Ed note: Travis Fisher, a protege of economist Roy Cordato at North Carolina State University, has blossomed into one of America’s top energy analysts and public policy entrepreneurs. With a grounding in classical liberalism and Austrian school (realistic) economics, Fisher represents the future of applied energy analysis. “Travis stood out because he was genuinely interested in ideas,” recalls Professor Cordato. “His intense interest, as a graduate student, led him to do an independent study with me in Austrian Political Economy, which he has built upon ever since.” 

Travis Fisher has emerged as a thoughtful, principled, and influential voice in contemporary American energy policy. As Director of Energy and Environmental Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, he brings a rare combination of intellectual rigor, hands-on governmental experience, and an unwavering commitment to free-market principles.…

“Robert L. Bradley Jr. has never chased trends or grants. He has followed the evidence—market signals, engineering realities, and the record of human progress under freedom. In doing so, he has educated generations of policymakers, students, and citizens about why energy abundance matters and how free markets deliver it best.”

In the often polarized world of energy policy and climate debate, few voices have offered such consistent, evidence-based clarity as Robert L. Bradley Jr. A Houston native, prolific author, founder of the Institute for Energy Research (IER), and creator of the influential free-market energy blog MasterResource.org, Bradley has spent more than four decades illuminating the interplay of markets, regulation, technology, and human ingenuity in powering modern civilization.

As we mark the ongoing relevance of his work in 2026, a tribute to Bradley is not merely a look back at a remarkable career but a celebration of his enduring intellectual leadership—particularly in the last five years, when his analyses have proven prescient amid the unraveling of aggressive “energy transition” mandates.…

“There is no evidence that UN COP meetings and more than $10 trillion spent on renewables over the last 30 years have affected the climate. The average atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration, which is blamed for global warming, has been rising over the last 50 years without any change to the trend.”

World leaders are in turmoil. For 30 years, the United Nations, World Economic Forum, and International Energy Agency, among business and political leaders called for a shift from hydrocarbon fuels to renewable energy. Thousands of laws were enacted to try to force a net zero energy transition. But it’s now clear that green energy is unable to meet the needs of growing developing nations or support the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution in advanced nations.

Since the founding of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1992, the UN has led efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to try to fight human-caused global warming.…

“IREF concludes that the EU’s net-zero plan is effectively dead on arrival. Its internal coherence is unachievable at this scale, across member states moving at different speeds. Persisting regardless will damage prosperity and liberties, repeating the classic failure of grand central plans—what the Austrian economist Friedrich von Hayek once described as ‘fatal conceit’.” (Clintel, below)

“The irony is that the climatic impact [of EU Net Zero] would be negligible. Based on IPCC formulas, IREF deduces that for Europe, reaching net zero in 2100 rather than 2050 would alter global temperatures by only 0.02 to 0.06°C—below any meaningful measurement threshold.”

A recent report by the French think tank, Institut de Recherches Économiques et Fiscales (IREF), “Against All Rationality, the EU Persists in its Net-Zero Delusion,” challenges the false assumptions and erroneous conclusion of “Europe’s 2040 climate target and path to climate neutrality by 2050 building a sustainable, just and prosperous society.”…