Pu Yang

Patterns of carbon emissions in European and Chinese cities

School research theme: Sustainability in the built environment
Research supervisor: Dr Zhifu Mi and Prof D'Maris Coffman
Start date: September 2018

My research project aims to explore and compare carbon emission patterns of cities in China and Europe, in order to provide guidance in low-carbon development for cities in China as well as other developing countries. I plan to: 

• Establish a feasible methodology for constructing unified and comparable CO2 emissions inventories for cities from both production and consumption perspectives.
• Apply decomposition method to identify the drivers of urban emissions, in order to provide specific policy options for city climate management.

Urban climate policy is recognised as one of four ‘key pillars’ of action in the UNFCCC Paris Agreement, but crucial knowledge gaps remain in understanding emission patterns at city level. China is one of the biggest contributors to global emissions and has put in place ambitious targets for emission reduction.