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About Steven E. Koonin
Is the science really settled? Steven E. Koonin has built a career on insisting that the honest answer matters more than the comfortable one.
Around 2014, while reviewing reports on climate change, energy and technology, Koonin began noticing a disconnect between what he was reading and the mainstream messages. He published op-eds in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, then wrote Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What It Doesn't, and Why It Matters. "The world is not going to end in 12 years. The science does not say that," he says.
Steven's Keynote Topics
The idea that “climate science is settled” runs through today’s popular and policy discussions. Unfortunately, says Steven E. Koonin – a renowned authority on energy technology strategy and climate research – that claim is misguided and has distorted public and policy debates on issues related to energy, greenhouse gas emissions and the environment. In this presentation, based on his eye-opening book, “Unsettled,” and his years of work diving deep into government studies, Professor Koonin helps bridge the gap between what we’ve been told about climate change and the broader scientific research that has been obscured. Audiences come away with a deeper understanding of the earth’s climate system, how global and regional climates have changed in the recent and distant past, and how climate models are used to project future changes driven by both natural and growing human influences. Participants also learn how to critically read climate coverage in the media, government assessment reports and the research literature.
Which technologies will allow businesses to produce, store, transmit and use energy that provides heat, light and mobility in the future, and what regulations will govern those activities? In this talk, NYU professor Steven E. Koonin, one of the world’s leading experts on energy and climate-related solutions and founding director of NYU’s Center for Urban Science and Progress (CUSP), discusses the state of the world and U.S. energy systems, environmental and economic considerations, and nascent technologies and business models that are poised to redefine and reshape our energy future. Participants learn about the structures and scales of the global and U.S. systems and the drivers of change, including pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, economics and energy security. Professor Koonin also discusses existing and new technologies – including energy storage, fusion, advanced fission, carbon capture, wind, solar, biofuels and efficiency measures – that can satisfy those drivers. After providing an overview of the U.S. energy innovation system, he outlines practical ways businesses can interact with it.
Anyone concerned about the future of cities will want to hear from New York University professor Steven E. Koonin, one of the world’s leading experts on energy and climate-related solutions and founding director of NYU’s Center for Urban Science and Progress (CUSP). In this talk, Professor Koonin highlights technologies and energy solutions that will make cities more sustainable while improving quality of life. Audiences learn about how engineering, policy, design and finance come into play, and how innovative data and technology-driven solutions – data for social good – are helping improve city services, create smart infrastructures and tackle issues such as crime and environmental pollution.
Popular and political discussions of the changing climate invariably invoke “The Science” as settled. But a careful reading of the research literature and government assessment reports shows a very different picture. In this talk, based on his bestselling book, “Unsettled,” New York University Professor Steven Koonin − one of the world’s leading experts on energy and climate-related solutions − describes some of the surprises in the official science that belie the notion that we’ve already broken the climate and face certain doom unless we take prompt and drastic action. He also documents how society’s right to make fully informed decisions about climate and energy has been usurped by distortion in the assessment reports and media. He closes the talk with suggestions for improving the presentation of climate certainties and uncertainties to nonexperts.
Books by Steven E. Koonin
Articles by Steven E. Koonin
Regulating AI Development: Challenges, Constraints, And A Realist Agenda
June 2026The Wall Street JournalThe White House Unblocks AI Development
June 2026The Washington PostWhy the EPA’s Emissions Reversal Is the Responsible Decision
February 2026The Wall Street JournalFusion Power Has a Bright Future, but It’s a Ways Off
December 2025Steven in the Media
Changing the Landscape for New Nuclear Power
Climate Change Did Not Cause the LA Fires
The Right Way for Trump to Ditch the Paris Agreement
The ‘Climate Crisis’ Fades Out
The American Academy of Sciences and Letters Honors Former CUSP Director for Distinguished Intellectual Achievement
The White House Tells the Truth About Climate Change
Will Climate Change Really Put New York Underwater?
How Fusion Works and Why It’s a Breakthrough ($)
Climate Denier... or Climate Clarifier?
Accuracy in Climate Science: A Dialogue with Steven Koonin
Steered Science
The Independent Review: Unsettled
Koonin… is an authority, in the best academic sense of the word…’Unsettled’ will be a mainstay of reference sections in heterodox critiques of the climate-catastrophe-industrial complex for years to come.
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