Ines Azevedo

Inês M.L. Azevedo
Professor at Stanford University
Born
Portugal
Academic background
Education
Academic work
Discipline
InstitutionsStanford University Carnegie Mellon University

Inês Margarida Lima de Azevedo is a Portuguese engineer and scientist who is a professor at Stanford University and the Director of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. She is affiliated with the Energy Science & Engineering Department at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. Her research focuses on energy systems modeling, decarbonization, and electricity system transitions.

Azevedo has contributed to national and international climate and energy assessments. From 2018 to 2022, she served as a lead author for the Energy Systems chapter in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Sixth Assessment Report (AR6, Working Group III). In 2023, she served as a contributing author for the Mitigation chapter of the Fifth U.S. National Climate Assessment.

She has also served as an author and committee member for multiple studies conducted by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, including reports on reducing fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions from medium- and heavy-duty vehicles and on the assessment of solid-state lighting technologies.

Education and career

Professor Azevedo received a B.Sc. in Environmental Engineering from the IST Technical University of Lisbon in 2004. She later earned an M.Sc. in Innovation and Management of Technology from the same institution in 2009, and a Ph.D. in Engineering and Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University in 2009.[citation needed]

Following her doctoral studies, she joined Carnegie Mellon University’s Department of Engineering and Public Policy, where she held several positions, including Research Engineer (2009–2010), Assistant Research Professor (2010–2013), Assistant Professor (2013–2014), Associate Professor (2014–2017), and Full Professor (2017–2019) .[citation needed]

In 2019, Azevedo joined Stanford University as an associate professor in the Department of Energy Science and Engineering and was promoted to Professor in 2024. At Stanford, she holds courtesy appointments in the Departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth System Science, and is a Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment and the Precourt Institute for Energy

Research

Azevedo's research focuses on the environmental, economic, and technological dimensions of energy systems, with an emphasis on informing decision-making in the transition to low-carbon energy systems. Her work addresses interdisciplinary challenges at the intersection of engineering, economics, and public policy, examining how energy systems evolve over time and how emerging technologies and decision-making processes shape that evolution.[citation needed]

Her research spans areas including the decarbonization of electricity and transportation systems, air pollution and public health impacts, energy demand and efficiency, and life-cycle assessment of energy technologies. Her work integrates data-driven analysis and modeling to evaluate trade-offs between reliability, affordability, and sustainability, and has appeared in more than 140 papers published in high-impact journals such as Science, Nature Energy, Joule, Nature Communications, Nature Climate Change, Nature Sustainability, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States, among others. Her work has contributed to studies on energy systems and climate mitigation being cited more than 10,000 times

Azevedo's research on energy systems, decarbonization, and industrial emissions has been discussed in independent media and policy outlets. Coverage in publications such as MIT Technology Review, Scientific American, Yahoo News, and Inside Climate News, among others, has highlighted challenges associated with reducing emissions from sectors such as heavy industry, transportation, and global energy systems.[citation needed]

Awards

Azevedo has received several awards recognizing her contributions to energy and environmental research, including being honored by Stanford's Faculty Women's Forum as a recipient of the 2026 Outstanding Leader Award. In the past, she has also been honored with the Terman Fellow Award and the Gabilan Faculty Fellow Award at Stanford University in 2021 and the C3E Women in Clean Energy Research Award in 2017.

Earlier in her career, she received the Philip L. Dowd Fellowship at Carnegie Mellon University and was selected as a Young Scientist Under 40 by the World Economic Forum in 2014. She also received Carnegie Mellon University's College of Engineering Dean's Early Career Fellowship in 2013.[citation needed]

References

  1. ↑ "Inês Azevedo named new director of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment | Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment". woods.stanford.edu. 2026-07-30. Retrieved 2026-08-02.
  2. ↑ "IPCC Authors (beta)". archive.ipcc.ch. Retrieved 2026-04-03.
  3. ↑ University, Carnegie Mellon. "Azevedo Named Lead Author on Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report - Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation - Carnegie Mellon University". www.cmu.edu. Retrieved 2026-04-03.
  4. ↑ "National Climate Assessments | U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit". toolkit.climate.gov. Retrieved 2026-04-03.
  5. ↑ "Reducing Fuel Consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Medium- and Heavy-Duty Vehicles, Phase Two". www.nationalacademies.org. Retrieved 2026-04-03.
  6. ↑ Assessment of Advanced Solid-State Lighting 2013.
  7. ↑ "Senior Fellow | Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment". woods.stanford.edu. Retrieved 2026-04-02.
  8. ↑ "Fellows | ENERGY". energy.stanford.edu. Retrieved 2026-04-02.
  9. ↑ Sengupta, Shayak; Adams, Peter J.; Deetjen, Thomas A.; Kamboj, Puneet; D’Souza, Swati; Tongia, Rahul; Azevedo, Inês M. L. (2022-11-11). "Subnational implications from climate and air pollution policies in India's electricity sector". Science. 378 (6620) eabh1484. Bibcode:2022Sci...378h1484S. doi:10.1126/science.abh1484. PMID 36356126.
  10. 1 2 Clark, Michael A.; Domingo, Nina G. G.; Colgan, Kimberly; Thakrar, Sumil K.; Tilman, David; Lynch, John; Azevedo, Inês L.; Hill, Jason D. (2020). "Global food system emissions could preclude achieving the 1.5° and 2°C climate change targets". Science. 370 (6517): 705–708. Bibcode:2020Sci...370..705C. doi:10.1126/science.aba7357. PMID 33154139.
  11. 1 2 Davis, Steven J.; et al. (2018). "Net-zero emissions energy systems". Science. 360 (6396) eaas9793. doi:10.1126/science.aas9793. OSTI 1460617. PMID 29954954.
  12. ↑ Powell, Siobhan; Cezar, Gustavo Vianna; Min, Liang; Azevedo, Inês M. L.; Rajagopal, Ram (October 2022). "Charging infrastructure access and operation to reduce the grid impacts of deep electric vehicle adoption". Nature Energy. 7 (10): 932–945. Bibcode:2022NatEn...7..932P. doi:10.1038/s41560-022-01105-7. hdl:20.500.11850/575025. ISSN 2058-7546.
  13. ↑ Sherwin, Evan D.; Henrion, Max; Azevedo, Inês M. L. (April 2018). "Estimation of the year-on-year volatility and the unpredictability of the United States energy system". Nature Energy. 3 (4): 341–346. Bibcode:2018NatEn...3..341S. doi:10.1038/s41560-018-0121-4. ISSN 2058-7546.
  14. ↑ Whiston, Michael M.; Azevedo, Inês M. L.; Litster, Shawn; Samaras, Constantine; Whitefoot, Kate S.; Whitacre, Jay F. (2019-09-18). "Meeting U.S. Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Targets". Joule. 3 (9): 2060–2065. Bibcode:2019Joule...3.2060W. doi:10.1016/j.joule.2019.07.018. ISSN 2542-4351.
  15. ↑ Machala, Michael L.; Chen, Xi; Bunke, Samantha P.; Forbes, Gregory; Yegizbay, Akarys; de Chalendar, Jacques A.; Azevedo, Inês L.; Benson, Sally; Tarpeh, William A. (2025-01-24). "Life cycle comparison of industrial-scale lithium-ion battery recycling and mining supply chains". Nature Communications. 16 (1): 988. Bibcode:2025NatCo..16..988M. doi:10.1038/s41467-025-56063-x. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC 11761346. PMID 39856111.
  16. ↑ DeAngelo, Julianne; Azevedo, Inês; Bistline, John; Clarke, Leon; Luderer, Gunnar; Byers, Edward; Davis, Steven J. (2021-10-20). "Energy systems in scenarios at net-zero CO2 emissions". Nature Communications. 12 (1): 6096. doi:10.1038/s41467-021-26356-y. ISSN 2041-1723. PMC 8528892. PMID 34671014.
  17. ↑ Creutzig, Felix; Roy, Joyashree; Lamb, William F.; Azevedo, Inês M. L.; Bruine de Bruin, Wändi; Dalkmann, Holger; Edelenbosch, Oreane Y.; Geels, Frank W.; Grubler, Arnulf; Hepburn, Cameron; Hertwich, Edgar G.; Khosla, Radhika; Mattauch, Linus; Minx, Jan C.; Ramakrishnan, Anjali (April 2018). "Towards demand-side solutions for mitigating climate change". Nature Climate Change. 8 (4): 260–263. Bibcode:2018NatCC...8..268C. doi:10.1038/s41558-018-0121-1. hdl:11311/1062768. ISSN 1758-6798.
  18. ↑ Mayfield, Erin N.; Cohon, Jared L.; Muller, Nicholas Z.; Azevedo, Inês M. L.; Robinson, Allen L. (December 2019). "Cumulative environmental and employment impacts of the shale gas boom". Nature Sustainability. 2 (12): 1122–1131. Bibcode:2019NatSu...2.1122M. doi:10.1038/s41893-019-0420-1. ISSN 2398-9629. PMC 6914251. PMID 31844682.
  19. ↑ Singh, Kirat; Lobell, David B.; Azevedo, Inês M. L. (2025-02-11). "Quantifying the impact of air pollution from coal-fired electricity generation on crop productivity in India". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 122 (6) e2421679122. Bibcode:2025PNAS..12221679S. doi:10.1073/pnas.2421679122. PMC 11831135. PMID 39899714.
  20. ↑ Qiu, M.; Ratledge, N.; Azevedo IML; Diffenbaugh, N. S.; Burke, M. (2023). "PNAS". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 120 (28) e2300395120. doi:10.1073/pnas.2300395120. PMC 10334796. PMID 37410866.
  21. ↑ Tschofen, P.; Azevedo, I. L.; Muller, N. Z. (2019). "PNAS". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 116 (40): 19857–19862. doi:10.1073/pnas.1905030116. PMC 6778230. PMID 31501345.
  22. ↑ "United States Data Center Energy Usage Report | Energy Technologies Area". eta.lbl.gov. Retrieved 2026-04-03.
  23. ↑ Scopus (2026-04-03). "Scopus Author Profile: Ines Azevedo".
  24. ↑ page, Casey Crownhartarchive. "The US and China are pointing fingers at each other over climate change". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 2026-04-03.
  25. ↑ page, James Templearchive. "We still have no idea how to eliminate more than a quarter of energy emissions". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 2026-04-03.
  26. ↑ Harvey, Chelsea. "Cement Producers Are Developing a Plan to Reduce CO2 Emissions". Scientific American. Retrieved 2026-04-03.
  27. ↑ "Why a more equal world would be easier to decarbonise". Yahoo News. 2021-03-08. Retrieved 2026-04-03.
  28. ↑ Kusnetz, By Nicholas (2018-06-28). "These Are the Toughest Emissions to Cut, and a Big Chunk of the Climate Problem". Inside Climate News. Retrieved 2026-04-03.
  29. ↑ "Why we can't reverse climate change with 'negative emissions' technologies". www.business-standard.com. Archived from the original on 2025-08-03. Retrieved 2026-04-03.
  30. ↑ juliechao (2016-06-27). "Data Centers Continue to Proliferate While Their Energy Use Plateaus - Berkeley Lab". Berkeley Lab News Center. Retrieved 2026-04-03.
  31. ↑ "Faculty Women's Forum Awards | Faculty Development and Engagement". facultydevelopment.stanford.edu. Retrieved 2026-06-03.
  32. ↑ University, Carnegie Mellon. "CEDM's Azevedo and Donti Recognized with Distinguished Awards - Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation - Carnegie Mellon University". www.cmu.edu. Retrieved 2026-04-03.
  33. ↑ "Inês Azevedo". The C3E Initiative. Retrieved 2026-04-03.
  34. ↑ "World Economic Forum Honours its 2014 Young Scientists Community at Annual Meeting of the New Champions". World Economic Forum. Archived from the original on 2026-01-23. Retrieved 2026-04-03.