Joanna Lewis is Associate Professor in the Science, Technology and International Affairs (STIA) Program at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. Her research focuses on energy, the environment, and innovation in China, including renewable energy industry development, and climate change policy. She is currently leading a National Science Foundation-funded project on International Partnerships and Technological Leapfrogging in China's Clean Energy Sector.

Her recent book, Green Innovation in China: China’s Wind Power Industry and the Global Transition to a Low-Carbon Economy was the winner of the 2014 Harold and Margaret Sprout Award by the International Studies Association for best book of the year in environmental studies.

Lewis is a Lead Author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Fifth Assessment Report and a visiting faculty affiliate with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s China Energy Group. She has worked with the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, the Asia Society, and the Energy Foundation China Sustainable Energy Program, among other governmental, non-governmental, and international organizations, and has been a visiting scholar at Tsinghua University, the Wilson Center, and the East West Center. She holds a Ph.D. in Energy and Resources from the University of California, Berkeley, and a B.A. in Environmental Science and Policy from Duke University.

Last Updated: April 6, 2021

Environment

04.06.17

As the U.S. Steps Back, China Must Step up on Climate Leadership

Joanna Lewis & Li Shuo from chinadialogue
Presidents Trump and Xi are scheduled to meet today at Mar-a Lago, Florida, and given the tense state of U.S.-China relations and the political leanings of the Trump administration there is much at stake for cooperation between the countries on the...

Conversation

09.01.16

What Can We Expect from China at the G20?

Sophie Richardson, Joanna Lewis & more
On September 4-5, heads of the world’s major economies will meet in the southeastern city of Hangzhou for the G20 summit. The meeting represents “the most significant gathering of world leaders in China’s history,” according to The New York Times...

Conversation

12.09.15

Is China a Leader or Laggard on Climate Change?

Isabel Hilton, Li Shuo & more
As ongoing climate talks wind down at COP21 this week, participants in and observers of the summit in Paris wrote in to share their assessment of the message coming from the official delegation from China, currently the world’s largest emitter of...

Conversation

09.16.15

What Would New Breakthroughs on Climate Change Mean for the U.S.-China Relationship?

Junjie Zhang, Joanna Lewis & more
With just over a week to go before Chinese President Xi Jinping begins his first State Visit to the United States, there is much evidence to suggest that bilateral action to fight climate change is an area most ripe for meaningful Sino-U.S...

Conversation

07.08.15

Are China’s Limits on Greenhouse Gas Emissions Meaningful?

Barbara A. Finamore, Sam Geall & more
Last week, Premier Li Keqiang said China would cut its “carbon intensity”—the amount of carbon dioxide emitted per unit of GDP—to 60-65 percent of 2005 levels by 2030. Visiting Paris, the site in September of the United Nations Climate Change...

Conversation

11.19.14

Was the U.S.-China Climate Deal Worth the Wait?

Deborah Seligsohn, Orville Schell & more
Last week, Ann Carlson and Alex Wang, environmental experts at UCLA Law School, called the November 12 U.S.-China Joint Announcement on Climate Change "monumental." "No two countries are more important to tackling the problem than the...