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 StrategiesAfter 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. ProgramSchool Authors: Alicia Zhao, Matthew Binsted, Haewon McJeon, Claire Squire, Steven J. Smith, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Gokul Iyer, Shannon Kennedy, Nathan Hultman, Camryn Dahl
Other Authors: Kowan O'Keefe, Adriana Bryant, Mengqi Zhang, Yang Ou
School Authors: Shannon Kennedy, 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
School Authors: Kathleen Kennedy, Alicia Zhao, Steven J. Smith, Shannon Kennedy, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Camryn Dahl, Nathan Hultman
Other Authors: Kowan O’Keefe, Bradley Phelps, George Hurtt, Lei Ma, Patrick O’Rourke, Yang Ou, Camille Wejnert-Depue
School Authors: Alicia Zhao, Shannon Kennedy, Gokul Iyer, Haewon McJeon, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Nathan Hultman
Other Authors: Wei Peng, Xinyuan Huang, Yang Ou
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, Matthew Zwerling, Christoph Bertram, Mel George, Shannon Kennedy, Michael I. Westphal, Maria Borrero, Alicia Zhao, Gokul Iyer, Kathleen Kennedy, Jiehong Lou, Haewon McJeon, Mengye Zhu, Nathan Hultman
Other Authors: Alexandra Kreis, Dillon Walton, Aldana Joel Canton, Shiqi Chen, Yingtong Li, Kowan O’Keefe
School Authors: Gokul Iyer, Haewon McJeon, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Alicia Zhao
Other Authors: Yang Ou, Kowan O’Keefe, Mengqi Zhao, Yang Qiu, Daniel H. Loughlin
School Authors: Shannon Kennedy, Alicia Zhao
Other Authors: Sarah Dodds
School Authors: Shannon Kennedy, Camryn Dahl, Kathleen Kennedy, Alicia Zhao
Other Authors: Bradley Phelps
School Authors: Kathleen Kennedy, Alicia Zhao, Steven J. Smith, Shannon Kennedy, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Camryn Dahl, Nathan Hultman
Other Authors: Kowan O’Keefe, Bradley Phelps, Sarah Dodds
School Authors: Alicia Zhao, Haewon McJeon
School Authors: Nathan Hultman, Alicia Zhao, Shannon Kennedy
School Authors: Claire Squire, Alicia Zhao, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Shannon Kennedy
Other Authors: Jake Meisel, Grace Deye
School Authors: Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Jiehong Lou, Alicia Zhao, Jenna Behrendt, Haewon McJeon, Nathan Hultman
School Authors: Alicia Zhao, Shannon Kennedy, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Haewon McJeon, Nathan Hultman, Camryn Dahl
Other Authors: Kowan O’Keefe, Maria Borrero, Kyle Clark-Sutton, Grace Deye, John Feldmann, Kevin Kennedy, Miguel Moravec, Dimitri Nilov, Sujata Rajpurohit, Joaquin Rosas, Claire Squire
School Authors: Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Jiehong Lou, Alicia Zhao, Jenna Behrendt, Gokul Iyer, Haewon McJeon, James 'Jae' Edmonds, Sha Yu, Nathan Hultman
Other Authors: Baihe Gu, Jiawei Song, Leon Clarke, Yi Wang, Xianchun Tan, Kaiwei Zhu, Yuhui Sheng, Hanbing Zhai, Lingsi Kong, Yonglong Cheng, Jon Sampedro, Stephanie Waldhoff
School Authors: Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, James 'Jae' Edmonds, Alicia Zhao, Sha Yu, Matthew Zwerling
School Authors: Alicia Zhao, Haewon McJeon, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Kathleen Kennedy, Shannon Kennedy, Nathan Hultman
Other Authors: Kowan O’Keefe, Kyle Clark-Sutton, John Feldmann, Kevin Kennedy, Jake Meisel, Dimitri Nilov, Sujata Rajpurohit
School Authors: Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Alicia Zhao, Camryn Dahl, Nathan Hultman
Other Authors: Fabby Tumiwa, Deon Arinaldo, Raden Wiranegara, Diyang Cui, Lauri Myllyvirta, Claire Squire, Pamela Simamora
School Authors: Leon Clarke, Haewon McJeon, Alicia Zhao
Other Authors: John Bistline, Nikit Abhyankar, Geoffrey Blanford, Leon Clarke, Rachel Fakhry, Haewon McJeon, John Reilly, Christopher Roney, Tom Wilson, Mei Yuan, Alicia Zhao