Professor Alex Lo

Research

I am a human geographer with a strong interest in ecological economics and climate policy. Business resilience, sustainability transition, and climate policy are the main themes of my current research. My recent work examines the processes of economic transformation and small business adaptation to climate change. Among the projects that I have led include an extensive field survey of over 500 small and micro businesses to understand their strategies for coping with flooding and cyclones. My earlier research covered non-market valuation methods, carbon trading and carbon finance, and urban green infrastructure.

Since 2008, I have published 90 peer-reviewed articles in internationally recognized journals, mostly (>65%) as team leader and first author. My publications are highly cited, compared to other researchers at the same career stage. As of March 2024, my citations have reached 5,386, with an h-index of 40.

My research and scholarship achievements are evidenced by awards, fellowships, and other prestigious opportunities. I was selected as a World Social Science Fellow by the International Social Science Council in 2014, and awarded the Pete Hay Environmental Politics Prize in 2015. In 2016, I delivered a plenary speech at the 3rd International Conference on Regional Development held in Indonesia. In 2017 and 2018, I was appointed a Senior Research Fellow by the Earth System Governance Project, and awarded an Endeavour Research Fellowship by Australia’s Department of Education and Training, respectively. I was also awarded the Universitas 21 Fellowship in 2017.

I have a track record of receiving funding for collaborative research that targeted community or policy impact and was successful in winning a number of competitive external research grants. Between 2017 and 2019, I led a project about carbon emissions trading fully funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China. In Australia, I was awarded two external grants by the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia for building international research collaborations with the Chinese Academy of the Social Sciences. The Regional Studies Association (UK) funded my further research built upon these two Australian projects. In Hong Kong, I led a team of six researchers to conduct comprehensive research into the 20-year programme and governance success of the government-run Environment and Conservation Fund. Currently, I am the PI of an international collaborative project funded by the Japan-based Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research.

I also participated in several other successful bids as a Co-Investigator, including a collaborative project about business adaptation to climate change funded by the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (Australia). In Hong Kong, I was a theme leader of a large multidisciplinary collaborative project about natural hazards education funded by the University Grants Committee. In 2021, I joined a team of Australian and Indonesian researchers to study a climate change adaptation innovation and the project is currently funded by the ANU Indonesian Project. In New Zealand, I received funding from two Crown Research Institutes to conduct research into climate change and community resilience, and from the Centres of Asia-Pacific Excellence for building networks between Chinese and New Zealand scholars and activists.

Professional Activities

I am frequently invited to comment and present publicly on climate policy issues, especially those about China. I have written 8 media articles for The Conversation since 2014 and was interviewed by CNN twice. Last year, I was interviewed by Voice of America and Radio France Internationale and asked to comment on China’s approach for carbon emission reduction. I have written full opinion pieces for New Zealand’s Newsroom and Australia’s East Asia Forum. I contributed a technical report for the Global Assessment Report (GAR) on Disaster Risk Reduction of the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction.

In 2021, I was invited to speak at the Fabian Society and the United Nations Association of New Zealand, respectively. I am invited to speak - three times a year and in both 2022 and 2023 - at the ‘China Capable Masterclass’, a public sector programme organized for government officials across all agencies that engage China.

My work has created an impact on practice. In 2016, I advised a local government on environmental management issues by leading an externally funded team to conduct a programme review for the Environment and Conservation Fund. I participated as a theme leader for a large capacity development project funded by Hong Kong Government’s Education Bureau. Recently I was the PI of a capacity development project funded by the Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research. In this project, we built partnerships with local governments in Indonesia and working with environmental activists in Myanmar, both of which led to impact-relevant initiatives aligned with UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Publications 2024 - 2017

Book 

Lo, A.Y. (2016) Carbon Trading in China: Environmental Discourse and Politics. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN 9781137528995. 

Articles in peer-reviewed journals: 

2024

Lo, A.Y., Liu, S., and Cheung, L. T.O. (2024) Political-economic transformation and the reproduction of climate change vulnerability of a high-income city, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 101, 104234

Wong, G.K.L, Ma, A.T.H., Cheung, L.T.O. Lo, A. Y. and Jim, C.Y., (2024) Visiting urban green space as a climate-change adaptation strategy: Exploring push factors in a push–pull framework. Climate Risk Management, 43, 100589.

2023

Lo, A. Y. (2023) Carbon offsetting and renewable energy development, Geographical Research, 61(2), p. 158-163.
2022

Lo, A. Y. and Cong, R. (2022) Emission reduction targets and outcomes of the Clean Development Mechanism (2005 – 2020), PLOS Climate. 1 (8), e0000046.

Lo, A. Y., Jim, C.Y., Cheung, P.K., Wong, G.K.L, and Cheung, L.T.O. (2022) Space poverty driving heat stress vulnerability and the adaptive strategy of visiting urban parks, Cities, 127, 103740.

Cheung, L.T.O., Ma, A.T.H., G.K.L Wong, A.Y. Lo, and C.Y. Jim (2022) Perceived benefits, negative impacts, and willingness‐to‐pay to improve urban green space, Geographical Research, 60(3), p. 414-430.

Pickering, J., Hickmann, T., Bäckstrand, K., Kalfagianni, A., Bloomfield, M., Mert, A., Ransan-Cooper, H., & Lo, A. Y. (2022). Democratising sustainability transformations: Assessing the transformative potential of democratic practices in environmental governance. Earth System Governance, 11, 100131.

Wang, Y. & Lo, A. Y. (2022) Residential space poverty and the spatial solutions for Chinese migrants in Hong Kong, Urban Policy and Research, 40(2), p. 104-121.

2021

Lo, A.Y., Liu, S., Chow, A.S.Y, Pei, Q., Cheung, L. T.O. and Fok, L. (2021) In government we trust? Micro-business adaptation to climate change in four post-colonial and transitional economies of China, Global Environmental Change, 69, 102305.

Ma, A.T.H., Wong,G.K.L, Cheung, L.T.O., Lo, A.Y. and Jim, C.Y. (2021) Climate change perception and adaptation of residents in Hong Kong, Journal of Cleaner Production, 288, 125123.

Lo, A.Y., Liu, S., Chow, A.S.Y, Pei, Q., Cheung, L. T.O. and Fok, L. (2021) Business vulnerability assessment: A firm-level analysis of micro and small businesses in China, Natural Hazards, 108, p. 867–890. 

Cong, R., Lo, A.Y. and Yu, W (2021) The distribution and regional determinants of nationally financed emissions-reduction projects in China, Energy Policy, 152, 112215.

Chen, K. and Lo, A.Y. (2021) Local Climate Change Governance in China: An Analysis of Social Network and Cross-sector Collaboration in Capacity Development, Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning, 23 (1), p.48-65.

2020

Lo, A.Y., Liu, S., Cheung, L. T.O. and Chan, F.K.S. (2020) Contested Transformations: Sustainable Economic Development and Capacity for Adapting to Climate Change, Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 110, (1), p.223-241

Lo, A.Y., Chen, K., Lee, A.K.-y. and Mai, L.Q. (2020) The neoliberal policy experimentation on carbon emission trading in China, Environment and Planning C: Politics and Space, 38(1), p. 153-173

Lo, A. Y. and Chen, K. (2020). Business participation in the development of a Chinese emission trading scheme, Energy Policy, 140, 111432.

2019

Lo, A.Y., Chow, A.S.Y, Liu, S. and Cheung, L. T.O. (2019) Community business resilience: Adaptation practice of micro- and small enterprises around the Pearl River Estuary, Climatic Change, 157 (3-4), p. 565-585

Lo, A.Y., Liu, S. and Cheung, L. T.O. (2019) Socio-economic conditions and small business vulnerability to climate change impacts in Hong Kong, Climate and Development, 11 (10), p. 930-942

Lo, A. Y. and Chen, K. (2019). Policy selection of knowledge: The changing network of experts in the development of an emission trading scheme. Geoforum, 106, p. 1-12.

Setiadi, R. and Lo, A.Y., (2019) Does policy research really matter for local climate change policies? Urban Policy and Research, 37(1), p. 111-124

2018

Lo, A.Y., Mai, L.Q., Lee, A.K.-y., Francesch-Huidobro, M., Pei, Q., Cong, R., Chen, K., (2018) Towards network governance? The case of emission trading in Guangdong, China. Land Use Policy, 75, p. 538-548. 

He, L., Aitchison, J., Hussey, K,, Lo, A.Y., Wei, Y. (2018) Accumulation of vulnerabilities in the aftermath of the 2015 Nepal earthquake: Household displacement, livelihood changes and recovery challenges. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 31, p. 68-75. 

Mah, D. N. Y., Wang, G, Lo, K., Leung, M. K. H., Hills, P. and Lo, A. Y. (2018) Barriers and policy enablers for solar PV in cities: Perspectives of potential adopters in Hong Kong. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 92, p. 921-936. 

Lo, A.Y. and Liu, S. (2018) Towards sustainable consumption: A socio-economic analysis of household waste recycling outcomes in Hong Kong. Journal of Environmental Management, 214, p.416-425.

Lo, K., Mah, D. N. Y., Wang, G, Leung, M. K. H., Lo, A. Y. and Hills, P. (2018) Barriers to adopting solar photovoltaic systems in Hong Kong. Energy and Environment, 29 (5), p. 649-663

Liu, Shuwen, Cheung, L. T.O., Lo, A.Y., Fang, W. (2018) Livelihood benefits from post-earthquake nature-based tourism development: A survey of local residents in rural China. Sustainability, 10(3), 699.

2017

Chris, A., Byrne, J., Matthews, T., Davison, A., Portanger, C., and Lo, A.Y. (2017) Cultivating climate justice: Green infrastructure and suburban disadvantage in Australia. Applied Geography, 89, p. 52-60.

Lo, A.Y. and Cong, R. (2017) After CDM: domestic carbon offsetting in China. Journal of Cleaner Production. 141, p. 1391-1399.

Cong, R. and Lo, A.Y. (2017) Emission Trading and Carbon Market Performance in Shenzhen, China. Applied Energy 193, p. 414-425.

Vargas, A., Lo, A.Y., Howes, M., and Rohde, N. (2017) Social influences on expressed willingness to pay: results of a deliberative monetary valuation study in Colombia. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 60(9), p. 1511-1528.

Cheung, L.T.O., Lo, A.Y. and Fok, L. (2017) Recreational specialization and ecologically responsible behaviour of Chinese birdwatchers. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 25(6), p. 817-831.

Lo, A.Y., and Francesch-Huidobro, M. (2017) Governing Climate Change in Hong Kong: Prospects for market mechanisms in the context of emission trading in China. Asia Pacific Viewpoint, 58(3), p. 379-387. 

Lo, A.Y. and Chan, F.K.S. (2017) Preparing for Flooding in England and Wales: The Role of Risk Perception and the Social Context in Driving Individual Action. Natural Hazards, 88(1), p. 367-387.

Lo, A.Y., Byrne, J.A., and Jim, C.Y. (2017) How climate change perception is reshaping attitudes towards the functional benefits of urban greenery: Lessons from Hong Kong. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 23, 74-83.

Vargas, A., Lo, A.Y., Howes, M., and Rohde, N. (2017) The Problem of Inclusion in Deliberative Environmental Valuation. Environmental Values, 26, p. 157-176. 

Publications continued 2016 - 2008

2016

Lo, A.Y. and Cheung, L.T.O. (2016) Geographies of social capital: Catastrophe experience, risk perception, and the transformation of social space in post-earthquake re-settlements in Sichuan, China. Annals of the Association of American Geographers. 106(4), p. 874-890. 

Lo, A.Y. (2016) Small is green? Urban form and sustainable consumption in selected OECD metropolitan areas. Land Use Policy, 54, p. 212-220.

Lo, A.Y. (2016) National Income and Environmental Concern: Observations from 35 countries. Public Understanding of Science, 25(7), p. 873-890.

Lo, A.Y., Cheung LTO, Lee, A., Xu, B. (2016) Confidence and trust in public institution natural hazards management: Case studies in urban and rural China, The Professional Geographer, 68 (3), 475-484.

Lo, A.Y. (2016) Public Support for Environmental Organizations in BRIC Countries. The Geographical Journal, 182(4), p.438-443.

Byrne, J., Ambrey, C., Portanger, C., Lo, A.Y., Matthews, T., Baker, D., and Davison, A. (2016) Could urban greening mitigate suburban thermal inequity? Role of residents’ dispositions and household practices. Environmental Research Letters. 11 (9), 095014. *Selected by editors for the Monthly Highlights Selections October 2016.

Lo, A.Y., Xu, B., Chan, F.K.S, and Su, R. (2016) Household economic resilience to catastrophic rainstorms and flooding in a Chinese megacity. Geographical Research, 54(4), p.406-419.

Vargas, A., Lo, A.Y., Rohde, N., and Howes, M. (2016) Background inequality and differential participation in deliberative valuation: Lessons from small-group discussions on forest conservation in Colombia. Ecological Economics, 129, p. 104-111

Rupprecht, C., Byrne, J.A., Lo, A.Y. (2016) Memories of vacant lots: How and why residents used informal urban greenspace as children and teenagers in Brisbane, Australia and Sapporo, Japan. Children’s Geographies, 14(3), p. 340-355.

Lo, A.Y. (2016) Public discourses of climate change in Hong Kong. Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning, 18(1), p. 27-46.

Lo, A.Y. (2016) Challenges to the Development of Carbon Markets in China. Climate Policy. 16(1), p. 109-124. *Selected by editors for Climate Strategies 2015 Edition.

2015

Lo, A.Y., Xu, B., Chan, F.K.S, and Su, R. (2015) Social Capital and Community Preparation for Urban Flooding in China. Applied Geography, 64, p.1-11.

Lo, A.Y. (2015) National Development and Carbon Trading: The Symbolism of Chinese Climate Capitalism Eurasian Geography and Economics, 56(2), p. 111-126.

Lo, A.Y. and Cheung, L.T.O. (2015) Seismic risk perception in the aftermath of Wenchuan earthquakes in southwestern China. Natural Hazards, 78(3), p. 1979-1996.

Rupprecht, C., Byrne, J.A., Ueda, H., and Lo, A.Y. (2015) 'It's real, not fake like a park': Residents' perception and use of informal urban green-space in Brisbane, Australia and Sapporo, Japan. Landscape and Urban Planning, 143, p.205-218.

Lo, A.Y. and Yu, X. (2015) Climate for Business: Opportunities for Financial Institutions and Sustainable Development in the Chinese Carbon Market. Sustainable Development, 23(6), p. 369-380.

Lo, A.Y. (2015) Political Ambiguity in the Chinese Climate Change Discourses. Environmental Values, 24(6), p. 755-776.

Lo, A.Y. and Jim, C.Y. (2015) Come rain or shine? Public expectation on local weather changes and differential effects on climate change attitude, Public Understanding of Science, 24, p. 928-942. 

Lo, A.Y. and Chow, A.T. (2015) The Relationship between Climate Change Concern and National Wealth. Climatic Change, 131(2), p. 335-348. *Featured in Nature Climate Change Vol. 5, May 2015.

Jim, C.Y., Lo, A.Y. and Byrne, J.A. (2015) Charting the Green and Climate-Adaptive City. Landscape and Urban Planning, 138, p. 51-53.

Matthews, T., Lo, A.Y., and Byrne, J.A. (2015) Reconceptualizing green infrastructure for climate change adaptation: Barriers to adoption and drivers for uptake by spatial planners. Landscape and Urban Planning, 138, p. 155-163.

Byrne, J.A., Lo, A.Y., and Yang, J. (2015) Residents understanding of the role of green infrastructure for climate change adaptation in Hangzhou, China. Landscape and Urban Planning, 138, p. 132-143.

Chai, A., Bradley, G., Lo, A.Y. and Reser, J. (2015) What time to adapt? How discretionary time contributes to the value-action gap. Ecological Economics, 116, p.95-107.

Lo, A.Y. and Jim, C.Y. (2015) Protest Response and Willingness to Pay for Culturally Significant Urban Trees: Implications for Contingent Valuation Method. Ecological Economics, 114, p.58-66.

Dryzek J.S. and Lo, A. Y. (2015) Reason and rhetoric in climate communication. Environmental Politics, 24(1), p.1-16

Lo, A.Y. and Howes, M. (2015) Power and Carbon Sovereignty of a Non-Traditional Capitalist State: The Carbon Trading Discourse of China. Global Environmental Politics 15(1) p. 60-82

Yu, X. and Lo, A. Y. (2015) Carbon Finance and the Carbon Market in China. Nature Climate Change, 5, p.15-16

Lo, A.Y. and C.Y. Jim (2015) Community Attachment and Resident Attitude toward Old Masonry Walls and Associated Trees in Urban Hong Kong. Cities 42, p.130-141

2014

Lo, A. Y. (2014) The Right to Doubt: Climate Change Scepticism and Asserted Rights to Private Property. Environmental Politics, 23(4), p. 549-569

Lo, A.Y. (2014) Negative income effect on perception of long-term environmental risk. Ecological Economics, 107, p. 51-58

Xie, X.L., Lo, A.Y., Zheng, Y., Pan, J., and Luo, J. (2014) Generic Security Concern Influencing Individual Response to Natural Hazards: Evidence from Shanghai, China. Area, 46(2), p. 194-202

Lo, A. Y. (2014) More or Less Pluralistic? A Typology of the Remedial and Alternative Perspectives on Monetary Valuation of the Environment. Environmental Values, 23(3), p. 253-274

2013

Lo, A. Y. (2013) The Role of Social Norms in Climate Adaptation: Mediating Risk Perception and Flood Insurance Purchase. Global Environmental Change 23(5), p. 1249-1257

Lo, A. Y. (2013) The likelihood of having flood insurance increases with social expectations. Area, 45(1), p. 70-76

Lo, A.Y. and Howes, M. (2013) ‘Powered by the State or Finance? The Organization of China’s Carbon Markets, Eurasian Geography and Economics, 54(4), p. 386-408

Lo, A.Y., Alexander K.S., Proctor, W. and Ryan A. (2013) Reciprocity as deliberative capacity: Lessons from a citizens deliberation on carbon pricing mechanisms in Australia. Environment and Planning C: Government & Policy, 31(3), p. 444-459

Lo, A. Y. and Spash, C. L. (2013) Deliberative Monetary Valuation: In search of a Democratic and Value Plural Approach to Environmental Policy. Journal of Economic Surveys, 27(4) p. 768-789

Lo, A. Y. (2013) ‘Carbon trading in a socialist market economy: Can China make a difference?’ Ecological Economics, 87, p. 72-74

Lo, A. Y. (2013) Agreeing to pay under value disagreement: Reconceptualising preference transformation in terms of pluralism with evidence from small-group deliberations on climate change. Ecological Economics, 87, p. 84-94

Lo, A. Y. (2013) Household preference and financial commitment to flood insurance in South East Queensland. Australian Economic Review, 46(2), p.160-175

Lo, A. Y. (2013) The Political Economy of Carbon Tax: International Practice and the Australian Model. Chinese Journal of Urban and Environmental Studies, 1(1), 15 pages.

2012

Lo, A. Y. (2012) The encroachment of value pragmatism on pluralism: The practice of the valuation of urban green space using stated-preference approach. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 36(1), p. 121-135.

Lo, A.Y. and Jim, C.Y. (2012) Citizen attitude and expectation towards greenspace provision in compact urban milieu. Land Use Policy, 29, p. 577-586.

Lo, A. Y., Chow, A. T. and Cheung, S. M. (2012) Significance of Perceived Social Expectation and Implications to Conservation Education: Turtle Conservation as a Case Study. Environmental Management, 50(5), p. 900-913

Spash, C. L. and Lo, A. Y. (2012) Australia's carbon tax: A sheep in wolf's clothing? Economic and Labour Relations Review, 23(1), p. 67-86

Lo, A. Y. and Spash, C. L. (2012) How Green is your scheme? Greenhouse gas control the Australian way. Energy Policy, 50, p. 150-153

Lo, A. Y. (2012) ‘Carbon Emission Trading in China’, Nature Climate Change, 2(11), p. 765-766

2011 or before, book chapters and other publications

2011 or before

Lo, A. Y. (2011) Analysis and democracy: The antecedents of the deliberative approach of ecosystems valuation. Environment and Planning C: Government & Policy. 29 (6), p. 958 – 974.

Lo, A. Y. and Jim, C. Y. (2010) Willingness of residents to pay and motives for conservation of urban green spaces in the compact city of Hong Kong. Urban Forestry and Urban Greening, 9, p. 113-120.

Lo, A. Y. (2010) Active conflict or passive coherence: The political economy of climate change in China. Environmental Politics.19 (6), p. 1012-1017

Lo, A. Y. and Jim, C. Y. (2010) Differential community effects on perception and use of urban greenspaces. Cities. 27 (6), p. 430-442

Lo, A. Y. (2010) China’s Response to Climate Change’, Environmental Science and Technology. 44 (15), p. 5689-5690

Lo, A. Y. (2008) Achieving environmental goals in a competitive electricity market? Post-colonial Hong Kong, public choice and the role of government. Energy and Environment, 19(7), p. 958-978

Lo, A. Y. (2008) Merging electricity and environment politics of Hong Kong: Identifying the barriers from the ways that sustainability is defined. Energy Policy, 36(4), p. 1521-1537

Book chapter

Setiadi, R., Baumeister, J. and Lo, A.Y. (2023) ‘Floating Jakarta: A Human Dimension’, in Baumeister, J., Giurgiu, I. C., Linaraki, D., and Ottmann, D. A. SeaCities (Springer, Singapore), p.139-162.

Chen, K. and Lo, A.Y. (2020) ‘Climate change governance in China: the role of international organisations in the Guangdong emission trading scheme’, in: Chou, K.T., Hasegawa, K., Ku, D. and Kao, S.F. Climate Change Governance in Asia (Routledge, New York), p. 87-107.

Lo, A.Y. (2015) “Sustainable consumption across 24 metropolitan areas”, in: Condie, J. & Cooper , AM (eds), Dialogues of Sustainable Urbanisation: Social Science Research and Transitions to Urban Contexts (University of Western Sydney, Penrith, N.S.W.), p. 260-262.

Lo, A.Y. (2014) ‘The influence of risk perception and attitude on the decisions to adopt residential flood insurance: Evidence from Queensland, Australia’, In: Motsholapheko, M.R. & Kgathi, D.L. (eds), Flooding: Risk Factors, Environmental Impacts and Management Strategies (Nova Science: New York), p. 73-86.

Lo. A. Y. (2014) ‘Climate change and perception of flood risk’, In: Burton, P. (ed), Responding to climate change: lessons from an Australian hotspot (CSIRO Publishing: Collingwood, VIC)

Lo, A. Y. H. (2009) ‘Institutionally embedded: the dilemma in the formulation of sustainable electricity policy in Hong Kong’, In: Jacobs, N. B. (ed), Energy Policy: Economic Effects, Security Aspects and Environmental Issues, (Nova Science: New York).

Other publications

Lo, A. Y. and Hoy, Shar Thae (2023) Conflicts intensify climate change risks in Myanmar, East Asia Forum, 9 November 2023. 

Lo, A. Y. Liu, S., Cheung, L. T.O. and Chan, F.K.S. (2022). Synergies and Trade-Offs Between Sustainable Economic Development and Climate Change Adaptation. Global Assessment Report (GAR) on Disaster Risk Reduction 2022, Contributing Paper. Geneva: United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. www.undrr.org/GAR2022

Hales, R., Banhalmi-Zakar, Z., Kelly, K., Sarker, T., Lo, A. Y., Chai, A., Whittlesea, E., Fleming, C., & Bun, M. (2016). Building the business case for climate change adaptation: Lessons from Coastal Australia - Final Report. National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility. Gold Coast: Griffith University.

‘Could China’s ETS Experiments Lead towards an International Carbon Market?’, Energy Studies Institute Bulletin, National University of Singapore, May 2015.