Andrew Light

Andrew Light, Ph.D., joined the Biden Administration in January to serve as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Affairs in the Department of Energy. Previously he was University Professor of Philosophy, Public Policy, and Atmospheric Sciences at George Mason University, and Distinguished Senior Fellow at the World Resources Institute in Washington, D.C., where he worked at the intersection of U.S. and international climate and energy policy. From 2013-2016 he served as Senior Adviser and India Counselor to the U.S. Special Envoy on Climate Change and on the staff of Secretary of State John Kerry’s Office of Policy Planning in the U.S. Department of State. In this capacity, he was Director of the U.S.-India Joint Working Group for Combating Climate Change and Chair of the U.S. Interagency Climate Working Group for negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals; he also served on the senior strategy team for the UN climate negotiations, among other duties. In recognition of this work, Light shared in a Superior Honor Award, from the U.S. Department of State in July 2016 for “contributions to the U.S. effort that made the 21st Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Paris, where the landmark Paris Agreement was concluded, a historic success.” Light has authored or co-authored dozens of policy reports on international energy and climate issues, and has been a long-time champion of work demonstrating the benefits of international climate and energy cooperation on the employment opportunities, security, environmental quality, and health of the American people. As the grandson of two West Virginia coal miners, his understanding of the vital necessity for a strong U.S. energy economy is rooted in his childhood. He grew up in rural Georgia, where he formed an abiding appreciation of the environment, completing his undergraduate degree at Mercer University, graduate studies at the University of California at Riverside, and a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Alberta. He lives with his family in Washington, D.C.