Lu Chenxi

Dr. Chenxi Lu is a researcher in climate change economics and energy–environmental data science, focusing on the health co-benefits of climate mitigation and adaptation policies and low-carbon transitions in energy and urban systems. Her work particularly examines the transport and power sectors, integrating emissions, air pollution exposure, and health outcomes to better understand the broader impacts of climate policies. By combining interdisciplinary approaches, she aims to identify effective policy strategies that simultaneously reduce carbon emissions and improve public health, with attention to equity and regional heterogeneity.

Her research integrates a range of quantitative methods, including integrated assessment models, machine learning, causal inference, and agent-based modeling, alongside multi-source datasets such as satellite observations, monitoring data, and mobility information. She has published over 30 peer-reviewed articles in leading journals, including The Lancet Planetary Health and Nature Cities, with around 3,000 citations.

Dr. Lu is a member of the Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change and Carbon Monitor, and serves as a reviewer for journals such as Nature Climate Change, Environmental Science & Technology, and npj Urban Sustainability, as well as an editorial board member of Carbonsphere. She is a recipient of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation International Climate Protection Fellowship.

Sep 2016-Jun 2022, Tsinghua University, Ecology, PhD

Sep 2018-Oct 2022, University of Exeter, Geography, PhD

Sep 2012-Jun 2016, Beijing Forestry University, International Economics and Trade, Bachelor

Feb 2026-present,  Institute of Environment and Ecology, Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Assistant professor

Aug 2024-present, University of Cambridge, Visiting scholar

Mar 2023-Dec 2025, Technical University of Berlin & Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Postdoctoral researcher

Sep 2022-Jun 2023, Harvard University, Postdoctoral research fellow

Reviewer of the following journals:

Nature Climate Change、Environmental Science & Technology、npj Urban Sustainability, Environmental Research Letters、Science of the Total Environment 、Journal of Cleaner Production、Land Use Policy

Eeditorial board member:

Carbonsphere

Research focuses on the interdisciplinary field of climate change economics and energy–environmental data science. Main research directions include:

1. Assessing the co-benefits of climate change mitigation and adaptation policies by developing integrated assessment model linking carbon emissions, air pollution, and health outcomes;

2. Optimizing low-carbon transition pathways in energy–urban systems;

3. Advancing data-driven and causal inference methods for climate policy evaluation.

[1] Lu, C*., Huang, Y., Yu, Y., Hu, J., Mo, H., Li, Y., ... Liu, Z*. (2024). Health co-benefits of post-COVID-19 low-carbon recovery in Chinese cities. Nature Cities, 1-11.

[2] Lu, C*., Adger, W. N., Morrissey, K., Zhang, S., Venevsky, S., Yin, H., ...  Liu, Z*. (2022). Scenarios of demographic distributional aspects of health co-benefits from decarbonising urban transport. The Lancet Planetary Health, 6(6), e461-e474. 

[3] Lu, C. *, Zhang, S., Tan, C., Li, Y., Liu, Z., Morrissey, K., ... Guo, J. (2022). Reduced health burden and economic benefits of cleaner fuel usage from household energy consumption across rural and urban China. Environmental Research Letters, 17(1), 014039. 

[4] Lu, C. *, Venevsky, S. *, Shi, X., Wang, L., Wright, J. S., Wu, C. (2021). Econometrics of the environmental Kuznets curve: Testing advancement to carbon intensity-oriented sustainability for eight economic zones in China. Journal of Cleaner Production, 283, 124561. 

[5] Lu, C., Venevsky, S.*, Cao, S.* (2018). The effects of the China–Russia gas deal on energy consumption, carbon emission, and particulate matter pollution in China. npj Climate and Atmospheric Science, 1(1), 1-6.

[6] Lu, C., Zhao, T., Shi, X., Cao, S.* (2018). Ecological restoration by afforestation may increase groundwater depth and create potentially large ecological and water opportunity costs in arid and semiarid China. Journal of Cleaner Production, 176, 1213-1222.

[7] Montfort, S. *, Callaghan, Ma., Creutzig, F., F Lamb, William., Lu, C., Repke, T., Ge, K., Minx, J (2025). Systematic global stocktake of over 50,000 urban climate change studies. Nature Cities, 1-13.

[8] Cai, W., Zhang, C., Zhang S, …, Lu, C., …, et al (2025). The 2025 China report of the Lancet Countdown on health and climate change: empowering cities for synergistic action[J]. The Lancet Public Health, 10(12): e1066-e1085.

[11] Zhu, B., Deng, Z., Song, X., Zhao, W., Huo, D., Sun, T., Ke, P., Cui, D., Lu, C., Zhong, H., Hong, C., Qiu, J., Davis, S.J., Gentine, P., Ciais, P., Liu, Z. (2023). Carbon Monitor-Power near-real-time monitoring of global power generation on hourly to daily scales. Scientific Data, 10(1), 217. (7)

[12] Huo, D., Huang, X., Dou, X., Ciais, P., Li, Y., Deng, Z., ..., Lu, C.,…,et al. (2022). Carbon Monitor Cities near-real-time daily estimates of CO2 emissions from 1500 cities worldwide. Scientific Data, 9(1), 533. （51）

[13] Liu, Z., Ciais, P., Deng, Z., Lei, R., Davis, S. J., Feng, S., ..., Lu, C.,…,et al. (2020). Near-real-time monitoring of global CO2 emissions reveals the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nature communications, 11(1), 5172. 

International Climate Protection Fellowship 2023-2025

Joint China-UK Innovation PhD Scholarship 2018-2019

Full PhD Scholarship,University of Exeter 2018-2022

Future Scholar Scholarship, Tsinghua University 2016-2021