WASHINGTON, August 18—Taiya Smith, former deputy chief of staff and lead negotiator for the U.S.–China Strategic Economic Dialogue for Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, has joined the Carnegie Endowment.
Smith, a senior associate with both Carnegie’s Energy and Climate and China Programs, will direct a bilateral project examining barriers to green technology investment in China and the United States. Her work will also focus more broadly on global energy and climate policies, including U.S.–China climate negotiations and progress toward a global climate agreement.
The green investment project team, with equal representation from the United States and China, will investigate obstacles to private-sector investment in clean technology in both countries—a critical step in efforts to reduce carbon emissions by the world’s top two emitters. The project will produce a guide to investing in clean technology that aligns each country’s energy, environmental, and investment policies with its climate change goals.
Smith will work closely with Zhou Dadi, who oversees the Beijing arm of the Carnegie Energy and Climate Program, on the policies of China and the United States, whose status as the world’s two largest emitters of greenhouse gases makes their roles integral to any global climate agreement.
Making the announcement, Jessica Mathews, president of the Endowment, said:
“We are pleased that Taiya has chosen Carnegie as the place to build on her stellar work in government. Her considerable experience as an international negotiator, particularly in securing agreements that advance both U.S. and Chinese objectives, will be invaluable as she works to break down barriers to green investment between the two countries. Taiya is just the right person to build the much-needed bridge between policy makers and the private sector on the vital and interrelated issues of U.S. relations with China, efforts to mitigate climate change, and the restoration of global economic growth.”
Smith said:
“As a substantive policy institution with a global outlook, Carnegie offers me the opportunity to work at the nexus of policy and the private sector and the tools to take advantage of it. I am delighted to join at such a critical time for U.S.–China relations and climate change action. The depth and breadth of my colleagues’ knowledge and experience—not just in Washington, but around the world—will be invaluable resources.”
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NOTES
- Taiya M. Smith is a senior associate in the Carnegie Energy and Climate Program and the Carnegie China Program, where she focuses on China’s climate, energy, and environmental policy. She has spent the last decade working in international negotiations.
Most recently Smith served as a member of Secretary Henry Paulson’s senior management team from 2006 to 2009 as the deputy chief of staff and executive secretary for the U.S. Department of the Treasury. In this role she provided policy and operational oversight for Department priorities and also managed the secretary’s relationship with China. As Paulson’s representative and lead negotiator in China, she led the U.S. government’s economic engagement with China through the U.S.–China Strategic Economic Dialogue and established the U.S.–China Ten Year Framework on Energy and the Environment.
Prior to joining Treasury, Smith served as special assistant to deputy secretary of state Robert B. Zoellick from July 2005 to July 2006. In this role, Smith was Zoellick’s policy adviser for Africa, Europe, and political/military affairs.
From March 2004 through July 2005, Smith was the State Department’s point person on the Darfur situation with responsibility for overseeing U.S. contributions to the African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur, and was the U.S. liaison to the Darfur rebel groups. In this position, she traveled throughout Africa and Europe coordinating the international response to the Darfur crisis.
Smith began her work at the State Department as a Presidential Management Fellow in the office of Population, Refugees, and Migration in 2003. She held positions in Accra, Ghana, and Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire as Refugee Coordinator, and in 2004 worked in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration of combatants.
- The Carnegie Energy and Climate Program engages global experts working in energy technology, environmental science, and political economy to develop practical solutions for policy makers around the world. The Program aims to provide the leadership and the policy framework necessary for minimizing risks stemming from global climate change and reducing competition for scarce resources.
- The Carnegie China Program in Beijing and Washington provides policy makers in both countries with a better understanding of the dynamics within China and between the United States and China.
- Following its century-long practice of changing as global circumstances change, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace is undertaking a fundamental redefinition of its role and mission. Carnegie aims to transform itself from a think tank on international issues to the first truly multinational—ultimately global—think tank. The Endowment has added operations in Beijing, Beirut, and Brussels to its existing centers in Washington and Moscow. These five locations include the two centers of world governance and the three places whose political evolution and international policies will most determine the near-term possibilities for international peace and economic advance. More information on the Carnegie Endowment's New Vision.
- Press Contact: Jessica Jennings, 202/939-2265, jjennings@ceip.org
