Seminar Summary
Greenhouse gas emissions resulting from human activity are profoundly altering the Earth’s environment and accelerating global climate change. In this context, low-carbon development is not only a global necessity but also a strategic opportunity for China to achieve high-quality economic growth and play a leadership role in global climate governance.
In recent years, China has significantly increased its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), implementing more robust mitigation policies to reach carbon peaking by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060. Achieving these ambitious targets requires the establishment of a multi-scale, internationally recognized carbon accounting system tailored to China’s unique development context.
During the talk, Dr. Shan emphasized the importance of accurately quantifying greenhouse gas emissions at national, provincial, and city levels, as well as identifying key drivers of emissions growth and evaluating local progress toward carbon peaking. He further explored pathways for green and low-carbon transformation based on a rigorous and transparent emissions inventory.
However, Dr. Shan also raised a critical issue that is often overlooked: inequality in carbon emissions. He argued that as China moves toward its carbon peaking and neutrality goals, disparities in income and social wealth distribution may exacerbate inequities in emissions responsibility. Therefore, it is essential to identify the differences in carbon emissions among various income groups, uncover the structural sources of inequality, and propose policy mechanisms to support equitable emissions reduction.
Such an approach not only enhances fairness in achieving climate targets but also contributes to social justice and sustainable development, offering China's wisdom and solutions for global climate governance.
Speaker Bio: Dr. Yuli Shan
Dr. Yuli Shan is a tenured Associate Professor at the University of Birmingham, Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, Highly Cited Researcher, and Lead Author of the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report. His work focuses on multi-scale greenhouse gas inventory development and low-carbon transitions.
Dr. Shan is a co-founder of the China Emission Accounts and Datasets (CEADs) and has conducted interdisciplinary research on climate mitigation and regional sustainable development. His research has informed carbon governance practices across various levels of government.
He has published more than 170 peer-reviewed SCI/SSCI papers, including articles in Nature Climate Change, Nature Sustainability, Nature Energy, Science Advances, and Science Bulletin. Notably, 30 papers are ESI Highly Cited, and 19 are ESI Hot Papers. His Google Scholar citations exceed 18,000, with an h-index of 60.
Dr. Shan has led or participated in numerous research projects funded by the Royal Society, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the European Horizon Program, and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). He has received over 30 academic honors, including being ranked among the world’s Top 2% of Scientists, the German Green Talent Award, and the Young Scholar Award from the Chinese Society for Industrial Ecology.
He also serves as an editorial board member of journals such as Scientific Data, Advances in Applied Energy, and Sustainable Futures, and holds leadership positions in international and domestic academic societies on sustainability, urban systems, and input-output analysis.
