• CERAWEEK
  • March 10 - 14, 2025

Samantha Gross

The Brookings Institution

Director, Energy Security and Climate Initiative

Samantha Gross is the director of the Energy Security and Climate Initiative and a fellow in Foreign Policy. Her work is focused on the intersection of energy, environment, and policy, including climate policy and international cooperation, the transition to a net-zero emissions energy system, energy geopolitics, and global energy markets. Gross has more than 25 years of experience in energy and environmental affairs. In 2021, she was a Brookings Robert Bosch Foundation Transatlantic Fellow in Berlin. She has been a visiting fellow at the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center, where she authored work on clean energy cooperation and on post-Paris climate policy. She was director of the Office of International Climate and Clean Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy. In that role she directed U.S. activities under the Clean Energy Ministerial, including the secretariat and initiatives focusing on clean energy implementation and access and energy efficiency. Prior to her time at the Department of Energy, Gross was director of integrated research at IHS CERA. She managed the IHS CERA Climate Change and Clean Energy forum and the IHS relationship with the World Economic Forum. She has also worked at the Government Accountability Office on the natural resources and environment team and as an engineer directing environmental assessment and remediation projects. Gross appears frequently in the media in the United States and abroad on topics of energy markets, energy security, and the green energy transition. Gross holds a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering from the University of Illinois, a Master of Science in environmental engineering from Stanford, and a Master of Business Administration from the University of California at Berkeley.

Sessions With Samantha Gross

Tuesday, 19 March

  • 09:30am - 10:00am (CST) / 19/mar/2024 02:30 pm - 19/mar/2024 03:00 pm

    Certified Natural Gas: An incentive for decarbonizing oil & gas?
    Carbon Management/Decarbonization

    Certification of natural gas production is increasingly prominent as a means for both gas producers and buyers to prove their ESG credentials, and to differentiate gas traded in international markets. What standards are developing to enable data transparency and certification of produced gas? What is the outlook for regulations to mandate such certifications? How important is certification in practice for gas buyers across different regional markets?  

Wednesday, 20 March

  • 11:00am - 11:30am (CST) / 20/mar/2024 04:00 pm - 20/mar/2024 04:30 pm

    Beyond Borders: The IRA's ripple effect on international policies and finance
    Innovation & Technology

    The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) has turned out to be a big accelerator for capital deployment in the U.S. with its generous tax credits. However, the intention by the U.S. to lead the world on clean energy investment and supply chain has also spurred an intense debate about the spillover effects of the IRA on climate policies and investment outside the U.S. We will explore both positive and negative spillover effects of the IRA and explore opportunities and challenges for the rest of the world.

Thursday, 21 March

  • 01:30pm - 02:00pm (CST) / 21/mar/2024 06:30 pm - 21/mar/2024 07:00 pm

    Innovations in Sustainable Steel
    Digitalization/AI/Machine Learning/Robotics/Cybersecurity

    Steel is often perceived as among the most difficult of the so-called “hard-to-abate” sectors. And yet, steel plants can greatly improve their carbon footprints by using techniques that include digitalization; hydrogen- and direct-reduced iron processes to eliminate the use of coal, reduction of heat loss in the casting and rolling process or recycled waste gases and heat. What sustainability philosophies and techniques are gaining the most traction in this industry? How are innovators driving the necessary changes? What is the outlook for widespread adoption of these new techniques?

Agenda