Daniel Yergin | |
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 Yergin in 2012 | |
| Born | (1947-02-06)February 6, 1947 (age 79) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Education | |
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| Spouse | Angela Stent |
| Awards | Pulitzer Prize |
| Website | danielyergin |
Daniel Howard Yergin (born February 6, 1947) is an American author, economic historian, and consultant within the energy and economic sectors. Yergin is vice chairman ofS&P Global. He was formerly vice chairman ofIHS Markit, which merged with S&P in 2022.[1][2] He foundedCambridge Energy Research Associates, which IHS Markit acquired in 2004.[3] He has authored or co-authored several books on energy and world economics, including thePulitzer Prize–winningThe Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power, (1991)[4]The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World (2011),[5] andThe New Map: Energy, Climate, and the Clash of Nations (2020).[6]
Yergin's articles andop-eds on energy, history, and the economy have been published in publications such asThe Wall Street Journal,[7][8]The New York Times,[9]The Washington Post,[10] and theFinancial Times.[11] All of Yergin's books have been drafted in long-hand.[12] He is affiliated with multiple organizations, as a director on theUnited States Energy Association,[13] a trustee of theBrookings Institution,[14][15] a long-term advisor to several U.S. administrations,[16][17] as well as chairman of the annualCERAWeek energy conference.[18]
Yergin was born on February 6, 1947,[19] in Los Angeles, California.[20] His father Irving Yergin worked atWarner Brothers and was editor ofThe Hollywood Reporter and a former journalist in Chicago.[21] His mother Naomi Yergin was a sculptor and painter.[21] He attendedBeverly Hills High School.[21][20] He received hisB.A. fromYale University[22][14] in 1968,[23][19] where he wrote for theYale Daily News and was founder ofThe New Journal[4] in 1967.[23]
He received his M.A. in 1970[19] and his Ph.D. ininternational history fromCambridge University, where he was aMarshall Scholar.[23][22][15] While at Cambridge, he wrote for various British magazines as well asThe Atlantic,[4] where he was a contributing editor,[24] andThe New York Times Magazine.[4] He has honorary doctorates fromDartmouth College,[25]Colorado School of Mines,[26]University of Houston, and theUniversity of Missouri.[27]
Early in his career, Yergin worked as a contributing editor forNew York magazine.[21] Through 1980, he was a lecturer at theHarvard Business School and, until 1985, a lecturer atHarvard Kennedy School.[28][4] Yergin's first book,Shattered Peace: The Origins of the Cold War and the National Security State (1977),[19] was partly based upon his doctoral dissertation and focused on the origins of theCold War.[4]
In the mid-1970s,[29] while a post-doctoral fellow,[30] he began to take a particular interest in energy in his writing.[23] Basing the book on four years of research, withRobert B. Stobaugh he co-authored and co-editedEnergy Future: The Report of the Energy Project at the Harvard Business School in 1979.[29] According to theLos Angeles Times, the book "caused a considerable stir with its optimistic view of the possibilities of energy conservation and such alternative sources as solar power."[21] It proved to be aThe New York Times bestseller,[29] ultimately selling 300,000 copies in six languages.[4]
Within its first year of release, Yergin and Stobaugh were called to Washington, D.C. several times to testify before Congressional committees.[29] He also advisedJames Schlesinger, the first US energy secretary, around the time of theIranian revolution. According toReuters, "since then he has given advice to every administration."[3]
He foundedCambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) with Jamey Rosenfield in 1982[12][3] with the purchase of a $2 file cabinet fromThe Salvation Army.[21][28][4] With Yergin as president,[4][31] the energy research and consulting firm was created as a "quasi think-tank and source of energy industry analysis."[21]
Yergin is arguably best known for his fourth book,[12]The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power (1991).[4] It became a number-one bestseller that won thePulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction in 1992 and the Eccles Prize for the best book on economics for a general audience,[31] selling around 700,000 copies[4] in 17 languages.[32] The book was adapted into aPBS/BBC series[14] seen by around 100 million viewers both domestically and internationally,[4][21] with Yergin as the principal storyteller.[33] His next book wasRussia 2010 and What It Means for the World (1993), written withThane Gustafson, which provided scenarios for the development of Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union.[34]
His 2002 bookThe Commanding Heights: The Battle for the World Economy,[14] written withJoseph Stanislaw, described in narrative form the struggle over the "frontier" between governments and markets and the rise of globalization.[4] In the "first major PBS series on business in more than a decade,"[21] he led the team that created an Emmy-winning six-hour[35][13] PBS/BBC television series based on the book,[14] serving as executive producer and co-writer[36] and interviewing individuals such asBill Clinton,Dick Cheney,Vicente Fox, andMikhail Gorbachev.[37]
| External videos | |
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 Booknotes interview with Yergin onThe Prize,C-SPAN |
CERA was acquired by the information companyIHS Inc. in 2004,[22][3][14] with Yergin becoming an executive of the combined company and remaining chairman of CERA.[38] Described as a sequel to his bookThe Prize, Yergin'sThe Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World (2011) continued his history of the global oil industry but also addressed energy security, natural gas, electric power, climate change and the search for renewable sources of energy.[5] Like his previous books, it was drafted in long-hand.[12] In 2011 it was shortlisted for theFinancial Times and McKinsey Business Book of the Year Award.[39]
In September 2020, Yergin publishedThe New Map: Energy, Climate, and the Clash of Nations,with a revised edition published the following year.[40][41] In December 2024, Yergin released an unabridged audiobook version ofThe Prize. The audiobook includes an epilogue narrated by Yergin reflecting on the relevance of the book’s messaging present day, more than 30 years after its original publication date.[42]
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Yergin's articles[43] andop-eds on energy, history, and the economy have been published in a variety of publications, includingThe Wall Street Journal,[8][7]The New York Times,[9]Foreign Affairs,[34]The Washington Post,[10] theFinancial Times,[44][11] andForbes.[45] He has also been interviewed about energy policy and international politics on various television programs.[46] In 2003[47] he becameCNBC's global energy expert, which he continued to do for a decade,[48][13] and in September 2011 he appeared onThe Colbert Report to discuss wind and solar power.[49]
He addressedpeak oil in a chapter inThe Quest entitled "Is the World Running Out of Oil?"[50] and in a 2011 essay published inThe Wall Street Journal. Instead of a peak, Yergin predicted that future oil production would plateau as increasing prices moderate demand and stimulate production.[51][44]
In 2019, Yergin and former U.S. Energy SecretaryErnest Moniz led a major 229-page study,Advancing the Landscape of Clean Energy Innovation,[52] which was conducted by IHS Markit and Energy Futures Initiative for the Breakthrough Energy coalition, led by Bill Gates. The study identified ten areas for transformational energy breakthroughs.Axios quoted Yergin, "The purpose of the report is to provide a framework and a guide to people who want to invest in clean energy innovation."[53]
Yergin chaired IHS Markit's study on "Reinventing the Wheel," which focused on changing transportation methods, the role of electric vehicles, and the timing of peak oil demand.[54]
Yergin is the current vice chairman of S&P Global, appointed during the company's merger with IHS Markit.[2] He became the vice chairman of IHS in 2012 and remained vice chairman when IHS merged with Markit in 2016.[1][55][22] He is also chairman of S&P's annualCERAWeek energy conference.[18][16][56]
He previously chaired theUS Department of Energy's Task Force on Strategic Energy Research and Development.[13] He is a trustee of theBrookings Institution,[14][15] where he chairs the energy security roundtable.[57] He is currently a director on theUnited States Energy Association and theU.S.-Russia Business Council.
He serves on theNational Petroleum Council, which advises theU.S. Secretary of Energy.[14][13] He is on the advisory boards of theMassachusetts Institute of Technology Energy Initiative,[14] and theColumbia University Center on Global Energy Policy.[15] Yergin has been a member of the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board under presidentsBill Clinton,George W. Bush,Barack Obama, andDonald Trump.[58][59] In December 2016 Yergin joined a business forum composed primarily of CEOs assembled to provide strategic and policy advice on economic issues to PresidentDonald Trump.[17] The forum was disbanded in August 2017.[60]
Yergin was awarded the 1997[61] United States Energy Award for "lifelong achievements in energy and the promotion of international understanding."[15] The International Association for Energy Economics gave Dr. Yergin its 2012 award for "outstanding contributions to the profession of energy economics and to its literature."[62] In 2014 thePrime Minister of India presented Yergin[15][3] with a Lifetime Achievement Award,[22][14] and in 2015 theUniversity of Pennsylvania presented him with the first Carnot Prize for "distinguished contributions to energy policy."[14] TheU.S. Department of Energy awarded him the firstJames Schlesinger Medal for Energy Security in 2014.[3]
In 2023, Yergin received the Pioneer Award fromSouthern Methodist University.[63]
In 2024, he received the Centennial Lifetime Achievement Award from theUnited States Energy Association on the occasion of its hundredth anniversary.[64]
