Ailun Yang

Ailun Yang is a Senior Associate on WRI’s major emerging economies team, where she leads the efforts to build the case for low-carbon development in a number of major developing countries such as China and India. In this capacity, she is tasked to design, plan, and execute research and policy analysis in order to influence national debates and build the evidence base to accelerate clean technology deployment and sustainable low-carbon development. Her current work focus is on the global coal market and China’s power sector.

Ailun is also an expert on China-US relations on the issue of climate and energy and works to promote positive exchanges between the two countries. She has been following the international climate negotiation process, and she is one of the most active Chinese non-governmental spokespersons on this issue for media.

Prior to joining WRI, Ailun worked with Greenpeace China for 6.5 years. As the head of the climate and energy campaign, she developed and implemented various projects on public awareness raising and energy policy lobby. She worked closely with the Chinese renewable energy industries to campaign for the best supportive policies. She was the main coordination for the multi-organization project the True Cost of Coal, which published the first comprehensive analysis of the external costs of China’s coal consumption.

Ailun holds a Master’s degree in Finance from the University of Manchester, and a Master’s degree in Sociology from Goldsmiths College, University of London.

In the News:

• Ailun Yang discusses the political challenges at the heart of China’s environmental issues and potential solutions in, “Environmental experts say China’s new leadership has to tackle pollution” South China Morning Post,April 21, 2013
• Ailung Yang comments on the challenges posed by China’s growing electricity demand in “On China’s Electricity Grid, East Needs West—for Coal” Bloomberg, March 21, 2013

Additional Information:

• Ailun Yang’s homepage

Select Publications:

• Inside Stories on Climate Compatible Development: China
• Global Coal Risk Assessment

Select Blogs:

• Exploring Prospects for U.S. Coal Exports to China, April 17, 2013
• New Coal Report Underscores the Urgent Need for Global Clean Energy Development, December 20, 2012
• What is the future of King Coal in China? October 14, 2012