The Program on Energy and Sustainable Development (PESD) is a multi-year, interdisciplinary program that draws on the fields of political science, law and economics and whose mission is to investigate how the production and consumption of energy affect sustainable development. It sponsors world-class research on the political, legal, and economic aspects of the world's energy system and is catalyzing the creation of a funded, worldwide network of researchers working on these issues. PESD gratefully acknowledges substantial core-funding from EPRI and BP Oil.

At present, our research focuses on four platforms:

• Energy and Development, exploring ways to sustainably deliver modern energy to the 1.6 billion people who are currently without it;
• Climate Change Policy, focusing on issues surrounding the engagement of developing countries in the international effort to tame carbon;
• National Oil Companies, studying the performance and strategy of state-controlled oil companies and the implications for world oil and gas markets; and
• Global Coal Markets, analyzing the exploding international trade in coal, how it links to country-level policies and reforms, and potential business models that could allow carbon capture and storage (CCS) to play a major role in climate change mitigation. 

Historically, we have also done substantial work on the reform of electricity markets (Political Economy of Electricity Markets) in developing countries, as well as the global market for natural gas (Geopolitics of Gas), most recently focusing on emerging gas demand patterns in China and India.