News & Workshops

Professor Xiaoling Zhang Delivers Keynote at International Workshop Geography and Sustainability 2025

Xi' an, China, October 17-20, 2025

Professor Xiaoling Zhang, Director of the Sustainability X-Lab at the University of Hong Kong, delivered a keynote speech at the International Workshop on Geography and Sustainability 2025. The conference, chaired by renowned scholars including Bojie Fu and hosted by Beijing Normal University, Shaanxi Normal University, and the Geographical Society of China, focused on interdisciplinary approaches to addressing complex geographical and sustainability challenges.

Professor Zhang's presentation, titled "Transforming urban sustainability in the Anthropocene: an eco-

evolutionary perspective", provided insightful perspectives on the transformation of urban systems.

Her talk underscored the critical role of integrated geographical research in forging a sustainable

future, prompting meaningful discussions among attendees.

The event served as a significant platform for strengthening interdisciplinary collaboration and

fostering innovative integration between geography and sustainability science.

The details of the workshop can be found in the link below.

Link to the GEOSUS 2025

Professor Xiaoling Zhang Presents Research at 2025 China Urban Geography Annual Conference

Henan, China, July 25-28, 2025

The 2025 China Urban Geography Annual Conference was successfully held at Henan University from July 25 to 28. Co-organized by the Urban Geography Professional Committee of the Geographical Society of China and the Faculty of Geographic Science and Engineering of Henan University, the conference convened under the theme "High-Quality Urbanization and Integrated Urban-Rural Development."

Professor Xiaoling Zhang from the University of Hong Kong presented her research titled "Scaling the Spatial-Temporal Nexus in Sustainable Cities." In her presentation, Professor Zhang characterized cities as continuously evolving complex adaptive systems that exhibit multi-level structures, nonlinear dynamics, dynamic adaptability, and path dependency. She analyzed how the nonlinear and fractal attributes of urban sustainable development stem from the complex coupling of endogenous and exogenous dynamics, further elucidating the evolutionary mechanisms, patterns, and adaptive pathways of urban sustainability under such complex dynamic couplings.

The details of the workshop can be found in the link below.

Link to the Conference

International Experts Explore New Paradigms for Science Collaboration to Advance Global Sustainability at NSFC’s 419th Shuang-Qing Forum

Beijing, China, August 19, 2025

Professor Zhang Xiaoling gave a keynote speech at the 419th Shuang-Qing Forum of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), contributing insights on Sustainable Development Science: Modeling Based on the Integrated and Coupled Framework of Social-Ecological Systems.

The 419th Shuang-Qing Forumof the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), themed "New Paradigms for Systemic Scientific Collaboration to Advance Human Sustainability,"was held in Beijing. Co-organized by NSFC’s Bureau of International Cooperation, Department of International Scientific Programs, Earth Sciences Department, Interdisciplinary Sciences Department, and Bureau of Planning and Policy, the forum was hosted by Beijing Normal University.

The forum was chaired by Liu Congqiang (Tianjin University), Chen Deliang (Tsinghua University), and Liu He (Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration & Development, PetroChina), with opening remarks delivered by Lan Yujie, Vice President of NSFC; Yu Jihong, President of Beijing Normal University; and Chen Deliang. The opening session was moderated by Fan Yingjie, Director of NSFC’s Bureau of International Cooperation.

The forum focused on three key topics:

Innovating collaboration mechanisms to address challenges in transnational cooperation, particularly North-South partnerships.
Building a "survival-first" global science agenda to advance sustainable development research.
Accelerating the development of science diplomacy capabilities and cultivating a new generation of science diplomats.

The Shuang-Qing Forum, a high-level platform for strategic dialogue in Chinese science policy, aims to foster interdisciplinary and international collaboration to tackle global challenges. This session underscores NSFC’s commitment to driving sustainable development through innovative scientific cooperation.

The details of the forum can be found in the links below.

Innovative Approach to Addressing Climate Change: The Scope-Based Emissions (SBE) Method for Tackling Scope 3 Emissions Challenges

The Scope-Based Emissions (SBE) method, developed by Professor Xiaoling Zhang’s team at the Sustainability X-Lab of the University of Hong Kong in collaboration with Professor Christine Loh from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, offers a groundbreaking solution for quantifying and managing Scope 3 emissions in global climate governance. Grounded in the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (WRI & WBCSD, 2004), this method integrates sectoral energy consumption data with economic input-output tables to reallocate emissions traditionally attributed to power generation (Scope 1) to their actual consumption sources—such as finance, real estate, and retail sectors.

Key findings reveal that Hong Kong’s service sector, when accounting for embedded electricity consumption, contributes over one-third of the city’s total emissions, exposing the limitations of conventional production-side accounting. The SBE framework introduces an innovative "responsibility realignment" mechanism, leveraging Emission Flow Analysis (EFA) to redistribute carbon accountability within the IPCC’s Scope 1–2 boundaries, thereby addressing data gaps and double-counting risks inherent in Scope 3 assessments. Policy simulations demonstrate that cross-sectoral collaboration under SBE could achieve 19.1% additional emission reductions by 2050 compared to non-cooperative scenarios.

This research, widely covered by over 300 authoritative media outlets including 中国经济新闻网，新浪财经等, establishes a methodological benchmark for cities worldwide to tackle Scope 3 complexities, particularly in service-dominated economies.

Author Affiliations:

Xiaoling Zhang is Professor and Director of the Sustainability X-Lab in the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Hong Kong （张晓玲教授, 现任香港大学建筑学院可持续发展与创新技术实验室（Sustainability X-Lab）主任，教授）。

Christine Loh is Chief Development Strategist, Institute for the Environment, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology（陆恭蕙女士,现任香港科技大学环境研究所首席发展策略主任）。

应对气候变化的关键行动：破解“范围三”排放难题——张晓玲陆恭蕙

The Research Forum on “AI for Climate Change and Sustainability Science” Successfully Held in Hong Kong

Hong Kong, China – April 7, 2025 – The research forum on “AI for Climate Change and Sustainability Science” convened at HKU iCube, Two Exchange Square, drawing nearly 60 scholars, policymakers, engineers, and AI experts from leading institutions including The University of Hong Kong (HKU), City University of Hong Kong (CityU), Fudan University, Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), and the Hong Kong Hydrogen Alliance. Co-hosted by the Sustainability X-Lab and the HKU Jockey Club Enterprise Sustainability Global Research Institute, with support from the Shanghai Innovation Institute and the CityU Shenzhen Research Institute, the event fostered interdisciplinary dialogue on AI-enabled solutions for planetary sustainability.

The forum opened with a visionary address by Prof. Xiaoling Zhang, Director of Sustainability X-Lab (HKU), who emphasized the imperative to “explore how artificial intelligence can catalyze breakthroughs in climate modeling, policy innovation, and sustainability transformation”. Underscoring the urgency of aligning technological innovation with global climate imperatives, Prof. Zhang highlighted the importance of cross-sector collaboration in scaling systemic impact. And, Dr. Xia Yang, Senior Editor at Nature, delivered a keynote titled “Demystifying Publishing in Top-Tier Journals”.

Prof. Guojun He (HKU) presented cost-effective, high-impact strategies for advancing sustainability governance, illustrated through three compelling case studies (Keynote: “Big Data and Social Experiments to Promote Sustainability”). Firstly, real-time exposure via social media (e.g., Weibo) reduced industrial pollution violations by 60%. Secondly, a default “no-utensil” setting combined with green incentives on a food delivery platform cut annual single-use utensil consumption by 22 billion sets. Thirdly, using natural language processing on investor Q&A platforms, environmental inquiries improved corporate ESG transparency and impacted stock market performance. Prof. He called for integrating social experimentation, platform partnerships, and AI-powered analytics to overcome the inefficiencies of conventional policy approaches.

Prof. Han Wang (HKU) highlighted wide-bandgap semiconductors, such as gallium nitride (GaN) and silicon carbide (SiC), as critical enablers of energy-efficient infrastructure (Keynote: “Wide-Bandgap Semiconductors and Power Electronics as Pathways to Carbon Neutrality”). Demonstrating conversion efficiencies exceeding 99% in electric vehicles and solar inverters, these materials also achieve up to 40% size reduction over traditional silicon. Prof. Wang quantified life-cycle carbon reductions across AI data centers, smart grids, and renewable systems, and urged accelerated global adoption to support electrification and decarbonization efforts.

Prof. Zhenzhong Zeng (SUSTech) showcased the Eyes on Earth initiative, which leverages AI and satellite big data to monitor global surface water dynamics (Keynote: “AI and Satellite Big Data for Global Water Resource Monitoring”). His team integrated multi-source satellite imagery (Sentinel-1/2, MODIS, PlanetScope) with deep learning to detect floods, track droughts, and analyze long-term changes in lakes and reservoirs. Applications included high-resolution flood mapping within 48 hours of extreme events and long-term drought risk analysis. Prof. Zeng advocated for physics-informed AI to improve model interpretability and called for global cooperation to build intelligent Earth observation infrastructure.

Prof. Libo Wu (Fudan University) proposed a paradigm shift in sustainability science driven by the integration of agent-based modeling (ABM), reinforcement learning (RL), and large language models (LLMs) (Keynote: “AI-Empowered Paradigm Shift of Sustainability Science”). Case studies included global climate club simulations, and optimization of China’s computing infrastructure to align with carbon neutrality goals. She introduced Planet Intelligence @ Climate, an LLM-enhanced modeling system trained on 260B climate tokens and capable of simulating policy negotiation dynamics (e.g., COP conferences). Prof. Wu envisioned a future of AI-augmented “climate intelligent agents” enabling adaptive governance, scenario co-creation, and systems-level foresight in sustainability planning.

This landmark forum positions Hong Kong as a regional hub for AI-driven sustainability innovation, bridging academic rigor with real-world application. As climate risks grow increasingly complex, the fusion of computational intelligence and interdisciplinary collaboration emerges as one of humanity’s most powerful tools for planetary stewardship.

One earth summit

On 28th March 2025, Prof. Zhang Xiaoling, Department of Real Estate & Construction, HKU, participated in the One Earth Summit 2025 in Hong Kong organized by the Institute of Sustainability and Technology (IST) alongside GAEA by the World Economic Forum and the One Earth Alliance (OEA). Last year’s event introduction can be found here: https://china.un.org/en/264307-one-earth-summit.

Damilola Ogunbiyi, who is the CEO and UN SRSG for Sustainable Energy for All, Co-Chair of UN-Energy emphasized that “if we are to meet our global climate and energy goals, we must harness the power of philanthropy to drive systemic change. Philanthropy has been acting as the catalyst that bridges gaps between public and private investment by providing risk-tolerant capital, thus de-risking and unlocking larger pools of funding from governments, institutional investors, and businesses.”

As one of the discussants for the One Earth Summit Roundtable Discussion Session on "Energy & Built Environment", a few key points are highlighted from Prof. Zhang Xiaoling, as shown below:

Renewable Energy Integration: Strategies for expanding solar, wind, green hydrogen, and other renewable sources into energy grids, while addressing challenges such as storage, grid flexibility, and equitable access. Case studies showcased successful implementations and technological innovations.

Smart Energy Systems and City Initiatives: The role of digital tools (e.g., IoT, AI) in enhancing urban sustainability, including efficient resource management, green infrastructure, and electrified public transport.

Job Advertisement: Research Assistant Wanted on AI For Sustainability Science

The University of Hong Kong, Department of Real Estate & Construction, Sustainability X-Lab is now seeking a talented and motivated Research Assistant to join our team!

General Requirements : You should have a bachelor's degree or above in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing or related fields. A solid foundation in computer science basics, including data structures, algorithms, operating systems, and computer networks, is a must. Proficiency in at least one programming language such as Python or Java, along with good programming skills and code standards, is required.
Qualifications : Familiarity with the basic principles and architecture of large - language models and their applications in the natural language processing field is essential. Mastery of RAG technology and related tools, and the ability to efficiently retrieve, integrate, and process big data are preferred. Experience in large - model development, including familiarity with the model training, optimization, and evaluation process, and the ability to independently develop the preliminary version of a vertical - category large model is not a must but will be given priority. Knowledge of large - model fine - tuning techniques, and the ability to fine - tune models according to specific task requirements to enhance their performance in particular fields is also needed. And you ought to be familiar with deep - learning frameworks like PyTorch and TensorFlow, and be able to use them for model development and training.
Project Experience : Candidates with relevant project experience will be given priority, such as those who have participated in the development, fine - tuning, or application projects of large - language models, or have practical experience in the natural language processing field. Experience in handling large - scale data sets, and the ability to skillfully use data processing tools and platforms like Hadoop and Spark, and have a certain understanding of big - data storage, management, and analysis is a plus.
Academic Background : You should have a strong interest in the academic research of large models and be willing to explore their academic value in vertical fields at work. The ability to read and understand academic papers in related fields, and write research reports and papers is necessary. Those who have published papers in academic journals or conferences, or have experience in participating in academic projects or research topics, will be preferred.
Other Requirements : Good team - work spirit and communication skills are required, as you need to closely cooperate with team members to complete project tasks. Strong learning ability and problem - solving skills are also important, so that you can quickly master new technologies and knowledge, and independently solve problems encountered in the project. Curiosity and exploratory spirit for new technologies and fields are highly valued, as we expect you to keep learning and trying to promote the innovation and development of the project.

If you meet the above requirements and are interested in this position, please send your resume to zhangxl@hku.hk. The application deadline is 31st August, 2025. We look forward to your joining and working together with us to make contributions to the field of sustainability research.