Clara Gillispie is senior fellow for climate and energy at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). She is a leading expert on Asian energy security strategies and their implications for U.S. national interests. 

Gillispie’s research explores a wide array of topics related to U.S.-Asia energy cooperation. This includes how to develop sound partnerships for addressing shared and distinct national economic, environmental, and geopolitical security concerns. She is the author of numerous policy essays and reports, including several exploring outlooks for U.S. exports of natural gas to Asia; scenarios for maximizing the role of zero-carbon solutions in various national energy mixes; and opportunities for bolstering U.S. engagements with Japan, South Korea, and regional fora such as ASEAN. Gillispie is regularly called on to brief U.S. and Asian government officials, senior industry representatives, and the media, with citations in the New York Times, Washington Post, and NPR’s Marketplace. 

Gillispie joined CFR from the National Bureau of Asian Research, where she most recently served as senior advisor for trade, economic, and energy affairs. From 2016-2025, she also served as the official U.S. delegate to the Energy Research Institute Network—an East Asia Summit-linked network whose inputs are designed to inform the summit’s formal processes. Her previous fellowships include appointments at Carnegie India, the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy, and the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy. Earlier in her career, she also held roles with the U.S. in House Committee on Science, Technology, and Space; Detica Federal Inc. (now part of BAE Systems); and the American Chamber of Commerce in China. In addition to energy and environmental security, Gillispie researches and writes on sustainable development, public health, and technology policymaking in the Indo-Pacific.  

Gillispie holds a BS in foreign service from Georgetown University and a dual MSc in international affairs from the London School of Economics and Peking University. She also attended Sophia University in Tokyo for language training.