30 August 2023 • FacultySTEM Damar Joins Federal Advisory Committee on Energy and Environmental Markets

Associate Professor of Economics Evren Damar recently joined two subcommittees of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

This summer, Associate Professor of Economics Evren Damar was appointed to two subcommittees of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Energy and Environmental Markets Advisory Committee (EEMAC).

Evren Damar
Associate Professor of Economics

On the committees, which respectively address physical energy infrastructure and the role of the metals market in transitional energy, Damar will help develop reports and recommendations for the EEMAC. The Physical Energy Infrastructure Subcommittee evaluates strategies to ensure U.S. energy markets remain resilient in the face of systemic global strains, while the role of the Metals Market in Transitional Energy Subcommittee addresses how critical metals figure into transitional energy production and any resulting impacts on derivatives markets.

The EEMAC will review the subcommittees’ work and share it with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which promotes the integrity, resilience and vibrancy of the U.S. derivatives markets through sound regulation. The statutorily mandated EEMAC conducts public meetings, submits reports, recommendations and any dissenting views to the CFTC; and serves as a forum for discussion and communication regarding energy and environmental markets and their regulation.

“These two subcommittees will create reports on crucial issues related to the U.S. energy supply and the green transition. One subcommittee will look at the links between the current status of the U.S. energy infrastructure and existing markets overseen by the CFTC, while the other will examine whether new markets may be needed to ensure the required supply of metals for the green transition,” says Damar. “My hope is that this work will provide the CFTC with valuable and timely advice at a time of major changes in energy markets. I look forward to adding a more financial stability-oriented viewpoint to the diverse group of experts making up these subcommittees.”

Damar’s research focuses on how financial sector participants respond to various regulatory and market shocks. His scholarship has appeared in International Journal of Central Banking, IMF Economic Review, Review of Finance, Contemporary Economic Policy, and Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, among other journals. Since joining the HWS faculty in 2016, he has served as a consultant for the Bank of Canada, where he was previously an analyst and principal researcher, and is currently a research professor for the Halle Institute for Economic Research. Damar holds a Ph.D. and M.S. from the University of Washington and a B.S. from Carnegie Mellon University.