Yi, Yuanyuan

Yuanyuan Yi is a researcher and research manager at the Environment for Development Initiative (EfD), University of Gothenburg. She obtained her Master's (2011) and Ph.D. (2017) in Economics from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. She has been a research fellow at the EfD China center since 2011. She has been a research assistant professor of economics at the National School of Development, Peking University in Beijing, China since 2019. Before 2019, she worked at the Development Research Group of the World Bank Group from 2017 to 2019.

Research interests

Yuanyuan’s primary research interest is in the areas of environment, resource, and development Economics. In her research, she focuses on the economics of natural resource governance in developing countries. Her work looked at forest and land management policies, including land property/tenure rights, forest restoration, nature reserve management, climate change, and rural development.

Her work also covers land and tenure policies in African countries. She has related work on large farm investments, impact evaluation on the Climate Smart Agriculture project in Zambia, and land valuation in Rwanda.

She is currently focusing on research on the relationships between forest greenness and human health, forest restoration and co-benefits, including carbon offsetting and biodiversity, etc., as well as forests’ potential in climate change mitigation and solutions.

Yuanyuan is Associate Editor for the journal Environment and Development Economics.

Mentoring

Supervising post-doctoral research focusing on biodiversity accounting for Sweden’s forest sector at EfD Global Hub.

Participated in committees of Master's and DPS theses, supervised (co-mentored) post-doctoral projects at the Institute of South-South Cooperation and Development (ISSCAD) and the National School of Development (NSD), Peking University in environmental economics.

Policy engagement

Yi, Yuanyuan, Xuan Wang, and Yana Huang. 2024. “China’s Automobile Industry Seeking for Green and Global Development: Challenges and Policy Recommendations”, policy recommendation.
Yi, Yuanyuan, Jun Yin, and Jinjie Wang. 2024. “New Challenges to China’s Rural Revitalization: The Perspective of Common Prosperity”, policy recommendation.
Yi, Yuanyuan and Jintao Xu. 2022. “Nature-based Solutions in Meeting China’s Dual-carbon Goal: The Potential of Forest and Policy Needs”, policy recommendation.
Yi, Yuanyuan, Daojiong Zha, and Baoqun Fan, 2022. “Research Report on Empowering the ‘Chinese Energy Arsenal: The Way to Improve the Capacity and Resilience of the Energy Sector of China”, a project jointly conducted by the National School of Development, Peking University, and the China National Petroleum Corporation in 2022.
Yi, Yuanyuan, 2012. “Reforms of State-Owned Forest Sector in Eastern Europe: A Comparative Study in Eight Eastern European Countries”, Environmental Economics Program in China, Peking University.
He, Hui, Jie Li, Yuanyuan Yi, Jintao Xu, Haipeng Zhang, 2012. “The Cost-benefit Analyses of Selected Environmental Policy Instruments in China” (in Chinese), a project of the Environmental Economics Program in China (EEPC) of Peking University, entrusted by the Ministry of Environmental Protection of China in 2012.