Michelle Lyons
Chell is a Sir Roland Wilson scholar in the READ department of the Crawford School of public policy. Her doctoral research examines the role of public financial institutions which leverage private finance in the transition to net zero emissions, with a particular focus on public green banks. She is also a Climate Change Research Fellow in the Lowy Institute’s Indo Pacific Development Centre. Her research focuses on the intersections between climate finance, geoeconomics and climate justice.
Prior to commencing her Sir Roland Wilson scholarship, Chell was seconded to the ANU as the inaugural JW Land Research Fellow on the Grand Challenge on Zero Carbon Energy in the Asia Pacific, where her research focused on multilateral efforts to accelerate cross-border electricity trade within ASEAN. She is currently on leave from the Australian government where she has previously worked on international climate change negotiations, (including for the UNFCCC, G20 and IMO), Australia’s emissions projections, and carbon price development.
In 2017 she was selected as an Emerging Leader in the EU-Australia Leadership dialogue. In 2015, she was part of the winning team in the cross-cultural business accelerator CAMP and was invited to participate in the Beijing government’s OTEC accelerator and the Australian Government’s CSIRO:On business incubator. Chell has a Masters degree in Public Policy and an Honours degree in Media and Communications, both from the University of New South Wales.
Research Interest
Publications
Articles and reports
Lyons, M., Rajah, R., and Stanhope, G., “The case for an Indo-Pacific Economic Resilience Bank”, October 2024, Lowy Institute Analysis https://www.lowyinstitute.org/publications/case-indo-pacific-economic-re...
Lyons, M., Lowy Institute Data Snapshot, “Trump 2.0 would not derail the global energy transition” August 2024, https://interactives.lowyinstitute.org/features/trump-redux/article/trum...
Lyons, M., White, L. V., 2023. How Green Banks can create multiple types of value in the transition to net zero emissions. Australian Journal of Public Administration https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8500.12623
Alexandra, C., Lyons, M. and Waters K., 2023. “Caring for Carers – a student-led investigation to better support ANU HDR carers”, ANU Gender Institute. https://genderinstitute.anu.edu.au/news/caring-carers-student-led-invest...
White, L. V., Hughes, L., Lyons, C., Peng, Y., 2021. Iterating localisation policies in support of energy transition: The case of the Australian Capital Territory. Energy Policy 158, 112568. https://doi-org.virtual.anu.edu.au/10.1016/J.ENPOL.2021.112568
Beck, F.J., Gourlay, D., Lyons, C., Venkataraman, M.B., “the Hydrogen Economy” in Baldwin, K., Howden, M., Smith, M., Hussey, K., & Dawson, P. (Eds.). (2021). Transitioning to a Prosperous, Resilient and Carbon-Free Economy: A Guide for Decision-Makers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781316389553
Analysis and commentary
The Interpreter
“A new multilateral bank, not an American “Marshall Plan” alone, is the key to a clean energy future” with Roland Rajah and Grace Stanhope, 24 October 2024 https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/new-multilateral-bank-not-...
“A multilateral bank for the Indo-Pacific?” with Roland Rajah and Grace Stanhope, 14 March 2024 https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/multilateral-bank-indo-pac...
“Go big or go home: Australia should invest at scale in Southeast Asia’s energy transition” with Roland Rajah and Grace Stanhope, 15 February 2024 https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/go-big-or-go-home-australi...
“Down or out: The future of fossil fuels at COP28” with Ryan Neelam, 12 December 2023 https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/down-or-out-future-fossil-...
“Global Stocktake: Unlocking trillions for climate action” with Prof Frank Jotzo, 19 September 2023 https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/global-stocktake-unlocking... cited by Council on Foreign Relations here
“Climate justice: friendshoring, China’s supremacy and America’s IR Act”, 4 September 2023 https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/climate-justice-friendshor...
“Setting the standard: An important step on the path to net zero emissions”, 14 July 2023 https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/setting-standard-important...
Nikkei Asia “Australia and Japan must recast their energy relationship” with Ryan Neelam, 26 December 2023 https://asia.nikkei.com/Opinion/Australia-and-Japan-must-recast-their-en...
Canberra Times “Is this the end of fossil fuels’ age?” with Ryan Neelam, December 20 2023 https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8465331/cop28-agreement-major-shi...
Devpolicy “International shipping: a missed opportunity to reduce emissions”, 21 July 2023 https://devpolicy.org/international-shipping-a-missed-opportunity-to-red...
Podcasts
Lowy Institute Development Futures: “The case for an Indo-Pacific Economic Resilience Bank” with Roland Rajah and Alexandre Dayant, October 2024 https://www.lowyinstitute.org/publications/development-futures-case-indo...
Masked Economist, September 2024
Lowy Institute Development Futures: “Where to next on climate and development?” with Roland Rajah and Melanie Pill https://www.lowyinstitute.org/publications/development-futures-where-nex...
Lowy Institute Development Futures: “David Victor on how to make climate policy work” https://www.lowyinstitute.org/publications/david-victor-how-make-climate...
Selected Guest lectures/ Conferences/Workshops/ Events
Canberra Launch: 2024 Lowy Institute Poll- Australian Attitudes to the World, National Press Club, 29 July 2024, https://resources.lowyinstitute.org/docs/lowy-institute-event-canberra-l...
Just Transition in the Global South workshop hosted by University of Cambridge, University of Bristol and University of Tasmania, “Just finance? The case for an Indonesian Green Bank”, April 2024 (invited speaker)
ISAS Workshop, National University Singapore, “Civilian Technology Cooperation between the Quad and ASEAN: Climate Change opportunities and challenges”, January 2024 (invited speaker)
Indonesian Ministry of Finance 12th AIFED conference “Climate Change & Geo-economic Fragmentation”, December 2023 (invited speaker)
Irving Institute, Dartmouth University New Energy Series, “How Green Banks can create multiple types of value in the transition to net zero emissions”. Presentation of draft AJPA paper results, available here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qc1LK9h4PU (invited speaker)
Scholarships and fellowships
2019 Zero Carbon Energy for the Asia-Pacific Grand Challenge J W Land Fellowship
2021 Sir Roland Wilson PhD Scholarship
HDR Supervisor/s
Frank JotzoThesis Title/Topic
Banking on Paris: The roles of public green banks in the transition to net zero emissions.