Learning from East Asia’s Green Transformation
VIEW EVENT DETAILSWhat insights can policymakers and business leaders learn from East Asia’s green energy shift?
As economies developed on the back of fossil fuels, China and South Korea are no strangers to the growing effects of climate change. Yet both nations are now leading ambitious economic transformations towards the uptake of green energy and low-carbon technologies.
In Korea, Former President Moon Jae-In’s ‘Green New Deal’ launched a US $144 billion whole-of-government approach to achieve net-zero by 2050. Meanwhile, China is aiming for 1,200 gigawatts of wind and solar power capacity by 2030, and net-zero by 2060. Both nations are venturing further forward than most. How they manage the transition could point the way forward for many others, including Australia.
Join Elizabeth Thurbon, Asia Society Australia-Korea Fellow and Associate Professor of International Political Economy, UNSW Sydney, and Hao Tan, Associate Professor, Newcastle Business School, The University of Newcastle, for a private discussion on the opportunities and lessons from East Asia’s green energy shift.
Date: Tuesday 13 September 2022
Time: 10 – 11 a.m. AEST
Venue: Macquarie University, Angel Place, Sydney
This event is by invitation only. Places strictly limited. For any enquiries, please contact [email protected]. For access to exclusive events, become an Asia Society Australia member.
The Australia and Korea: Middle Power Parallels project is supported by the Commonwealth through the Australia-Korea Foundation, which is part of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
About our Speakers
Dr Elizabeth Thurbon, Asia Society Australia-Korea Fellow, Scientia Associate Professor of International Political Economy, UNSW Sydney
Elizabeth is Scientia Associate Professor of International Relations / International Political Economy and Deputy Head of School (Research) in the School of Social Sciences at UNSW Sydney. She currently holds an Asia Society Australia-Korea Fellowship (2021-2022) and a UNSW Scientia Fellowship (2019-2022). She has previously held Visiting Fellowships at Seoul National University (as a Korea Foundation Fellow) and China Foreign Affairs University. Her research examines the state and its strategic role in techno-industrial, trade, and financial governance, with a focus on East Asia and Australia. Her most significant contributions to the field examine varieties of economic statecraft, the rise and transformation of East Asia's developmental states, the state's strategic role in the clean energy shift, and the political economy of international trade and investment agreements, with a particular focus on the impact of these agreements on states' policy 'room to move'. She has written widely on these topics for academic and popular audiences. Her most recent book Developmental Environmentalism (in press, Oxford University Press) examines the state's strategic role in East Asia's clean energy shift, and is co-authored with Hao Tan, Sung-Young Kim and John Mathews.
Elizabeth is currently a Chief Investigator on three major collaborative grants: an Australian Research Council Discovery Project examining East Asia’s Clean Energy Transition (with SY Kim, H Tan and J Mathews, see www.developmental-environmentalism.org) , an Academy of Korean Studies Laboratory Project Grant examining Korea’s past, present and future development trajectory (with Keun Lee, DJ Kim, Js Shin J Song and C-y Wong), and a Department of Defence Strategic Policy Grant examining Weaponised Trade and its implications for Australia (with Lisa Toohey and Markus Wagner) - under the auspices of the NUW Alliance (University of Newcastle, UNSW Sydney, and the University of Wollongong).
Dr Hao Tan, Associate Professor of International Business, University of Newcastle Australia
Dr. Hao Tan is an Associate Professor with Newcastle Business School in the University of Newcastle Australia.His research is focused on energy and resource transitions in China and their global implications, including to Australia. His research on these topics has appeared in Nature, Foreign Affairs, Journal of World Business, California Management Review, Management and Organization Review, Energy Policy etc.
He writes frequently for English and Chinese-language media on issues in relation to China’s energy industry and climate policy, such as The Conversation, the UK Financial Times’ China website, South China Morning Post, among others.
Hao is also an investigator on a major Australian Research Council Discovery Project examining East Asia's Clean Energy Transition.
Chris Khatouki, Associate, Asia Society Australia (Moderator)
Chris Khatouki joined Asia Society Australia in February 2021. He is a PhD Scholar at the University of New South Wales, where his research focuses on economic policy and state-society relations in East Asia. He currently holds a Graduate Fellowship with the Korea Foundation and was recently recognised as an Emerging Leader and Next Gen Specialist by the National Committee on American Foreign Policy.
From 2018 to 2021, Chris also served on the Executive Council at the Australian Institute of International Affairs, NSW. As councillor, he assisted in the coordination of high-profile events and worked towards expanding the institute’s outreach to younger audiences. Prior to this, he worked at the Gyeongsangnam-do Office of Education in South Korea.
Chris’s writings have featured on a number of global publications including the South China Morning Post, The Diplomat, Australian Outlook, and the Asia Society Policy Institute. He holds a First-Class Honours Degree in International Relations from the University of Wollongong, where he was awarded the University Medal for Academic Excellence.