Elizabeth Thurbon

Elizabeth Thurbon is a Professor of International Political Economy at UNSW Sydney and Director of the Green Energy Statecraft Project, an international research initiative exploring how governments can accelerate the transition to clean energy while strengthening economic and national security.

A leading scholar of economic statecraft, industrial policy, and green energy transitions, Thurbon’s research focuses on the strategic role of the state in shaping techno-industrial transformation, particularly in East Asia. Her work examines how governments can harness markets, institutions, and innovation policy to drive large-scale economic and environmental change.

Through the Green Energy Statecraft Project—an initiative involving researchers from UNSW, the University of Melbourne, the University of Sydney, and the Australian National University—Thurbon collaborates with policymakers, industry leaders, and civil society to develop new governance frameworks for the global energy transition. The project explores how strategic energy policy can simultaneously enhance economic competitiveness, energy security, and climate outcomes.

Thurbon is the co-author of Developmental Environmentalism (Oxford University Press, 2023), which analyzes the political economy behind East Asia’s rapid expansion of green technologies and the role of strategic state leadership in accelerating clean energy transformation. Her broader scholarship addresses developmental states, international trade and investment policy, and the evolving relationship between governments and markets in an era of geopolitical competition.

She currently serves on the Global Future Council on Equitable Transition at the World Economic Forum and holds a Ph.D. in International Political Economy from the University of Sydney.