Deborah Gordon

Senior Fellow in International and Public Affairs, Senior Principal, Climate Intelligence Program, RMI
Research Interests Energy & Environment, Science & Technology Policy, Supply Chains, Technology & Innovation
Areas of Interest Energy innovation, climate policy, oil and gas sector, science and technology

Biography

Deborah Gordon is the Senior Principal in the Climate Intelligence Program at RMI. She formerly served as Director of the Energy and Climate Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. She is the author of several books, including "No Standard Oil: Managing Abundant Petroleum in a Warming World," Oxford University Press, 2021. After beginning her career with Chevron, Gordon managed an energy and environmental consulting practice, taught at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and directed the Energy Policy Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. Gordon regularly testifies before Congress, collaborates with government agencies, industry, and NGOs, and has served on National Academy of Sciences committees. Gordon’s op-eds, articles, and quotes have appeared in The National Interest, The Hill, Pacific Standard, Financial Times, Scientific American, International Economy Magazine, About Oil, Boao Review, Xinghua News, Huffington Post, Newsweek, Time, Washington Post, and New York Times. She has been featured on ABC News, PBS Great Decisions, NPR’s To the Point and E&E TV's On Point. 

Research

  • Serving as Principal Investigator on the Oil Climate Project, a research initiative aimed at developing new knowledge and indicators using a novel systems approach so that stakeholders can make more strategic and sustainable environmental decisions throughout the petroleum sector

  • Researching global opportunities to reduce climate impacts in the petroleum sector and expanding the Oil Climate Index Plus Gas (OCI+), a first-of-its-kind analytic tool to assess and compare the lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions throughout the oil and gas supply chain

  • Writing a new book, There Is No Standard Oil, based on extensive research findings from the Oil Climate Project, under contract at Oxford University Press with expected publication in 2021 

  • Collaborating with NASA’s Carbon Monitoring System scientists to assess methane emission impacts from global oil and gas operations

  • Conducting research on the impacts vehicle electrification will have on the oil transition strategy in order to advance a low-carbon economy

  • Investigating carbon and methane pricing that fairly assess fees across the oil and gas supply chain

Publications

  • No Standard Oil: Managing Abundant Petroleum in a Warming World, Oxford University Press, 2022 (Paperback edition with new Afterword, August 2025)
  • “Top-Down Benchmark of U.S. Methane Inventories Reveals Regional Discrepancies in Activity-Based Estimates,” EGUsphere, March 2026
  • “No Excuses for Squandering Gas: Lessening Methane Waste, Bolstering Energy Security,” Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development, June 2025
  • Drilling Down on Methane Loss, (with Kevin Gauthier, Dwayne Purvis, Carmela Chaney, Lauren Schmeisser, Cayla Calderwood) RMI, 2026  
  • Know Your Oil and Gas, (with Sasha Bylsma, Carmela Chaney, Jonathan Koomey, and Lauren Schmeisser) RMI, 2025  
  • Reactions to Landman Season 2: Risky Business Continues in the Oil Patch, RMI, February 2026  
  • Venezuela’s oil future is murky. But its production emissions are all too clear, RMI, January 2026

Teaching

Watson School Study Group - Fall 2026 (limited enrollment)

Recent News

Deborah Gordon recently co-authored the article "Two Carbon Co-Conspirators Need to Be Stopped to Tackle Climate Change," emphasizing the need to cut CO2 and methane emissions simultaneously to meet global climate targets faster.
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