Dr Yuan Peng

Research Fellow
Grand Challenge Zero-Carbon Energy for the Asia-Pacific

Yuan Peng completed her PhD at the Fenner School of Environment and Society in 2020, supported by an Australian Postgraduate Award (APA). Her PhD research focuses on urban sustainability experimentation and transition, supervised by Prof Xuemei Bai (ANU), Prof Frank Jotzo (ANU), and Dr. Tim Baynes (CSIRO)

Yuan Peng has a MA degree in urban ecology from East China Normal University (ECNU) with a research project regarding the ecological benefits of near‐nature forests. She also has a BS degree in Environmental Science. From 2008‐2013, she worked as a policy consultant at a think‐tank institute in Shanghai, participating in several policy-consulting projects related to urban economics, energy management, and low-carbon development. From 2013 to 2014, she worked as a Business Development at Cities Centre of Competence Asia, Siemens. Her role involved the analytical works of strategic development of cities to identify the business opportunities for Siemens low‐carbon solutions.

Yuan Peng has over 17-years' experience in the domain of urban environment and climate governance, with multiple experiences across academia, government, and industry. Her interested research areas include cities and climate change, urban environmental management, urban sustainability transition, regional development and environmental/climate policies in China.

Research interests

  • Environmental Science And Management
  • Urban Analysis And Development
  • Regional Analysis And Development

Yuan Peng is interested in the research domains of sustainability experiments and transition in cities, energy governance and climate governance, especially the pathways and internal mechanisms of urban low-carbon transition in Asian cities.

An ongoing research project is Unravelling the Mechanisms Underlying Electric Vehicle Uptake in Shanghai: the Importance of Policy Incentives, the Influence of Peer Effects, and the Role of non-government actors. This research aims to understand the mechanisms underlying Shanghai’s early-adoption success by examining the roles of different actors in this socio-technical transformation.

Yuan Peng is also currently working on a project of understanding the role of Chinese cities in a energy transition towards hydrogen, studying the ambitions and capacities of these cities and the pathways that they may adopt for transition and the inter-city collaboration patterns.

Updated:  14 August 2024/Responsible Officer:  College of Science/Page Contact:  https://iceds.anu.edu.au/contact