Our Publications

This list is consistently being updated. Group members bolded, students underlined.

The State of Environmental-Economic Statistics: Puzzle Pieces Waiting to Be Assembled

Fenichel, E. P., Hsu, A., Landa, S., Ru, Y., & Camacho, M. (2026). The State of Environmental-Economic Statistics: Puzzle Pieces Waiting to Be Assembled. Annual Review of Resource Economics, 18.

From Caveman to Expert Analyst: Energy Consumption of Variable LLM Tasks

Manya, D., Thorpe, E. I., Zhang, J., Shirk, M., He, J., Hsu, A., & Vandenbergh, M. P. (2026). From Caveman to Expert Analyst: Energy Consumption of Variable LLM Tasks. arXiv preprint arXiv:2608.12350.

UrbanSENSE: A Stratified Sampling Approach for Balanced Hourly Machine Learning Models of Moist Heat Stress

Berk, S., Chakraborty, T. C., Wang, X. & Hsu, A. (2026). UrbanSENSE: A Stratified Sampling Approach for Balanced Hourly Machine Learning Models of Moist Heat Stress (2026-08-04)
[PRE-print] doi: https://doi.org/10.22541/essoar.15007011/v1.

Biases due to widespread use of low-cost sensors for urban heat stress assessments

Berk, S., Chakraborty, T. C., & Hsu, A. (2026). Biases due to widespread use of low-cost sensors for urban heat stress assessments. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-25-0222.1

Aligning emissions with decision making: Estimating urban contributions to global carbon dioxide emissions.

Yu, Y., Manya, D., & Hsu, A. (2026). Aligning emissions with decision making: Estimating urban contributions to global carbon dioxide emissions. Environmental Research Letters, 21(13), Article 134047. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ae8561.

Policy Approaches for Environmentally Responsible Data Center Growth in North Carolina (2nd ed.)

Burley Farr, K., Galsim, J., O’Hagerty, C., Zhang, Y., and A. Hsu. (July 2026). Policy Approaches for Environmentally Responsible Data Center Growth in North Carolina (2nd ed.). Chapel Hill, NC: Data-Driven EnviroLab. https://datadrivenlab.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/DDL-Policy-Approaches-for-Environmentally-Responsible-Data-Center-Growth-in-North-Carolina-3-1.pdf.

Climate AI for Cities: Solutions for Mitigation, Adaptation, and Energy Access

Lim, D., Manya, D., Hsu, A., Bertossi, S., & Bao, A. (2026). Climate AI for Cities: Solutions for Mitigation, Adaptation, and Energy Access. Chapel Hill, NC: Data-Driven EnviroLab. https://datadrivenlab.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/DDL_Cities_ClimateAI_June2026.pdf.

Assessing Intraurban Variation in Heat-Attributable Health Burden to Inform Local Interventions

Burley Farr, K., McInroe, E. M., Tsai, W. L., Hsu, A., & Rappold, A. G. (2026). Assessing intraurban variation in heat-attributable health burden to inform local interventions. GeoHealth, 10, e2025GH001791. https://doi.org/10.1029/2025GH00179.

The subnational wedge in Paris-aligned pathways

Hsu, A., Zhang, Y., Manya, D. (2026). The subnational wedge in Paris-aligned pathways. PLOS Clim 5(5): e0000921. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000921.

Digitalization for City-Level Models, Data, and Knowledge: Enabling Trust, Transparency, and Evidence-Based Climate Action

Salehi, P., Hsu, A., et al. (2026). Digitalization for City-Level Models, Data, and Knowledge: Enabling Trust, Transparency, and Evidence-Based Climate Action. In: Oke, C., et al. A Global Research and Action Agenda on Cities and Climate Change Science. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-95-6517-7_8.

ClimActor 2.0: A spatialized database of subnational climate pledges and emissions data

Manya, D., Burley, K. Brown, E., Martin, A., Hsu, A. (2026). ClimActor 2.0: A spatialized database of subnational climate pledges and emissions data. Scientific Data. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-026-07288-y.

Does Subnational Climate Action Trigger a Tipping Point? Catalytic Cascading and Vertical Policy Diffusion in the Net-Zero Transition

Hsu, A., Manya, D., and Goyal, N. (2026). Does Subnational Climate Action Trigger a Tipping Point? Catalytic Cascading and Vertical Policy Diffusion in the Net-Zero Transition. Environmental Policy and Governance 1–14.

A Framework to Integrate Climate Risk and Resilience: A Case Study on Heat

Bukovnik, I., Manya, D.,and Hsu., A. (2026). A Framework to Integrate Climate Risk and Resilience: A Case Study on Heat. Chapel Hill, NC: Data-Driven EnviroLab.

How Net Zero Contributes to North Carolina’s Economic Prosperity

Brown, E., Burley Farr, K., Chen, J., Lim, D., Zhang, Y., and Hsu., A. (2026). How Net Zero Contributes to North Carolina’s Economic Prosperity. Chapel Hill, NC: Data-Driven EnviroLab.

The Energy Footprint of LLM-Based Environmental Analysis: LLMs and Domain Products

Bao, A., He, J., Hsu, A., Manya, D., Zhang, J. (2026). The Energy Footprint of LLM-Based Environmental Analysis: LLMs and Domain Products. Pre-print: https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.00053.

Cities and urban areas are central to global decarbonization pathways

Manya, D., Roelfsema, M., Zhang, Y., Yu, Y., Luderer, G., Weigmann, P., Hsu, A. (2026). Cities and urban areas are central to global decarbonization pathways. Pre-print: https://zenodo.org/records/19372109.

Sector-detailed urban Greenhouse Gas Emission Futures derived from the ScenarioMIP-CMIP7 ensemble

Luderer, G., Hsu, A., Manya, D. et al. (2026). Sector-detailed urban Greenhouse Gas Emission Futures derived from the ScenarioMIP-CMIP7 ensemble. Pre-print: https://zenodo.org/records/19348485.

From countries to cities: assessing climate ambition with a multi-level fair-share allocation framework

Robiou du Pont, Y., Manya, D., Song, K., Haarstad, H., and Hsu, A. (2026). From countries to cities: assessing climate ambition with a multi-level fair-share allocation framework. Pre-print: https://zenodo.org/records/19354696.

Why do estimates of urban contributions to global greenhouse gas emissions differ?

Yu, Y., Manya, D., Hsu, A. (2026). Why do estimates of urban contributions to global greenhouse gas emissions differ? Data-Driven EnviroLab.

Machine learning estimates for G20 subnational urban GHG emissions from 2000–2020

Yu, Y., Wang, X., Manya, D., Hsu, A. (2026). Machine learning estimates for G20 subnational urban GHG emissions from 2000–2020. Scientific Data. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-026-06691-9

Benchmarking the Benchmarks: A Review of Corporate Decarbonization Metrics

[White Paper] Robiou du Pont, Y., Brown, E., Hsu, A. (2026). Benchmarking the Benchmarks: A Review of Corporate Decarbonization Metrics. Data-Driven EnviroLab.

Red flags in green promises: a framework for identifying greenwashing risk in corporate climate pledges

Brown, E., Hsu, A., Manya, D., et al. (2026). Red Flags in Green Promises: A Framework for Identifying Greenwashing Risk in Corporate Climate Pledges. NPJ Climate Action. https://www.nature.com/articles/s44168-026-00346-6.

Taking Stock of City and Regional Climate Pledges: Aligning Ambition with Action

Zhang, Y., Manya, D., and A. Hsu. (2025). Taking Stock of City and Regional Climate Pledges: Aligning Ambition with Action. Data-Driven EnviroLab. https://datadrivenlab.org/2025_ddl_subnational_climate_ progress.

Assessing Intraurban Variation in Heat-Related Health Burden to Inform Local Interventions

Burley Farr, K., Melissa McInrose, E., Tsai, W., Hsu, A., Grohovac Rappold, A. (2026). Assessing Intraurban Variation in Heat-Related Health Burden to Inform Local Interventions. Authorea. https://doi.org/10.22541/au.176789392.24993939/v1.

Projected widening of sociodemographic heat disparities in the United States by end of century

Song, K., A. Hsu., Chakraborty, T., Peng, W., Yu, Y., Kittner, N. (2025). Projected widening of sociodemographic heat disparities in the United States by end of century. OneEarth. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2025.101528

Environmental-Economic Data and Statistics, Digital Infrastructure, and a Sustainable Future

Fenichel, E. Hsu, A. Landa, S. Ru, Y. Camacho Fernandez, M. 2025. Environmental-Economic Data and Statistics, Digital Infrastructure, and a Sustainable Future. Background paper for the Asia–Pacific Climate Report 2025: Unlocking Nature for Development. ADB.

From pledges to places: action agendas need spatial data to integrate climate and biodiversity action

Hagenström, P., Pettorelli, N., Boran, I., Hsu, A., et al. From pledges to places: action agendas need spatial data to integrate climate and biodiversity action. npj Clim. Action 4, 100 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44168-025-00307-5

Net Zero Stocktake 2025

Net Zero Tracker (2025) Net Zero Stocktake 2025: NewClimate Institute, Oxford Net Zero, Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, and Data-Driven EnviroLab

Recalibrating Southeast Asia’s Climate and Energy Strategies Amid US Policy Shifts

Hsu A., Landa, S. Recalibrating Southeast Asia’s Climate and Energy Strategies Amid US Policy Shifts. ISSN 2335-6677

ClimActor 2.0: A spatialized database of subnational climate pledges and emissions data

[Pre-Print] Manya, D., Burley Farr, K., Brown, E., Martin, A., Hsu, A., Climactor 2.0: A spatialized database of subnational climate pledges and emissions data. https://doi.org/10.31223/X5BJ2S

One Belt, Many Roads: Investigating China’s foreign investment and land-use impacts in Southeast Asia

Wang, X., Johnson, E., Manya, D., Cardwell, J., & Hsu, A. (2025). One Belt, Many Roads: Investigating China’s foreign investment and land-use impacts in Southeast Asia. PLOS Sustainability and Transformation, 4(8), e0000194.

Machine learning estimates for G20 subnational GHG emissions from 2000-2020 using self-reported emissions data

[Pre-Print] Yu, Y. Wang, X. Hsu, A. Manya, D. Machine learning estimates for G20 subnational GHG emissions from 2000-2020 using self-reported emissions data, 23 July, 2025, [https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6802349/v1]

Confronting challenges and opportunities in climate policy and governance

Hsueh, L. Egli, F. Gilmore, E. Prakash, A. Barua, A. Hsu, A. (2025) Confronting challenges and opportunities in climate policy and governance. PLOS Clim 4(6): e0000668. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000668

(When) Does Subnational Climate Action Tip The Scales? Catalytic Cascading And Vertical Policy Diffusion Of Net-Zero Climate Commitment

[Pre-Print] Hsu, A., Manya, D., Goyal, N. (When) Does Subnational Climate Action Tip The Scales? Catalytic Cascading And Vertical Policy Diffusion Of Net-Zero Climate Commitment. Pre-print: https://ssrn.com/abstract=5289033

Bridging the scale between the local particular and the global universal in climate change assessments of cities

Creutzig, F., McPhearson, T., Bardhan, R. Hsu, A. et al. Bridging the scale between the local particular and the global universal in climate change assessments of cities. Nat Cities (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44284-025-00226-w

Equity-Based Emissions Allocations in Multi-Level Governance

[Pre-Print] Robiou du Pont, Y., D. Manya, K. Song, and A. Hsu. Equity-Based Emissions Allocations in Multi-Level Governance. Under Review. Pre-print: https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-5989247/v1

From Pixels to Progress: Advancing Urban Environmental Justice in the AI Era

Hsu, Angel, ‘From Pixels to Progress: Advancing Urban Environmental Justice in the AI Era’, in Philipp Hacker (ed.), Oxford Intersections: AI in Society (Oxford, online edn, Oxford Academic, 20 Mar. 2025), https://doi.org/10.1093/9780198945215.003.0023, accessed 20 Mar. 2025.

Cities Climate Action Report Card

Data-Driven EnviroLab. (2024). Cities Climate Action Report Card. Prepared by: Burley Farr, K., Hsu, A., Carney, W., & Chung, C. Available: https://datadrivenlab.org/cities_climate_action_report_card_nov2024/.

How Artificial Intelligence Can Accelerate Global Climate Action

Hsu, Angel. (2024). How Artificial Intelligence Can Accelerate Global Climate Action. Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy. Available: https://www.agda.ac.ae/docs/default-source/2023/climate-action-and-ai_final.pdf?sfvrsn=8bc2643b_1.

Mapping Spatiotemporal Disparities in Residential Electricity Inequality Using Machine Learning

Ying Yu, Xijing Li, Angel Hsu, and Noah Kittner. (2024). Mapping Spatiotemporal Disparities in Residential Electricity Inequality Using Machine Learning. Environmental Science & Technology. DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.4c06093

2024 Urban Environment and Social Inclusion Index

Data-Driven EnviroLab, The 2024 Urban Environment and Social Inclusion Index. Chapel Hill, NC, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Available: https://uesi.datadrivenlab.org.

Assessing Subnational Climate Action in G-20 Cities and Regions: Progress and Ambition

Song, Kaihui, Burley Farr, Katherine and Hsu, Angel, Assessing subnational climate action in G20 cities and regions: Progress and ambition, One Earth (2024), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2024.10.001.

Net Zero Stocktake 2024

Net Zero Tracker (2024) Net Zero Stocktake 2024: NewClimate Institute, Oxford Net Zero, Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit and Data-Driven EnviroLab.

Fourier Regression Analysis: An Introduction and Application to Model City-level Climate Emissions

Han, Daniel and Hsu, Angel, Fourier Regression Analysis: An Introduction and Application to Model City-level Climate Emissions (August 01, 2024). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4918218 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4918218

Sensitivity and vulnerability to summer heat extremes in major cities of the United States

Li, X., G. Wang, B. Zaitchik, A. Hsu, and TC Chakraborty. (2024). Sensitivity and vulnerability to summer heat extremes in major cities of the United States. Environ. Res. Lett. 19 094039

Evaluating ChatNetZero, an LLM-Chatbot to Demystify Climate Pledges

[Pre-print – accepted to 2024 ACL ClimateNLP Workshop in August 2024] Hsu, A., Laney, M., Manya, D., Zhang, J., Farczadi, L. Evaluating ChatNetZero, an LLM-Chatbot to Demystify Climate Pledges. Review copy of pre-print: https://openreview.net/pdf?id=MmTaM7lmvu

Pre-print: One Belt, Many Roads: Investigating China’s Foreign Investment and Land-use Impacts in Southeast Asia

Wang, X., Johnson, E., Manya, D., Cardwell, J., Hsu, A. One Belt, Many Roads: Investigating China’s Foreign Investment and Land-use Impacts in Southeast Asia. Pre-print: https://eartharxiv.org/repository/view/7307/

Corporate emissions targets and the neglect of future innovators

Yann Robiou du Pont et al., Corporate emissions targets and the neglect of future innovators. Science 384, 388-390(2024). DOI:10.1126/science.adl5081

Ambient air pollution and consumer spending: Evidence from Spain

Brandt J, Goyal N, Moroney M, Janaskie S, Hsu A (2024) Ambient air pollution and consumer spending: Evidence from Spain. PLoS ONE 19(1): e0292245. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0292245

State of Open Data - Climate Action

Friedrich, J. and Hsu, A. (2024). Climate Action, in Walker, S., Davies, T., Rubinstein, M, and F. Perini. (2024). State of Open Data, 2nd edition. Data for Development. Available at: https://www.d4d.net/state-of-open-data/chapters/sectors/environment/v2/

Envisioning the Future of Non-State Climate Action Data and Accountability

Hsu, A. and M. Schletz. (2023). Envisioning the Future of Non-State Climate Action Data and Accountability. Data-Driven EnviroLab. Available at: https://datadrivenlab.org/wpcontent/uploads/2023/11/Future_of_NSA_Data_Accountability_Nov2023.pdf.

Doubling Down on Climate Action: Cities and Regions Must Put in 2x the Work to Stay on Track with Climate Goals

Song, K., Burley Farr, K., Hsu, A. Doubling Down on Climate Action: Cities and Regions Must Put in 2x the Work to Stay on Track with Climate Goals. (2023). https://datadrivenlab.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/DDL_Subnational_Climate_Progress_Nov2023.pdf

Cities and regions tackle climate change mitigation but often focus on less effective solutions

Burley Farr, K., Song, K., Yeo, Z.Y. et al. Cities and regions tackle climate change mitigation but often focus on less effective solutions. Commun Earth Environ 4, 439 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-023-01108-6

Strengthening transparency of non-state actors: How national experiences and new digital technologies can strengthen the Transparency efforts of non-state actors

United Nations Environment Programme (2023). Strengthening transparency of non-state actors: How national experiences and new digital technologies can strengthen the Transparency efforts of non-state actors. https://wedocs.unep.org/20.500.11822/43573.

Angel Hsu: Author Chapter 4 & 5 and co-editor

Marco Schletz: Author Chapter 6 and co-editor.

Global Climate Action 2023: Ambition of Cities, Regions, and Companies

Utrecht University and Data-Driven EnviroLab. (2023, September 20). Global Climate Action 2023: Ambition of Cities, Regions, and Companies. Prepared by: Song, K., Hsu, A., Burley, K., Roelfsema, M., Jones, C., Clapper, A., & Du, L. https://datadrivenlab.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/20230926_Report_GCC_2023.pdf

Watch the launch webinar here: https://youtu.be/vvVSGwPSkqk

From drumbeating to marching: Assessing non-state and subnational climate action using data

Hsu, Angel. S. Chan, M. Roelfsema, M. Schletz, T. Kuramochi, S. Smit, A. Deneault. (2023). From Drumbeating to Marching: Taking Stock of Non-State and Subnational Climate Actions. Invited commentary, special Global Stocktake Issue. One Earth. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2023.08.021

Making the Invisible Visible for a Climate Future

Hsu, A. “Making the invisible visible for a climate future.” Southern Cultures, 7 Sept. 2023. https://doi.org/10.1353/scu.2023.a904678

Citizen and Machine Learning-aided high-resolution mapping of urban heat exposure and stress

Wang, X., Hsu, A., and Chakraborty, T. (2023). Citizen and machine learning-aided high-resolution mapping of urban heat exposure and stress. Environ. Res.: Infrastruct. Sustain. in press https://doi.org/10.1088/2634- 4505/acef57

Digital technologies – the missing link between climate action transparency and accountability?

Hsu A., and M. Schletz. (2023). Digital technologies – the missing link between climate action transparency and accountability? Climate Policy. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2023.2237937.

Quantifying subnational climate change mitigation solutions - a meta-analysis of impacts

Burley Farr, K., Song, K., Yeo, Z., Johnson, E., and Hsu A. Quantifying subnational climate change mitigation solutions – a meta-analysis of impacts. Preprint: doi: 10.3389/fbloc.2023.1165133

Blockchain and regenerative finance: charting a path toward regeneration

Schletz, M, Constant A, Hsu A, Schillebeeckx S, Beck R and Wainstein M (2023), Blockchain and regenerative finance: charting a path toward regeneration. Front. Blockchain 6:1165133. doi: 10.3389/fbloc.2023.1165133

Projecting Future Heat Stress Disparities to 2100 in the Contiguous United States

Song, K., Hsu, A., Peng, W., Yu, Y., and Kittner, N. Projecting Future Heat Stress Disparities to 2100 in the Contiguous United States. Pre-print: https://eartharxiv.org/repository/view/5657/

Chinese cities as digital environmental governance innovators: Evidence from subnational low-Carbon plans

Hsu, A., Li, L., Schletz, M., and Yu, Z. (2023). Chinese cities as digital environmental governance innovators: Evidence from subnational low-Carbon plans. Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science. Vol. 0(0) 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1177/23998083231186622

Net Zero Stocktake 2023

Net Zero Tracker (2023) Net Zero Stocktake 2023: NewClimate Institute, Oxford Net Zero, Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit and Data-Driven EnviroLab.

Residential segregation and outdoor urban moist heat stress disparities in the United States

Chakraborty, T. Newman, A. J., Qian, Y., Hsu, A., & Sheriff, G. (2023). Residential segregation and outdoor urban moist heat stress disparities in the United States. One Earth, 6(6), 738-750. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2023.05.016

Predicting European cities’ climate mitigation performance using machine learning

Hsu, A., Wang, X., Tan, J. et al. Predicting European cities’ climate mitigation performance using machine learning. Nat Commun 13, 7487 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-35108-5

Global Climate Action 2022: Progress and Ambition of Cities, Regions, and Companies

Data-Driven EnviroLab, Utrecht University, and CDP. (2022). Global Climate Action 2022: Progress and Ambition of Cities, Regions and Companies. Research report prepared by the team of: Zhi Yi Yeo, Katherine Burley, Ian French, and Angel Hsu (Data-Driven EnviroLab), Mark Roelfsema, Chelsea Jones (Utrecht University) and Andrew Clapper and Lucy Du (CDP).

Climate Data Needs Shared and Open Governance

M Schletz, A Hsu, Y Robiou du Pont, L Durkin, ZY Yeo, M Wainstein. (2022). Climate data need shared and open governance. Nature Correspondence. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-03123-7

Greenhouse Gas Emissions Information for Decision Making: A Framework Going Forward.

National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2022). Greenhouse Gas Emissions Information for Decision Making: A Framework Going Forward. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/26641.

How are cities pledging net zero? A computational approach to analyzing subnational climate strategies

Sachdeva, S., A. Hsu, I. French, and E. Lim. (2022). How are cities pledging net zero? A computational approach to analyzing subnational climate strategies. Nature Urban Sustainability. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42949-022-00065-x

Net Zero Stocktake 2022: Assessing the status and trends of net zero target setting

NewClimate Institute, Data-Driven EnviroLab, Energy & Climate Intelligence Unit, and Oxford Net Zero. This analysis was led by Frederic Hans and Takeshi Kuramochi, who wrote the report with Richard Black, Thomas Hale and John Lang. Substantive contributions were also made by Silke Mooldijk, Joël Beuerle, Niklas Höhne, Peter Chalkley, Steve Smith, Camilla Hyslop, Angel Hsu and Zhi Yi Yeo.

Chapel Hill Heat Watch 2021 - Campaign Report

Data-Driven EnviroLab (2022). Chapel Hill Heat Watch 2021 – Campaign Report (Beta Release). Report compiled and designed by: Xuewei Wang and Angel Hsu, with the help of 40 citizen scientists and in partnership with the NC Museum of Life and Science and the Town of Chapel Hill.

Nested Climate Accounting for Our Atmospheric Commons—Digital Technologies for Trusted Interoperability Across Fragmented Systems

Schletz M, Hsu A, Mapes B and Wainstein M (2022) Nested Climate Accounting for Our Atmospheric Commons—Digital Technologies for Trusted Interoperability Across Fragmented Systems. Front. Blockchain 4:789953. doi: 10.3389/fbloc.2021.789953

From Low-to Net-Zero Carbon Cities: The Next Global Agenda

Seto, K. C., Churkina, G., Hsu, A., Keller, M., Newman, P. W., Qin, B., & Ramaswami, A. (2021). From Low-to Net-Zero Carbon Cities: The Next Global Agenda. Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 46, 377-415.

A seismograph for measuring the transformation to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions – Discussion Paper

Höhne, N., Roy, J., Gaffney, O., Falk, J., Ribeiro, S. K., Levin, K., Smit, S., Nascimento, L., Hsu, A., & Mapes, B. (2021). A seismograph for measuring the transformation to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions (NewClimate Discussion Paper).

Grounding global environmental assessments through bottom‑up futures based on local practices and perspectives

Pereira, L., Asrar, G. R., Bhargava, R., Fisher, L. H., Hsu, A., Jabbour, J., … & Weinfurter, A. (2021). Grounding global environmental assessments through bottom-up futures based on local practices and perspectives. Sustainability Science, 1-16.

Global climate action from cities, regions and businesses – 2021

NewClimate Institute, Data-Driven EnviroLab, Utrecht University, German Development Institute/Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE), CDP, Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford. Global climate action from cities, regions and businesses. 2021 edition. Research report prepared by the team of: Takeshi Kuramochi, Sybrig Smit, Frederic Hans, Julia Horn, Katharina Lütkehermöller, Leonardo Nascimento, Julie Emmrich, Niklas Höhne, Angel Hsu, Brendan Mapes, Xuewei Wang, Mark Roelfsema, Sander Chan, Andrew Deneault, Bianca de Souza Nagasawa, Mishel Mohan, Megan Whitney, Johannes Brehm, Jonathan Hassel, Andrew Clapper, Abhishek Hiremath, Thomas Hale

Disproportionate exposure to urban heat island intensity across major US cities

Hsu, A., Sheriff, G., Chakraborty, T., & Manya, D. (2021). Disproportionate exposure to urban heat island intensity across major US cities. Nature Communications, 12(1), 1-11.

Advancing a toolkit of diverse futures approaches for global environmental assessments,

Laura Pereira, Jan J. Kuiper, Odirilwe Selomane, Ana Paula D. Aguiar, Ghassem R. Asrar, Elena M. Bennett, Reinette Biggs, Katherine Calvin, Steve Hedden, Angel Hsu, Jason Jabbour, Nicholas King, Alexandre C. Köberle, Paul Lucas, Jeanne Nel, Albert V. Norström, Garry Peterson, Nadia Sitas, Christopher Trisos, Detlef P. van Vuuren, Joost Vervoort & James Ward (2021) Advancing a toolkit of diverse futures approaches for global environmental assessments, Ecosystems and People, 17:1, 191-204, DOI: 10.1080/26395916.2021.1901783

Climate Ambition and Sustainable Development for a New Decade: A Catalytic Framework

Chan, S., Boran, I., van Asselt, H., Ellinger, P., Garcia, M., Hale, T., Hermwille, L., Liti Mbeva, K., Mert, A., Roger, C.B., Weinfurter, A., Widerberg, O., Bynoe, P., Chengo, V., Cherkaoui, A., Edwards, T., Gütschow, M., Hsu, A., Hultman, N., Levaï, D., Mihnar, S., Posa, S., Roelfsema, M., Rudyk, B., Scobie, M. and Shrivastava, M.K. (2021), Climate Ambition and Sustainable Development for a New Decade: A Catalytic Framework. Glob Policy. https://doi-org.proxy.library.uu.nl/10.1111/1758-5899.12932

Diverse climate actors show limited coordination in a large-scale text analysis of strategy documents

Hsu, A. and R. Rauber. (2021). Diverse climate actors show limited coordination in a large-scale text analysis of strategy documents. Nature Communications Earth & Environment 2(30).

Data and Transparency Key for China’s Pollution Clean-up

Hsu, A., J. Wang, K. Xu, Z. Wei, and C. Yan. (2021). Data and Transparency Key for China’s Pollution Clean-up. Ecological Economics. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2021.106963

Sustainable and inclusive – Evaluating urban sustainability indicators’ suitability for measuring progress towards SDG-11

Thomas, R., A. Hsu, and A. Weinfurter. Sustainable and inclusive – Evaluating urban sustainability indicators’ suitability for measuring progress towards SDG-11. Environment and Planning B: Urban Analytics and City Science (2020). https://doi.org/10.1177/2399808320975404

Measuring what matters, where it matters: A spatially explicit Urban Environment and Social Inclusion Index for the Sustainable Development Goals

Hsu, A., Tirthankar Chakraborty, Ryan Thomas, Diego Manya, Amy Weinfurter, Nicholas Chin, Nihit Goyal and Andrew Feierman. Measuring what matters, where it matters: A spatially explicit Urban Environment and Social Inclusion Index for the Sustainable Development Goals. Frontiers in Sustainable Cities (2020).

ClimActor, harmonized transnational data on climate network participation by city and regional governments

Hsu, A., Yeo, Z.Y., Rauber, R., Sun, J., Kim, Y., Raghavan, S., Chin, N., Namdeo, V., and Weinfurter, A. (2020). ClimActor, a harmonized dataset of 10,000+ city and region transnational climate network participation. Nature Scientific Data.

Future U.S.-China Cooperation on Climate Change: Working Towards a Green New Deal

Angel Hsu & Deborah Seligsohn, “Future U.S.-China Cooperation on Climate Change: Working Towards a Green New Deal”. The Penn Project on the Future of US-China Relations.

Navigating the nuances of net-zero targets

NewClimate Institute & Data-Driven EnviroLab (2020). Navigating the nuances of net-zero targets. Research report prepared by the team of: Thomas Day, Silke Mooldijk and Takeshi Kuramochi (NewClimate Institute) and Angel Hsu, Elwin Lim, Zhi Yi Yeo, Amy Weinfurter, Yin Xi Tan, Ian French, Vasu Namdeo, Odele Tan, Sowmya Raghavan, and Ajay Nair (Data-Driven EnviroLab).

Sub- and non-state climate action: a framework to assess progress, implementation and impact

Thomas N. Hale , Sander Chan , Angel Hsu , Andrew Clapper , Cynthia Elliott , Pedro Faria , Takeshi Kuramochi , Shannon McDaniel , Milimer Morgado , Mark Roelfsema , Mayra Santaella , Neelam Singh , Ian Tout , Chris Weber , Amy Weinfurter & Oscar Widerberg (2020): Sub- and non-state climate action: a framework to assess progress, implementation and impact, Climate Policy, DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2020.1828796.

Accelerating Net Zero: Exploring Cities, Regions, and Companies’ Pledges to Decarbonise

Data-Driven EnviroLab & NewClimate Institute. (2020). Accelerating Net Zero: Exploring Cities, Regions, and Companies’ Pledges to Decarbonise. Research report prepared by the team of: Angel Hsu, Zhi Yi Yeo, Amy Weinfurter, Yin Xi Tan, Ian French, Vasu Namdeo, Odele Tan, Sowmya Raghavan, Elwin Lim, and Ajay Nair (Data-Driven EnviroLab) and Thomas Day, Silke Mooldijk, Niklas Höhne, and Takeshi Kuramochi (NewClimate Institute).

Correcting course: the emission reduction potential of international cooperative initiatives

Swithin Lui , Takeshi Kuramochi , Sybrig Smit , Mark Roelfsema , Angel Hsu , Amy Weinfurter, Sander Chan , Thomas Hale , Hanna Fekete , Katharina Lütkehermöller , Maria Jose de Villafranca Casas , Leonardo Nascimento , Sebastian Sterl & Niklas Höhne (2020): Correcting course: the emission reduction potential of international cooperative initiatives, Climate Policy, DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2020.1806021

Performance determinants show European cities are delivering on climate mitigation

Hsu, A., Tan, J., Ng, Y.M., Vanda, R. and N. Goyal. (2020). Performance determinants show European cities are delivering on climate mitigation. Nature Climate Change.

Beyond states: Harnessing sub-national actors for the deep decarbonisation of cities, regions, and businesses

Hsu, A, N Höhne, T Kuramochi, V Vilariño and BK Sovacool. “Beyond states: Harnessing sub-national actors for the deep decarbonisation of cities, regions, and businesses,” Energy Research & Social Science 70 (December, 2020), 101738, pp. 1-7.

A spatially explicit surface urban heat island database for the United States: Characterization, uncertainties, and possible applications

T. Chakraborty, Hsu, A., Manya, D., and G. Sheriff. (2020). A spatially explicit surface urban heat island database for the United States: Characterization, uncertainties, and possible applications. ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing.

Next-generation Digital Ecosystem for Climate Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery: A Review of Digital Data Collection Technologies

Hsu, A., Khoo, W., Goyal, N., and M. Wainstein. (2020). Next-generation Digital Ecosystem for Climate Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery: A Review of Digital Data Collection Technologies, in Special Issue: Innovations and Perspectives in Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery. Frontiers in Big Data.

Beyond national climate action: the impact of region, city, and business commitments on global greenhouse gas emissions

Takeshi Kuramochi, Mark Roelfsema, Angel Hsu, Swithin Lui, Amy Weinfurter, Sander Chan, Thomas Hale, Andrew Clapper, Andres Chang & Niklas Höhne (2020): Beyond national climate action: the impact of region, city, and business commitments on global greenhouse gas emissions, Climate Policy, DOI: 10.1080/14693062.2020.1740150

Citizen science and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals

Steffen Fritz, Linda See, Tyler Carlson, Mordechai Haklay, Jessie L. Oliver, Dilek Fraisl, Rosy Mondardini, Martin Brocklehurst, Lea A. Shanley, Sven Schade, Uta Wehn, Tommaso Abrate, Janet Anstee, Stephan Arnold, Matthew Billot, Jillian Campbell, Jessica Espey, Margaret Gold, Gerid Hager, Shan He, Libby Hepburn, Angel Hsu, Deborah Long, Joan Masó, Ian McCallum, Maina Muniafu, Inian Moorthy, Michael Obersteiner, Alison J. Parker, Maike Weissplug & Sarah West (2019). Citizen science and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Nature Sustainability. DOI: 10.1038/s41893-019-0390-3

Emerging digital environmental governance in China: the case of black and smelly waters in China

Angel Hsu, Zhi Yi Yeo & Amy Weinfurter (2019) Emerging digital environmental governance in China: the case of black and smelly waters in China, Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, DOI: 10.1080/09640568.2019.1661228.

Global climate action from cities, regions and businesses: Impact of individual actors and cooperative initiatives on global and national emissions

NewClimate Institute, Data-Driven Lab, PBL, German Development Institute/Deutsches Institut für Entwicklungspolitik (DIE), Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford. 2019 edition. Research report prepared by the team of: Takeshi Kuramochi, Swithin Lui, Niklas Höhne, Sybrig Smit, Maria Jose de Villafranca Casas, Frederic Hans, Leonardo Nascimento, Paola Tanguy, Angel Hsu, Amy Weinfurter, Zhi Yi Yeo, Yunsoo Kim, Mia Raghavan, Claire Inciong Krummenacher, Yihao Xie, Mark Roelfsema, Sander Chan, Thomas Hale.

Disproportionately higher exposure to urban heat in lower-income neighborhoods: a multi-city perspective

Tirthankar Chakraborty, Angel Hsu, Diego Manya, and Glen Sheriff. (2019). Environ. Res. Lett. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ab3b99.

Black and Smelly Waters: How Citizen-Generated Transparency is Addressing Gaps in China's Environmental Management

Angel Hsu, Amy Weinfurter, Jeffrey Tong & Yihao Xie (2019): Black and Smelly Waters: how citizen-generated transparency is addressing gaps in China’s environmental management, Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning, DOI: 10.1080/1523908X.2019.1654365

Exploring links between national climate strategies and non-state and subnational climate action in nationally determined contributions (NDCs)

Hsu, A., Brandt, J., Widerberg, O., Chan, S., and A. Weinfurter. (2019). Exploring links between national climate strategies and non-state and subnational climate action in nationally determined contributions (NDCs). Climate Policy.

Tracking global climate change adaptation among governments

Lea Berrang-Ford, Robbert Biesbroek, James D. Ford, Alexandra Lesnikowski, Andrew Tanabe, Frances M. Wang, Chen Chen, Angel Hsu, Jessica J. Hellmann, Patrick Pringle, Martina Grecequet, J.-C. Amado, Saleemul Huq, Shuaib Lwasa & S. Jody Heymann. (2019). Tracking global climate change adaptation among governments. Nature Climate Change, 9(6), 440.

A Research Roadmap for Quantifying Non-State and Subnational Climate Action

Hsu, A., Höhne, N., Kuramochi, T., Roelfsema, M..Weinfurter, A., Xie, Y., Lütkehermöller, K., Chan, S., Corfee-Morlot, J., Drost, P., Faria, P., Gardiner, A., Gordon, D.J., Hale, T., Hultman, N.E., Moorhead, J., Reuvers, S., Setzer, J., Singh, S., Weber, C., Widerberg, O. (2019). A Research Roadmap for Quantifying Non-State and Subnational Climate Action. Nature Climate Change, Nature Climate Change, 9: 1–17.

The Urban Environment and Social Inclusion Index

Hsu, A., N. Alexandre, J. Brandt, T. Chakraborty, S. Comess, A. Feierman, T. Huang, S. Janaskie, D. Manya, M. Moroney, N. Moyo, R. Rauber, G. Sherriff, R. Thomas, J. Tong, Y. Xie, A. Weinfurter, Z. Yeo (in alpha order), (2018). 2018 Urban Environment and Social Inclusion Index. New Haven, CT: Yale University. Available: datadrivenlab.org/urban

UNEP Emissions Gap Report Non-State Actors Chapter

Hsu, A.; Widerberg, O.; Weinfurter, A.; Chan, S.; Roelfsema, M.; Lütkehermöller, K. and Bakhtiari, F.
(2018). Bridging the emissions gap – The role of nonstate and subnational actors. In The Emissions Gap
Report 2018. A UN Environment Synthesis Report. United Nations Environment Programme. Nairobi.

Global climate action of regions, states and businesses

Data Driven Yale, NewClimate Institute, PBL 2018: Global climate action of regions, states and businesses. Research report published by Data Driven Yale, NewClimate Institute, PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, prepared by project team of Angel Hsu, Amy Weinfurter, Andrew Feierman, Yihao Xie, Zhi Yi Yeo, Katharina Lütkehermöller, Takeshi Kuramochi, Swithin Lui, Niklas Höhne, Mark Roelfsema. Available at http://bit.ly/yale-nci-pbl-global-climate-action.

Mission 2020: The Climate Turning Point

“2020: The Climate Turning Point” – the campaign will highlight why the 2020 turning point is necessary, and importantly how it can be realistically achieved, thanks to exponentially growing climate action. The new report, a collaboration between Data-Driven Yale, Carbon Tracker and Climate Action Tracker (a consortium of Ecofys, New Climate Institute and Climate Analytics), with a contribution by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, summarizes the most up to date scientific basis for urgent action to reduce carbon emissions and provides a roadmap of action to 2020.

From Citizens to Satellites : Third-Wave Data Approaches in China Towards a New Environmental Data Paradigm in China

Hsu, A., A. Weinfurter, C. Yan, and Y.Cheng. (2017). From citizens to satellites: third-wave data approaches in China. Yale Data-Driven. Available from: https://datadrivenlab.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Third_Wave_Exec_Summary_FINAL.pdf

Addressing Gaps in China's Environmental Data: The Existing Landscape

Hsu, A., C. Yan, and Y.Cheng. (2017). Addressing Gaps in China’s Environmental Data: The Existing Landscape. Available from: https://datadrivenlab.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/ThirdWave_Data_Gap_Analysis_Final.pdf

The Potential for Citizen-Generated Data in China

Hsu, A., A. Weinfurter, and C. Yan. (2017). The Potential for Citizen-Generated Data in China. Available from: https://datadrivenlab.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/The-Potential-for-Citizen-Generated-Data-in-China.pdf.

Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency in Developing Countries: Contributions to Reducing Global Emissions

Developing countries are achieving low-cost emissions reductions through renewable energy
(RE) and energy efficiency (EE) projects and initiatives. The focus of this report is to evaluate
the impact of these projects in terms of measurable greenhouse gas emissions’ reductions to
help close the emissions gap needed to meet the 2°C climate goal.

Who's Acting on Climate Change? Subnational and Non-State Global Climate Action

Released at the COP-23 in Bonn, Germany, this report provides a snapshot of subnational and non-state actors taking action on climate change.

Aligning subnational climate actions for the new post-Paris climate regime

Hsu, A., Weinfurter, A.J. & Xu, K. Aligning Sub-national Climate Actions for the Post-Paris Regime. Climatic Change (2017). doi:10.1007/s10584-017-1957-5.

Nature Climate Change: Towards a New Climate Diplomacy

Hsu, A., Moffat, A. S., Weinfurter, A. J., & Schwartz, J. D. (2015). Towards a new climate diplomacy. Nature Climate Change, 5(6), 501.

Nature: Track Climate Pledges of Cities and Companies

Hsu, A., Y. Cheng, A. Weinfurter, K. Xu, and C. Yick. (2016). Track climate pledges of cities and companies. Nature 532: 303-305.

Taking Stock of Global Climate Action

Released at the COP-22 in Marrakech, Morocco, this report provides a snapshot of subnational and non-state actors taking action on climate change.

Renewable energy and energy efficiency in developing countries: contributions to reducing global emissions

As the Paris Agreement enters into force less than a year after its adoption, countries are preparing to implement their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), developing plans to reach their targets. Renewable energy (RE) and energy efficiency (EE) initiatives are central pillars of these national plans and will be integral to countries’ ability to meet their commitments. This report evaluates the mitigation potential for 224 internationally-supported projects in developing countries.

Understanding NAZCA: Challenges and Future of the World's Largest Voluntary Climate Action Platform

In partnership with the French Energy and Environmental Management Agency (ADEME), Data-Driven Yale evaluates more than 11,000 climate actions have been pledged in the last several years alone. To gauge the broad array of global climate actions, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) launched the Non-State Action Zone for Climate Action (NAZCA) platform in December 2014. NAZCA shows the vast scale of pledged and ongoing actions from non-state (e.g., companies, investors, and civil society organizations) and sub-national (e.g., cities and regions) actors. These actions range from emissions reduction pledges, commitments to renewable energy production, to setting internal carbon prices and to making investments in green bonds. This report gives an overview of NAZCA’s content, exploring the extent to which cities, regions, companies, investors, and civil society organizations are represented on the platform.

2016 Environmental Performance Index - Summary for Policymakers

The 2016 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) ranks 180 countries on air quality, water and sanitation, fisheries, forestry, biodiversity and habitat, and climate change and energy. For more information see: www.epi2016.yale.edu.

2016 Environmental Performance Index - Full Report

CT Solar Scorecards

In partnership with the Connecticut Green Bank, Data-Driven Yale developed scorecards ranking residential solar PV in each of the state’s 69 towns. See the website and final report here: http://www.ctsolarscoreboard.com/.

Nature Comment: Mobilize Citizens to Track Sustainability

Hsu, A., O. Malik, L. Johnson, and D.C. Esty. (2014). Mobilize citizens to track sustainability. Nature, vol. 508:33-35.

Measuring Progress: A Practical Guide From the Developers of the Environmental Performance Index (EPI)

Hsu, A., L.A. Johnson, and A. Lloyd. 2013. Measuring Progress: A Practical Guide From the Developers of the Environmental Performance Index (EPI). New Haven:Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy.