LI Wanxin (李万新)

Previous Experience

• Oct 2014 - Dec 2018, Associate Professor, Department of Public Policy, City University of Hong Kong.
• Jan 2008 - Sep 2014, Assistant Professor, Department of Public Policy, City University of Hong Kong.
• Jun 2006 - Dec 2007, Assistant Professor, School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University.
• Jul 2003 - May 2006, Consultant, Development Research Group, World Bank.
• Aug 2000 - Jun 2003, Research Assistant, Center for Public Administration and Policy, Virginia Tech.
• Jul 1995 - Jul 2000, Director of Student Affairs, Tsinghua University.

Research Grants

• Capacity building for sustainable water governance in Hong Kong by socio-technological innovation, Public Policy Research Grant, Policy Innovation and Coordination Office, Amount: HKD $637,748, 16 May 2022 - 15 Nov 2023, Wanxin Li (PI), Alicia K. J. An (Co-I), David von Eiff (Co-I).
• Evaluation of the China Coal Cap Project, CIFF, ClimateWorks, and William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Amount: USD $250,500, 1 Nov 2016 - 30 Jun 2021, Christine Wörlen (PI), Goerild Heggelund (Co-I), Wanxin Li (Co-I) .
• Environmental information transparency in China: Analyzing individual, organizational and regional disparities in supply and demand, Research Grants Council of Hong Kong (RGC), Amount: HKD $569,600, Dec 2014 - Mar 2017, Wanxin Li (PI).
• Alternative policymaking towards better campus sustainability–printing policy formulation & advocacy, City University Campus Sustainability Fund, Amount: HKD $275,825, Mar 2014 - Jun 2015, Wanxin Li (PI), Johnny Chan (Co-I).
• Identifying, measuring and cultivating values and behaviors for sustainability among CityU students, City University Campus Sustainability Fund, Amount: HKD $380,000, Feb 2012 - Jun 2014, Wanxin Li (PI), Johnny Chan (Co-I).
• Adopting alternative policy instruments for environmental governance during the 12th Five-Year Plan, Ministry of Environmental Protection of PRC (MEP), Amount: CNY $120,000, Sep 2010 - Dec 2011, Wanxin Li (PI).
• Investing in social capital – How are the families and schools preparing children for productive social and civic life in Shenzhen, China, City University Start Up Grant, Amount: HKD $99,839, Jun 2009 - May 2011, Wanxin Li (PI), Maggie Lau (Co-I).
• Mainstreaming the environment in mainland China: Commitment, drivers, agents, and implications, City University Strategic Research Grant, Amount: HKD $179,000, Jun 2009 - Jan 2011, Wanxin Li (PI), Graeme Lang (Co-I).
• Environment-related Innovation: Eco-innovation policies in China, OECD, Amount: EUR $15,000, Jun 2008 - May 2009, Xavier Leflaive (PI), Wanxin Li (Co-I).
• Analysis and forecasting of regional pollution distribution based on location factors and micro-analysis of firm behavior, National Science Foundation of China (NSFC), Amount: CNY $300,000, Jan 2008 - Dec 2010, Wanxin Li (PI).
• Environmental Compliance Assurance Systems: A Cross-Country Analysis, OECD, Estimated Amount: EUR $120,000, Mar 2007 - May 2008, Eugene Mazur (PI), Wanxin Li (Co-I).
• National Key Project for the Eleventh-Five Year Plan “Suzhou circular economy development: Technology development and application”, Ministry of Science and Technology of PRC (MOST), Amount: CNY $75,000,000, Dec 2006 - Oct 2010, Jining Chen (PI), Yiying Jin (Co-I), Wanxin Li (Co-I), Genfa Lu (Co-I), Zongguo Wen (Co-I), Jing Wu (Co-I).
• Institutional Strategies for Sustainable Development, World Bank Institute, Amount: CNY $100,000, Oct 2006 - Dec 2007, Wanxin Li (PI).
• Environmental Performance Country Review: China, OECD, Estimated Amount: EUR $100,000, Mar 2006 - Dec 2006, Krzysztof Michalak (PI), Wanxin Li (Co-I).
• The Institutional Impact of Environmental Performance Information Disclosure in Developing Countries–A Case Study of China’s “Green Watch”, Urban China Research Network, Amount: USD $3,000, Feb 2004 - May 2005, Wanxin Li (PI).

Publications Show All Publications Show Prominent Publications

External Services

Service in CityU

Call for Collaboration

• Institution building for climate finance and carbon neutrality

  Climate finance in various forms such as ESG investing and carbon emissions trading, has become mainstreamed globally. Unfortunately, the effectiveness of those market mechanisms has been largely compromised by a lack of integrity in the monitoring/measurement, verification and reporting of ESG performance and carbon emissions embedded in business operations. The third parties are contracted to provide carbon emissions data for regulators, green investors, and the public, who are the principals financing climate actions and bearing the consequences of climate change. According to transaction cost economics, the principal bears the following three contractual hazards, asset specificity, observability and enforceability, which are contingent upon the ex ante screening, contract design and execution, and ex post evaluation. The centralization and marketization reform in air quality monitoring in 2015 was found to be partially effective in addressing asset specificity and enforceability. However, resorting to the market is not a panacea because the emitters and local government are still motivated to form a shadow clientele relationship with those qualified data providers, given climate finance and government responsibility system offer economic gain and career prospects, respectively. The public interest litigation initiated by the China Federation for Environmental Protection in July 2022 against the consulting firm and power generator it served for falsifying carbon emissions data offers ad hoc evidence on the perennial challenge of holding the agents accountable for environmental information provision that sets necessary foundation for climate finance to work. A country-wide systematic review is in order to stocktake and diagnose contract terms and practices of the environmental monitoring services industry, given the regional variations in local contexts and the power and reach of the local government. Without the ground work, it is impossible to build necessary institutions and a professional work force for creating a level playing field and achieving carbon neutrality in the future.

• Environmental information transparency in China
  
  The supply of and demand for environmental information transparency in China has not been well understood. Individual officials, firm managers, investors, the general public, and NGOs all play an important role in this. They are motivated and constrained by their own cognitive and affective capacities as well as the professional, institutional, and social contexts in which they work and live. Thus, this project presents a good opportunity to break new grounds in establishing linkages between research across individual, organizational, and regional levels as well as across different disciplines such as psychology, decision science, law, and institutional economics. Of course, research methodology will need to be discussed and explored. You are welcome to get in touch if you find the topic interesting.