Alicia Zhao is a research manager at the Center for Global Sustainability. Her work focuses on climate mitigation and sustainability, with an emphasis on integrated quantitative analysis and modeling of energy systems, land use and related issues at the center of climate and sustainability debates.
Prior to joining CGS, Zhao worked at the sustainability nonprofit Ceres. She then completed her master's degree in environmental management at Duke University, where she became passionate about mitigating climate change through the use of data science, economics and stakeholder engagement. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in environmental science from Cornell University. In her free time, Zhao enjoys playing music, being outdoors and exploring different cafes and restaurants.
- Climate change mitigation & adaptation; energy policy; environmental justice
Successfully addressing the climate crisis while achieving sustainable development goals will require carefully constructed strategies to enact rapid economic transitions to a cleaner economy—tailored to national circumstances and priorities. The Center for Global Sustainability has deep expertise in country-specific analytical and policy approaches across key sectors and in support of a 1.5°C-pathway.
Learn More about National Climate Strategies
After the U.S. withdrew from the Paris Agreement in 2017, CGS led the analysis of commitments from the more than 4,000 cities, states, businesses, universities, communities of faith, and more who pledged to support the goals of the Paris Agreement in their own capacity. Since the U.S. officially rejoined the Paris Agreement in March 2021, CGS has continued working with U.S. subnational and international partners to deliver analysis that informs how an "all-of-society" ambitious and achievable U.S. climate strategy can drive actionable and feasible policy. CGS informs U.S. climate policy from the local to global through developing integrated modeling and climate scenarios for the federal government, advising on international discussions to ramp up ambition, and collaborating from the bottom-up to move the resources necessary to set and achieve ambitious climate goals.
Learn More about U.S. Program
Rising to meet the ambition set out by our global climate commitments demands accelerated actions and commitments between all actors across our society: states, cities, businesses, universities, faith groups, and more. These sum-of-society actors have incredible leverage to impact the trajectory of greenhouse gas emissions, innovate across our economy, and accelerate the speed of the global clean energy transition.
Learn More about Subnational Climate Ambition ProgramSchool Authors: Alicia Zhao, Kowan O’Keefe, Claire Squire, Kiara Ordonez Olazabal , Matthew Binsted, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui
Other Authors: Adriana Bryant
School Authors: Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Maria Borrero, Christoph Bertram, Jenna Behrendt, Audrey Rader, Mel George, Jiehong Lou, Andy Miller, Tiruwork Berhanu Tibebu, Kowan O’Keefe, Xinyue Li, Mengye Zhu, Claire Squire, Nathan Hultman, Xiangwen Fu, Alicia Zhao
Other Authors: Dmitry Churlyaev, Jordan Snarski, Bhavika Buddi, Alexandra Kreis
School Authors: Alicia Zhao, Christoph Bertram, Kiara Ordonez Olazabal , Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui
School Authors: Alicia Zhao, Kowan O’Keefe, Matthew Binsted, Camryn Dahl, Claire Squire, Kiara Ordonez Olazabal , Steven J. Smith, Nathan Hultman, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui
Other Authors: Shannon Kennedy, Adriana Bryant, Jordan Snarski, Dmitry Churlyaev
School Authors: Kowan O’Keefe, Gokul Iyer, Kathleen Kennedy, Alicia Zhao, Haewon McJeon, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Nathan Hultman
Other Authors: Yang Ou
School Authors: Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Gokul Iyer, Alicia Zhao
Other Authors: Aman Malik, Vaibhav Chaturvedi, Medhavi Sandhani, Pallavi Das, Chetna Arora, Nishtha Singh
School Authors: Alicia Zhao, Kowan O’Keefe, Matthew Binsted, Haewon McJeon, Claire Squire, Steven J. Smith, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Gokul Iyer, Nathan Hultman
Other Authors: Adriana Bryant, Mengqi Zhang, Yang Ou
School Authors: Alicia Zhao, Kowan O’Keefe, Matthew Binsted, Haewon McJeon, Claire Squire, Steven J. Smith, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Gokul Iyer, Nathan Hultman, Camryn Dahl
Other Authors: Shannon Kennedy, Adriana Bryant, Mengqi Zhang, Yang Ou
School Authors: Alicia Zhao, Nathan Hultman, Camryn Dahl
Other Authors: Lei Ma, Shawn Edelstein, Aishwary Trivedi, Aldana Joel Canton, Haley Leslie-Bole, Christopher Wade, Alice Favero, Kevin Kennedy, Audrey Denvir, Kyle Clark-Sutton, Shannon Wood, George Hurtt, Shannon Kennedy
School Authors: Kathleen Kennedy, Alicia Zhao, Steven J. Smith, Kowan O’Keefe, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Camryn Dahl, Nathan Hultman
Other Authors: Bradley Phelps, George Hurtt, Lei Ma, Patrick O’Rourke, Yang Ou, Camille Wejnert-Depue, Shannon Kennedy
School Authors: Alicia Zhao, Gokul Iyer, Haewon McJeon, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Nathan Hultman
Other Authors: Wei Peng, Xinyuan Huang, Yang Ou, Shannon Kennedy
School Authors: Haewon McJeon, Alicia Zhao
Other Authors: John Bistline, Maxwell Brown, Maya Domeshek, Cara Marcy, Nicholas Roy, Geoffrey Blanford, Dallas Burtraw, Jamil Farbes, Allen Fawcett, Anne Hamilton, Jesse Jenkins, Ryan Jones, Ben King, Hannah Kolus, John Larsen, Amanda Levin, Megan Mahajan, Erin Mayfield, James McFarland, Robbie Orvis, Neha Patankar, Kevin Rennert, Sally Robson, Christopher Roney, Ethan Russell, Greg Schivley, Daniel Shawhan, Daniel Steinberg, Nadejda Victor, Shelley Wenzel, John Weyant, Ryan Wiser, Mei Yuan
School Authors: Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Jenna Behrendt, Andy Miller, Christoph Bertram, Mel George, Maria Borrero, Alicia Zhao, Gokul Iyer, Kathleen Kennedy, Jiehong Lou, Haewon McJeon, Kowan O’Keefe, Mengye Zhu, Nathan Hultman
Other Authors: Matthew Zwerling, Michael Westphal , Alexandra Kreis, Dillon Walton, Aldana Joel Canton, Shiqi Chen, Yingtong Li, Shannon Kennedy
School Authors: Gokul Iyer, Haewon McJeon, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Kowan O’Keefe, Alicia Zhao
Other Authors: Yang Ou, Mengqi Zhao, Yang Qiu, Daniel H. Loughlin
School Authors: Alicia Zhao
Other Authors: Sarah Dodds, Shannon Kennedy
School Authors: Camryn Dahl, Kathleen Kennedy, Alicia Zhao
Other Authors: Bradley Phelps, Shannon Kennedy
School Authors: Kathleen Kennedy, Alicia Zhao, Steven J. Smith, Kowan O’Keefe, Bradley Phelps, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Camryn Dahl, Nathan Hultman
Other Authors: Shannon Kennedy, Sarah Dodds
School Authors: Alicia Zhao, Haewon McJeon
School Authors: Nathan Hultman, Alicia Zhao
Other Authors: Shannon Kennedy
School Authors: Claire Squire, Alicia Zhao, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui
Other Authors: Jake Meisel, Grace Deye, Shannon Kennedy
