Renewable Energy in the US: Where Are We and What’s Next? Regulatory and Market Impacts of Trump’s Energy Policies – A Discussion with Allan Marks

CCSI and Columbia Climate School welcomed Allan Marks for a deep dive into the fast-changing US political and regulatory landscape for renewable energy, as the new Trump administration seeks to reshape the US energy sector. He discussed how the new direction of US energy policy will intersect with macro-economic and geopolitical trends and with the rising power demand from AI data centers, digital infrastructure and EVs.

Discussion topics:

• What Trump’s Executive Orders and agency directives mean for US federal permitting of wind and solar projects
• The impact of planned tariffs on energy investment
• The future of the IRA and tax credits for clean energy and manufacturing
• The status of offshore wind development in the US
• What policy shifts might mean for energy security, reliability, affordability and sustainability
• The role of AI-driven data centers and digital infrastructure and EVs as drivers of increased energy demand
• Unpacking the evolving lexicon: “energy security,” “energy dominance,” “reliable baseload power,” and “windmills”
• The market impacts of delayed or blocked federal payments under government contracts, clean energy tax rebates, DOE grants and federal loans
• Energy investment and finance within the broader macroeconomic and geopolitical context

Allan Marks is a Senior Fellow at the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment and teaches law at the University of California, Berkeley and UCLA. He is a retired/consulting partner at Milbank LLP, where he practiced for over 30 years and was a partner in the firm’s Global Project, Energy & Infrastructure Finance group. He has handled complex transactions in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Asia, and Europe with an aggregate value of over $100 billion across multiple sectors: power and renewable energy, transportation, water supply and water treatment, airports, rail, port terminals, alternative fuels, social infrastructure, and telecommunications and digital infrastructure. Many of his transactions focused on the energy transition, renewable energy, innovative clean technologies, and sustainability. He is a Contributor to Forbes and speaks frequently on energy, infrastructure, climate change, business strategy, financial markets, public policy, and international transactions and has been interviewed and quoted in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, POLITICO Pro, CNN Business, Bloomberg, S&P Global Market Intelligence, and other media outlets. He received a BA in International Studies from Johns Hopkins University and a JD from the University of California, Berkeley School of Law

Reference article from November 7, 2024: U.S. Energy Industry Trends To Watch In A 2025 Trump Presidency