The UMBC Center for Ethics and Values will be holding its first Public Forum of 2025-2026: Energy Wars at Home and Abroad: A conversation with Andrew Light, Philosopher and Former Assistant Secretary of Energy for International Affairs at the Department of Energy (2021-2025). The event will feature a informal conversation with Andrew Light. We will then invite the audience to join the conversation.

To preregister for the event, go to https://ethics.umbc.edu/public-forums/. (Preregistration is recommended, but not required.)

Andrew Light has held a variety of positions in universities, government, and NGOs working on clean energy and climate issues. From 2021-2025 he served as United States Assistant Secretary of Energy for International Affairs in the Biden administration, focused on accelerating a global clean energy transition while ensuring energy security. From 2013-2016 he served as Senior Adviser and India Counselor to the U.S. Special Envoy on Climate Change, as well as a staff member for climate in the Secretary of State’s Office of Policy Planning, working on the Paris Agreement and other platforms for climate cooperation. At NGOs, he has been a

Distinguished Senior Fellow at the World Resources Institute and Senior Fellow and Director of International Climate and Energy Policy at the Center for American Progress. Andrew is currently Distinguished University Professor of Public Policy, Philosophy, and Atmospheric Sciences at George Mason University and a Distinguished Fellow at the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth at The University of Chicago.