor of Political Economy, Harvard Kennedy School.
- Kimberly (Kim) Clausing, School of Law, University of California at Los Angeles
- Hunt Allcott, Professor of Global Environmental Policy, Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability.
- Meghan O’Sullivan, Jeane Kirkpatrick Professor of the Practice of International Affairs at Harvard Kennedy School.
- Robert Lawrence, Albert Williams Professor of International Trade and Investment, Harvard Kennedy School.
- Charles Taylor, Assistant Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School.
- Wolfram Schlenker, Ray Goldberg Professor of the Global Food System, Harvard Kennedy School.
- Karen Fisher-Vanden, Professor of Environmental & Resource Economics, Pennsylvania State University
- Max Bearak, climate and energy reporter, New York Times
- Vijay Vaitheeswaran, global energy and climate innovation editor, The Economist
- Joseph Aldy, Teresa & John Heinz Professor of the Practice of Environmental Policy, Harvard Kennedy School
- Nicholas Burns, Roy and Barbara Goodman Family Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Relations, Harvard Kennedy School
- Elaine Buckberg, Senior Fellow, Salata Institute for Climate and Sustainability, Harvard University
- Anna Russo, Junior Fellow, Harvard University
- John Podesta, Advisor to Presidents Clinton, Obama, and Biden
- Catherine Wolfram, William Barton Rogers Professor of Energy Economics, MIT Sloan School of Management
- Jody Freeman, Archibald Cox Professor of Law at Harvard Law School.
- Matthew Kahn, Provost Professor of Economics, University of Southern California
- Kenneth Gillingham, Professor Economics, Yale School of the Environment
“Environmental Insights” is hosted on SoundCloud, and is also available on iTunes, Pocket Casts, Spotify, and Stitcher.
