Luisa Palacios

Luisa Palacios is the Acting Deputy Director of Research and Managing Director of Energy Transition Finance at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy (CGEP). She is also an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs where she teaches a graduate-level class on the financing of the energy transition in emerging markets. Dr. Palacios was the first Chairwoman of Houston-based Citgo Petroleum Corporation, where she led the company during significant geopolitical, financial, operational, and legal challenges. Before Citgo, Palacios was a Senior Managing Director and member of the management committee of Medley Global Advisors, a Macro Policy advisory firm in New York. She previously worked at Barclays Capital as a Director in emerging markets research in New York, and as Economist in the risk department at Société Générale in Paris. Palacios was also a Senior Economist at the Japan Bank for International Cooperation and a Consultant in the Office of the Chief Economist for Latin America at the World Bank in Washington, D.C. She received a master’s degree in international affairs from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs; and a Ph.D. in international affairs from The John Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. She is part of the Advisory Board of the Women in Energy at CGEP and is an affiliated faculty at Columbia University’s Institute for Latin American Studies. She is part of the Editorial Board of the Americas Quarterly and a permanent member of the Council of Foreign Relations. Palacios is the Chair of the Financial Working group of the COP 28 Methane Abatement Financing Taskforce and served as the Deputy Chair of Brazil’s B20 Finance and Infrastructure Task Force and as part of the G20 Group of Experts for the Task Force on a Global Mobilisation Against Climate Change for the Brazil G 20 Presidency.