Dr Yuli Shan PhD

Profile picture of Dr Yuli Shan

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
Associate Professor in Sustainable Transitions
GEES Sustainability Lead

Contact details

Telephone
0121 414 5525
Email
[email protected]
Twitter
@yuli_shan
View my research portal

Dr Yuli Shan is an expert in Climate Change and Sustainable Transitions. His interdisciplinary research aims to reveal how human activities affect global and regional climate change. He also seeks alternative low-carbon approaches towards the achievement of climate targets and a net-zero emission society. 

He is a Global Highly Cited Researcher (since 2020) and a Fellow of Royal Geographical Society (since 2024). His research achievement and international reputation has resulted in 20+ academic awards, 160+ publications in high-impact journals, 16k+ citations, high-profile media coverage, international conference and committee invites and contributing authorship for the IPCC 6th Assessment Report.

Qualifications

  • PhD in Climate Change and Development, University of East Anglia (2018)
  • Master of Social Development and Public Policy, Fudan University (2014)
  • BSc in Statistics and Actuarial Science, Tianjin University of Finance and Economics (2012)

Biography

Dr Yuli Shan is an Associate Professor in Sustainable Transitions at the University of Birmingham. Before joining the University of Birmingham, he worked at the University of Groningen as a Faculty Research Fellow. He got a doctoral degree from the University of East Anglia (2018) and a master’s degree from Fudan University (2014).

Yuli is a Global Highly Cited Researcher and the World's Top 2% Scientist since 2020. He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, an IPCC contributing author, and an executive committee member of the National Association of Input-Output and Big Data of China. He is an Associate Editor or Editorial Board Member of several journals including Scientific Data, Advances in Applied Energy, Journal of Cleaner Production, etc.
 
Yuli has won a dozen academic prizes including the University of Birmingham Founders' Awards (2023), the Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Self-Financed PhD Students Abroad (2016), and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research Green Talents Award (2018). Yuli has been interviewed by renowned media outlets and invited to present his research at international conferences.

Teaching

  • Climate Change in the Earth System - UG year 3
  • Global Environmental Issues - UG year 1
  • Fieldtrip course (Tokyo)
  • BSc Global Environmental Change and Sustainability

Postgraduate supervision

Climate Change Mitigation and Economics; Sustainable Transitions; Accounting of Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Research

Dr Yuli Shan’s research focuses on accounting for carbon emissions, climate change economics, and sustainable development, with a special focus on developing countries and cities. He has published over 160 papers in high-impact journals, including 20+ in Nature and Science entitled journals. His papers have been cited over 15,000 times (h-index 56), and 28 of them are ESI highly cited papers and 18 are hot papers.

Yuli has co-built an open emission dataset (CEADs.net) to provide the most up-to-date regional emission and energy data for emerging countries and subnational regions.

Other activities

  • Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers)
  • Board member of the Sustainable Urban System section of the International Society of Industrial Ecology (ISIE) and National Association of Input-Output and Big Data of China
  • Member of the International Input-Output Association (IIOA) and the International Society for Energy Transition Studies
  • Contributing author of the IPCC 6th assessment report, working group III
  • Editor for Scientific Data, Advances in Applied Energy, Journal of Cleaner Production, etc.

Publications

Highlight publications

Shan, Y, Guan, D, Zheng, H, Ou, J, Li, Y, Meng, J, Mi, Z, Liu, Z & Zhang, Q 2018, 'China CO2 emission accounts 1997–2015', Scientific Data. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2017.201

Guan, D, Meng, J, Reiner, DM, Zhang, N, Shan, Y, Mi, Z, Shao, S, Liu, Z, Zhang, Q & Davis, SJ 2018, 'Structural decline in China’s CO2 emissions through transitions in industry and energy systems', Nature Geoscience. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-018-0161-1

Shan, Y, Guan, D, Hubacek, K, Zheng, B, Davis, SJ, Jia, L, Liu, J, Liu, Z, Fromer, N, Mi, Z, Meng, J, Deng, X, Li, Y, Lin, J, Schroeder, H, Weisz, H & Schellnhuber, HJ 2018, 'City-level climate change mitigation in China', Science Advances. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaq0390

Shan, Y, Fang, S, Cai, B, Zhou, Y, Li, D, Feng, K & Hubacek, K 2021, 'Chinese cities exhibit varying degrees of decoupling of economic growth and CO2 emissions between 2005 and 2015', One Earth, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 124-134. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2020.12.004

Shan, Y, Ou, J, Wang, D, Zeng, Z, Zhang, S, Guan, D & Hubacek, K 2021, 'Impacts of COVID-19 and fiscal stimuli on global emissions and the Paris Agreement', Nature Climate Change, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 200–206. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41558-020-00977-5

Recent publications

Article

Wang, J, Wang, K, Hubacek, K, Feng, K, Shan, Y & Wei, YM 2025, 'Changes in global trade patterns increase global inequality towards Sustainable Development Goals', Ecological Economics, vol. 227, 108421. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2024.108421

Tang, M, Liu, G, Hong, J, Liu, W, Zhong, C, Wang, D & Shan, Y 2025, 'City-level emergy metabolism accounts for China's 281 cities from 2000 to 2020', Scientific Data, vol. 12, no. 1, 55. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-04344-3

Sun, K, Tong, K, Xu, J & Shan, Y 2025, 'Developing a novel city-wide useful energy demand model based on detailed energy conversion processes', Energy, vol. 323, 135833. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2025.135833

Yang, Z, Wang, Z, Zheng, H, Tian, K, Song, J, Ma, S, Fan, J, Shan, Y, Zhang, D & Zhang, B 2025, 'Environmental-social-economic synergy of China's investment on BRI countries', Resources, Conservation and Recycling, vol. 214, 108039. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2024.108039

Wang, D, Chen, Z, Sahu, RK, Kahil, T, Tang, T, Shan, Y, Zhang, W, Ye, W, Wu, G, Li, H & Hubacek, K 2025, 'Impacts of water conservation, wastewater treatment, and reuse on water quantity and quality stress mitigation in China', Journal of Industrial Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1111/jiec.70006

Li, J, Liu, M, Shan, Y, Yang, J, Fang, W, Ma, Z & Bi, J 2025, 'Mapping the Water-Economic Cascading Risks within a Multilayer Network of Supply Chains in China', Environmental Science and Technology, vol. 59, no. 16, pp. 7960-7972. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5c01545

Zhang, Y, Zhu, X, Liu, D, Shan, Y & Wu, Y 2025, 'Marginal abatement cost of urban emissions under climate policy: Assessment and projection for China's 2030 climate target', Sustainable Cities and Society, vol. 124, 106319. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2025.106319

Lv, L, Liu, M, Shan, Y, Xu, J, Yang, J, Fang, W, Ma, Z & Bi, J 2025, 'Mitigating Climate Risk to China's Renewable Energy Generation by Power Plants Redeployment Using a Machine-Learning Model', Earth's Future, vol. 13, no. 4, e2024EF005641. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024EF005641

Hou, S, Huo, J, Zhao, X, Wang, X, Zhang, X, Zhao, D, Tillotson, MR, Shan, Y, Flörke, M, Guo, W, Meng, J & Hubacek, K 2025, 'Tracking grid-level freshwater boundary exceedance along global supply chains from consumption to impact', Nature Water, vol. 3, no. 4, 4, pp. 439-448. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44221-025-00420-z

Yang, G, Zhang, G, Cao, D, Gao, X, Wang, X, Yang, S, Jiang, P, Zha, D & Shan, Y 2024, 'A comprehensive city-level final energy consumption dataset including renewable energy for China, 2005–2021', Scientific Data, vol. 11, no. 1, 738. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03529-0

Mastrandrea, R, Burg, RT, Shan, Y, Hubacek, K & Ruzzenenti, F 2024, 'Assessments of the environmental performance of global companies need to account for company size', Communications Earth & Environment, vol. 5, no. 1, 5. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-024-01200-5

Andersen, EV, Wilts, JW, Shan, Y, Ruzzenenti, F & Hubacek, K 2024, 'Carbon implications of sovereign wealth funds', Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management. https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.3040

Xu, J, Guan, Y, Oldfield, J, Guan, D & Shan, Y 2024, 'China carbon emission accounts 2020-2021', Applied Energy, vol. 360, 122837. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2024.122837

Zhang, Z, Shan, Y, Zhao, D, Tillotson, MR, Cai, B, Li, X, Zheng, H, Zhao, C, Guan, D, Liu, J & Hao, Y 2024, 'City level water withdrawal and scarcity accounts of China', Scientific Data, vol. 11, no. 1, 449. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03115-4

Zhang, H, Di Maria, C, Ghezelayagh, B & Shan, Y 2024, 'Climate policy in emerging economies: Evidence from China's Low-Carbon City Pilot', Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, vol. 124, 102943. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeem.2024.102943

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