Energy Policy Seminar: Cecilia Han Springer on "China's Belt and Road Initiative: A Clean Energy Paradox"

Open to the Public

Join us for the first Energy Policy Seminar of the semester on January 27 at 11:45!

Cecilia Han Springer will be presenting on "China's Belt and Road Initiative: A Clean Energy Paradox." The talk will focus on an empirical analysis of the relative environmental performance of China's overseas investments in coal-fired power plants.

As always, this event is free and open to the public; buffet-style lunch will be served.

Date: Mon, Jan 27, 2020 Time: 11:45am - 01:00pm Location: Belfer Building - Bell Hall, 5th Floor

China's trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative will have major implications for the global energy sector and climate change. While China is increasingly promoting clean energy domestically, coal-fired power plants are a large part of China's overseas investment portfolio. There is increasing media scrutiny of coal power plants and their climate impacts. This presentation will bring empirical data and analysis to the debate about China's role in coal power around the world by examining the environmental performance of China's overseas coal plants and investigating the uniqueness of Chinese investment.

Cecilia Han Springer is a postdoctoral research fellow with the Harvard Kennedy School in the Belfer Center’s Environment and Natural Resources Program and the Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program. Cecilia studies the economic and environmental impacts of energy policies in Asia from an interdisciplinary perspective. Previously, Cecilia spent time in China as a visiting researcher at Tsinghua University and a Fulbright research fellow in Tianjin. She has also consulted for Climate Advisers, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Global Efficiency Intelligence on industrial energy analysis. Cecilia holds a PhD and MS in Energy and Resources from the University of California, Berkeley, and a BS in environmental science from Brown University.