Bio

Chenfei Qu’s research focuses on climate change economics, including emissions trading systems, carbon pricing, air pollution, and integrated assessment of climate and energy policies, with an emphasis on general equilibrium modeling for policy analysis in developing countries. She holds a Ph.D. in Management Science and Technology and a Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Management, both from Tsinghua University. Chenfei Qu was a visiting scholar at the ZEW–Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research in 2024. Her work has been published in journals such as Climate Change Economics, Advances in Climate Change Research, and Environmental Science & Technology.

Honors & Awards

  • Best Conference Paper Golden Prize, Conference of the Chinese Association of Environment and Resource Economists (CAERE) (2024)

Stanford Advisors

Contact

  • Academic
    qcf20@stanford.edu
    University - Scholar Department: Environmental Social Sciences Position: Postdoctoral Scholar

Additional Info

  • Mail Code: 2212

Links

All Publications

  • Plausible global emissions scenario for 2 °C aligned with China's net-zero pathway. Nature communications Zhong, J., Zhang, X., Zhang, D., Wang, D., Guo, L., Peng, H., Huang, X., Wang, Z., Lei, Y., Lu, Y., Qu, C., Zhang, X., Miao, C. 2025; 16 (1): 8102

    Abstract

    Due to sizeable anthropogenic CO2 emissions, China's transition towards carbon neutrality will reshape global CO2 emissions, offering insights into warming levels, extreme events, overshoot, tipping points, and regional climate impacts. Here we develop an interdisciplinary and multi-model framework integrating up-to-date emissions inventory and China's net-zero pathway to construct a reality-aligned, sector-specific combined scenario (SSP2-com) for greenhouse gases and air pollutants across global-to-regional, national-to-provincial, and multi-resolution-grid scales. SSP2-com projects CO₂ peaking in concentration globally by 2062, and achieving net-zero emissions by 2072, driven by Asia-Pacific-particularly China-via energy and industrial reductions. Climate emulators show global temperatures initially track SSP2-4.5 but later diverge onto a distinct trajectory, reaching 2.01 °C by 2100 ( ~ 3.2 Watt m⁻²) and dropping below 2 °C within the first post-2100 decade, relevant to the Paris Agreement target. We further propose an evolving SSP2-com+ framework with updated trajectories to enhance timely alignment and cooperation. Our findings indicate balanced, nationally-determined decarbonization can stabilize warming near 2 °C without early unprecedented decarbonization rates or large-scale carbon removal, aligning better with current status and commitments for more plausible Earth system model inputs.

    View details for DOI 10.1038/s41467-025-62983-5

    View details for PubMedID 40883267

    View details for PubMedCentralID 9385658

  • Climate Actions, Persistent Pollutants, and Human Health: A Call for Integrated Assessments ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY Niu, S., Qiu, M., Li, L., Qu, C., Zhang, D. 2024

    View details for DOI 10.1021/acs.est.4c07707

    View details for Web of Science ID 001300729700001

    View details for PubMedID 39197124

  • Rate-Based Emissions Trading with Overlapping Policies: Insights from Theory and an Application to China Fischer, C., Qu, C., Goulder, L. NBER working paper. 2024 (w33197):
  • Exploring US-China climate cooperation through linked carbon markets ADVANCES IN CLIMATE CHANGE RESEARCH LI, A. F., Qu, C., Zhang, X. 2023; 14 (1): 145-155

    View details for DOI 10.1016/j.accre.2023.01.005

    View details for Web of Science ID 000951562600001

  • China’s nationwide Co2 emissions trading system: A general equilibrium assessment Goulder, L., Long, X., Qu, C., Zhang, D. NBER working paper. 2023 (w31809):
  • Understanding China's largest sustainability experiment: Atmospheric and climate governance in the Yangtze river economic belt as a lens JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION Peng, M., Xu, H., Qu, C., Xu, J., Chen, L., Duan, L., Hao, J. 2021; 290

    View details for DOI 10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.125760

    View details for Web of Science ID 000620275500013

  • ESTIMATING HEALTH CO-BENEFITS OF CLIMATE POLICIES IN CHINA: AN APPLICATION OF THE REGIONAL EMISSIONS-AIR QUALITY-CLIMATE-HEALTH (REACH) FRAMEWORK CLIMATE CHANGE ECONOMICS Qu, C., Yang, X., Zhang, D., Zhang, X. 2020; 11 (3)

    View details for DOI 10.1142/S2010007820410043

    View details for Web of Science ID 000586835300005

  • Are China's Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) so bad? SCIENCE BULLETIN Jiang, K., He, C., Qu, C., Dai, C., Zhang, Y., Chen, S., Xiang, P. 2019; 64 (6): 364-366

    View details for DOI 10.1016/j.scib.2019.01.005

    View details for Web of Science ID 000472930200006

    View details for PubMedID 36659723