CFR Welcomes Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran as Director of the Energy Security and Climate Change Program

The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is pleased to welcome Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran to the David Rockefeller Studies Program, CFR’s think tank. He will join CFR on Monday, July 13, as Philip D. Reed chair in science and technology, senior fellow, and director of the Energy Security and Climate Change program.

Mr. Vaitheeswaran most recently served as a senior editor at the Economist and has had an extensive career in journalism, covering topics ranging from politics and international affairs to business and innovation. At CFR, Mr. Vaitheeswaran will lead interdisciplinary work on energy and climate issues. His research will focus on the interplay of policy, technology, and markets as nations pursue energy abundance and climate resilience in the age of artificial intelligence (AI).

“I am delighted to welcome Vijay to the Council,” said CFR President Michael Froman. “His journalism experience and in-depth knowledge of energy and climate will bolster CFR’s mission to provide accessible research and analysis to policymakers and the public and inform U.S. engagement with the world.”

As the global energy and climate innovation editor at the Economist, Mr. Vaitheeswaran led coverage of the fossil fuel industry, the AI-energy nexus, and emerging energy technologies. That included hosting its podcast on climate change, To a Lesser Degree.

Prior to that, Mr. Vaitheeswaran served as the Economist’s U.S. business editor, leading coverage of American business stories. Previously, as China business editor, Mr. Vaitheeswaran opened the magazine’s first Shanghai bureau and covered business, finance, technology, and innovation in the region. He launched the publication’s bilingual digital product, Economist Global Business Review. Mr. Vaitheeswaran started his career as a foreign correspondent by opening the first Latin America bureau of the Economist in Mexico City.

“We are fortunate to have Vijay join the Studies Program,” said Senior Vice President of Studies Shannon K. O’Neil. “His singular expertise that spans politics, business, and technology will help ensure the program addresses critical foreign policy issues at the intersection of those topics and crafts practical policy recommendations.”

Mr. Vaitheeswaran has served as a visiting fellow at Northwestern University’s Farley Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. He was also an executive in residence and adjunct faculty member at New York University’s Stern School of Business, where he developed and taught its first interdisciplinary course on energy, economics, and the environment. Mr. Vaitheeswaran serves as an expert advisor on energy and innovation to the World Economic Forum and is a life member of CFR.

Mr. Vaitheeswaran is the author of three books on the future of energy, climate, and innovation: Power to the People: How the Coming Energy Revolution Will Transform an Industry, Change Our Lives, and Maybe Even Save the Planet; Zoom: The Global Race to Fuel the Car of the Future, coauthored with Iain Carson; and most recently, Need, Speed, and Greed: How the New Rules of Innovation Can Transform Businesses, Propel Nations to Greatness, and Tame the World’s Most Wicked Problems. Zoom was shortlisted for the Financial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award and named a Financial Times Book of the Year. Mr. Vaitheeswaran received the 2025 Energy Writer of the Year Award from the American Energy Society.

Mr. Vaitheeswaran holds a BS from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was honored as a Harry S. Truman Presidential Scholar.

To request an interview with Mr. Vaitheeswaran or another CFR fellow, please email [email protected].