Heran Zheng
University College London
I am an associate professor (from Octobor 2025) in sustainable infrastructure economics at the Bartlett School of Sustainable Construction, University College London.
My research is on global supply chain modelling, climate change economics, and sustainable cities, particularly emerging economies. My work is globally recognised in the top 2% of research in this field, and the impact is such that my model for supply chain analysis and the low transition ’is the global standard. I use methodological tools like input-output modelling to explore diverse topics such as decarbonisation of the built environment, the resilience of the supply chains, sustainable production, and consumption.
I am leading global research on the low carbon transition with a globally recognised reputation and research profile. I am on the list of the 2024 World top 2% Scientist Rankings for pushing boundaries to advance knowledge and accelerate the sustainable low-carbon transition. I have published +90 papers about the decarbonisation of the built environment, the resilience of the supply chains, and sustainable production and consumption (RPS) in a wide range of peer-reviewed journals, such as Nature Climate Change, Nature Cities, Nature Sustainability, PNAS and Nature Communications.
As an interdisciplinary researcher who is committed to methodological and data innovation, I use quantitative approaches to link decarbonisation, economic growth, inequality, and environmental sustainability. This has led to my developing the multi-regional input-output model at the national, provincial, and city levels for emerging economies, which are available via free access from the Carbon Emission Accounts and Datasets for Emerging Economies (CEADs) website and Zenodo. The dataset I created is unique since it is the only one that depicts supply chains at the subnational level. The model has been widely acknowledged by government and consultancy and cited in policy documents, consultancy reports, and academic research papers, with cumulatively more than 80,000 accesses and 20,000 downloads since 2019. I was also awarded the 2022 IOP Publishing Top Cited Paper Award in Environmental Research Letter for advancing China’s domestic supply chain datasets. I serve as the guest editor of the journal Cities, the editorial board of the journal Communications Earth & Environment, and the associate editor of Carbon Footprint and Green Technology and Sustainability (GTS).
I have a highly impactful record of engagement with policymakers, NGOs, industries, and media. My publications have been frequently picked up by the news media. For example, one of our recent papers published in Nature Climate Change has been picked up by 135 news outlets, including Times, The Hill, Daily Mail, etc. I am active in the external engagement with global universities or academic associations. I am appointed as the advisory expert for several national and international projects, such as supporting Shandong University in the ‘EU-China Bridge Project’ and the University of International Business and Economics in a Chinese city-level input-output modelling project. I am involved in activities in international academic organisations, such as being the council member of the European-Chinese Association for Eco-Environment since 2022 to facilitate the communications between young scholars between Europe and China. I have served as a reviewer for over 30 academic journals, such as Nature Climate Change and Nature Sustainability, and a book reviewer for Emerald Publishing.