Book Launch: Cooperating for the Climate by Joanna Lewis

Join us for a discussion of the timely new book Cooperating for the Climate: Learning from International Partnerships in China’s Clean Energy Sector (MIT Press, 2023). Drawing on decades of work in clean energy technology and climate policy and hundreds of interviews with policymakers, companies, and researchers, author Joanna Lewis provides a clear and thorough account of the motivations, science, and politics behind international clean energy technology collaboration—and an in-depth look at why different clean energy partnerships result in different political and technological outcomes. At this in-person event, Lewis will present the findings of her book followed by a panel discussion about China’s trajectory, the U.S.-China relationship, and the implications for global governance.

Participants are invited to stay for a reception immediately following the event.

Copies of the book will be available for purchase at the event or are available in advance at this link.

Featuring:

• Joanna Lewis, Provost’s Distinguished Associate Professor in Energy & Environment and Director, Science, Technology and International Affairs Program, Georgetown School of Foreign Service
• Melanie Hart, Senior Advisor (China), Office of the Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment, U.S. Department of State
• Jonas Nahm, Assistant Professor of Energy, Resources, and Environment, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies

Moderated by:

• Christina Larson, Global Science & Environment Correspondent, Associated Press

About the speakers:

Christina Larson is an award-winning foreign correspondent and science & technology journalist. She focuses on technology in China and on global environmental issues. Now Global Science & Environment Correspondent for the Associated Press, she is based in Washington, DC, and reports from the Americas, Asia, and Africa. Previously she lived in Beijing for seven years (2011-2018) as a contributing China correspondent for Science magazine, China technology reporter for Bloomberg, and a freelance magazine writer. She has written about everything from animal intelligence to artificial intelligence — and using science to solve historical mysteries.

Joanna Lewis is Provost’s Distinguished Associate Professor of Energy and Environment and Director of the Science, Technology and International Affairs Program (STIA) at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. She has two decades of experience working on international climate and clean energy policy with a focus on China. At Georgetown she runs the Clean Energy and Climate Research Group and leads several dialogues facilitating U.S.-China climate change engagement. Lewis is also a faculty affiliate in the China Energy Group at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

Melanie Hart serves as the Senior Advisor for China and the Indo-Pacific in the Office of the Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment. In this role, she coordinates China strategy and policy for the Under Secretary across multiple Biden-Harris Administration priority lines of effort. Prior to joining the Department, Dr. Hart served as Senior Fellow and China Policy Director at the Center for American Progress, an independent nonpartisan policy institute based in Washington, D.C., where she led the Center’s work on China and U.S.-China relations. She has worked as a China advisor with multiple leading business advisory organizations helping American businesses understand the PRC’s evolving industrial and regulatory policies. She has a Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, San Diego, and a B.A. from Texas A&M University.

Jonas Nahm is Assistant Professor of Energy, Resources, and Environment at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, D.C. His research examines the intersection of climate policy, environmental politics, and economic and industrial policy. He focuses in particular on examining policy strategies that allow states (and businesses) to achieve both environmental and economic objectives through the creation of green sources growth. In addition to his work on renewable energy industries, he has ongoing research projects on the politics of greening the global auto sector, the determinants of national climate policies, and the political economy of green industrial policy.

This event is co-sponsored by the Mortara Center for International Studies, the Science, Technology and International Affairs Program, the Initiative for US-China Dialogue on Global Issues, the Earth Commons Institute, and the Asian Studies Program.

Please RSVP here.