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Alicia Zhao

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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.

Areas of Interest
  • Climate change mitigation & adaptation; energy policy; environmental justice

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 Building a Comprehensive U.S. Climate Policy
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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