Professor Pan HE 何盼
Associate Professor
Room 9.25
391 72836
hepan@hku.hk
Professor Pan He is an Associate Professor in Human-Environment Interaction in the Department of Geography at The University of Hong Kong. Before joining HKU, she served as a Lecturer and later Senior Lecturer in Environmental Science and Sustainability at Cardiff University, UK. She holds a Ph.D. in Geographical Sciences from the University of Maryland, College Park, and has held postdoctoral and visiting research appointments at Tsinghua University and the University of East Anglia.
Her research examines sustainable consumption as well as sustainability and resilience transitions in agri-food systems, with a particular emphasis on consumer behavior dynamics. Drawing on climate change economics, behavioral sciences, and quantitative spatial tools, she integrates interdisciplinary frameworks with empirical analysis to evaluate environmental change impacts. Her work aims to uncover the complex drivers of dietary and lifestyle shifts, address pressing environmental sustainability challenges, and inform policy interventions for sustainable and resilient futures.
Beyond her research, Professor He actively contributes to the global academic community through editorial leadership and professional service. She serves as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Environmental Management, an Editor for Sustainable Production and Consumption, an Advisory Panel Member for Environmental Research Letters, and a member of the UKRI Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Peer Review College. Her research has been supported by various competitive international and national schemes, serving as PI on grants funded by the Royal Society, National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), and GW4 Alliance, among others.
Research Interests
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Sustainable Consumption & Dietary Shifts
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Agri-Food System Sustainability & Resilience
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Environmental Change Impacts & Adaptation
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Consumer Behavior Modeling
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Spatial Analytics & Empirical Methods
Selected Publications
2026
Junwen Jia, Xiaoxi Wang, Pan He*, Antonio AR Ioris. Income inequality reduction as a pathway to sustainable and healthy dietary transitions in Brazil. Communications Earth & Environment (2026).
Jiaming Wang, Peng Wang*, Shu-Chien Hsu, Pan He, Yangyang Wu, Futian Ren, Yiyi Wang et al. International trade reduces emissions through technology transfer led by key emitters. Nature Climate Change 16, no. 4 (2026): 451-459.
2025
Qingling Wang, Han Zhang*, Kuishuang Feng, Pan He*, Richard Wood, Peipei Tian, Yiming Wang et al. Implications of demographic policies on China’s food-related environmental footprints amid population ageing. Global Environmental Change 95 (2025): 103082.
Feukam Nzudie, Harold L., Xu Zhao*, Peipei Tian*, Pan He, Xinxin Zhang, Amar A. Hamad, Martin R. Tillotson, Innocent Onah, Shuyi Chen, Honglin Zhong, Kuishuang Feng, Ning Zhang. National food production cannot address nutrient gaps in African countries. Nature Food (2025): 1-6.
Pan He*, Zhuojing Xu, Duo Chan*, Pengfei Liu*, Yan Bai*. Rising temperatures increase added sugar intake disproportionately in disadvantaged groups in the USA. Nature Climate Change 15, no. 9 (2025): 963-970.
Wang Wei, Yumiao Xue, Rui Wang, Pan He*, Beibei Liu*. Rising mercury consumption from blue foods in China balanced by a shift to lower-mercury choices. Sustainable Production and Consumption (2025).
Lianming Zheng, Wulahati Adalibieke, Feng Zhou*, Pan He*, Yilin Chen, Peng Guo, Jinling He et al. Indirect emissions contribute a quarter of air pollution-related health burden of food systems in China. Nature Food (2025): 1-11.
Zhongci Deng, Yuanchao Hu, Xiaoxi Wang, Cai Li, Jingyu Wang, Pan He, Zhen Wang*, Brett A. Bryan. Transitioning to healthy and sustainable diets has higher environmental and affordability trade-offs for emerging and developing economies. Nature Communications 16, no. 1 (2025): 3948.
Qiumeng Zhong, Jiajing Pan, Zehan Lin, Yumeng Li, Xin Mo, Pan He, Xin Cao, Sai Liang*. Structural characteristics of global virtual water network driven by food consumption in the Belt and Road Initiative region. Resources, Conservation and Recycling 215 (2025): 108128.
Yunke Zhang, Daoping Wang, Yu Liu, Kerui Du, Peng Lu, Pan He, Yong Li. Urban food delivery services as extreme heat adaptation. Nature Cities (2025): 1-10.
Yixuan Shao, Qilin Cao, Junnian Song*, Jiahao Xing, You Wu, Cheng Sun, Pan He, Wei Yang*. Human health, ecosystem quality, and resource scarcity burdens inflicted by livestock production across Chinese regions. Earth's Future 13, no. 1 (2025): e2024EF005263.
2024
Meng Li, Yanan Wang*, Shunan Zhao, Wei Chen, Yu Liu*, Heran Zheng, Zhongxiao Sun, Pan He, Rui Li, Sun Zhang, Peixue Xing, Qiao Li. Improving the affordability and reducing greenhouse gas emissions of the EAT-Lancet diet in China. Sustainable Production and Consumption 52 (2024): 445-457.
Yanxian Li, Pan He, Yuli Shan*, Yu Li, Ye Hang, Shuai Shao, Franco Ruzzenenti, Klaus Hubacek*. Reducing climate change impacts from the global food system through diet shifts. Nature Climate Change (2024): 1-11.
Hui Chen*, Xiaoxi Wang*, John S. Ji, Liyan Huang, Ye Qi, You Wu, Pan He et al. Plant-based and planetary-health diets, environmental burden, and risk of mortality: a prospective cohort study of middle-aged and older adults in China. The Lancet Planetary Health 8, no. 8 (2024): e545-e553.
Weiyi Gu, Guosong Ma, Rui Wang, Laura Scherer, Pan He, Longlong Xia, Yuyao Zhu, Jun Bi*, Beibei Liu*. Climate adaptation through crop migration requires a nexus perspective for environmental sustainability in the North China Plain. Nature Food (2024): 1-12.
Haofan Zhang, Dianyu Zhu, Miaomiao Liu*, Jianxun Yang, Zongwei Ma, Wen Fang, John S. Ji, Pan He*, Jun Bi. Unappreciated healthcare inequality against PM2. 5-related mortality risk. Environmental Research Letters (2024).
Lianming Zheng, Wulahati Adalibieke, Feng Zhou*, Pan He*, Yilin Chen, Peng Guo, Jinling He et al. Health burden from food systems is highly unequal across income groups. Nature Food (2024): 1-11.
Pan He*, Zhu Liu*, Giovanni Baiocchi, Dabo Guan, Yan Bai, Klaus Hubacek. Health–environment efficiency of diets shows nonlinear trends over 1990–2011. Nature Food (2024): 1-9.
Xue Sun, Rui Wang, Pan He*, Beibei Liu*. Effects of environmental and nutritional labels on the dietary choices of consumers: Evidence from China. Environmental Impact Assessment Review 105 (2024): 107407.
Yumeng Li, Qiumeng Zhong, Pan He, Long Chen, Haifeng Zhou, Xiaohui Wu, Sai Liang*. Dietary shifts drive the slowdown of declining methylmercury related health risk in China. Environmental Pollution 340 (2024): 122793.
2023
Haofan Zhang, Pan He, Linxin Liu, Hui Dai, Bin Zhao, Yi Zeng, Jun Bi, Miaomiao Liu*, John S. Ji*. Trade-offs between cold protection and air pollution induced mortality of China's heating policy. PNAS Nexus (2023): pgad387.
Yin Long*, Liqiao Huang, Rinakira Fujie, Pan He, Zhiheng Chen, Xiaoyan Xu, Yoshikuni Yoshida. Carbon footprint and embodied nutrition evaluation of 388 recipes. Scientific Data 10, no. 1 (2023): 794.
Yixiang Ye, Tingting Geng, Yanfeng Zhou, Pan He, Jijuan Zhang, Gang Liu, Walter Willett, An Pan*, Woon-Puay Koh. Adherence to a planetary health diet, environmental impacts, and mortality in Chinese adults. JAMA network open 6, no. 10 (2023): e2339468-e2339468.
Chen Xi*, Wei Xie*, Xiaoguang Chen*, Pan He*. Weather shocks and movie recreation demand in China. Energy Economics (2023): 107038.
Jiamin Wang, Ling Jia, Pan He, Peng Wang*, Lei Huang. Engaging stakeholders in collaborative control of air pollution: A tripartite evolutionary game of enterprises, public and government. Journal of Cleaner Production (2023): 138074.
Peng Wang, Wendi Zhang, Jiawen Liu, Pan He, Jiaming Wang, Lei Huang*, Bing Zhang. Analysis and intervention of heatwave related economic loss: Comprehensive insights from supply, demand, and public expenditure into the relationship between the influencing factors. Journal of Environmental Management 326 (2023): 116654.
Jing Liang*, Yueming Qiu*, Pengfei Liu, Pan He, Denise L. Mauzerall. Effects of expanding electric vehicle charging stations in California on the housing market. Nature Sustainability (2023): 1-10.
Junfeng Wang*, Shimeng Wang, Xiaoya Xu, Xiao Li, Pan He, Yuanbo Qiao, and Ying Chen. The diminishing effects of winter heating on air quality in northern China. Journal of Environmental Management 325 (2023): 116536.
2022
Pan He, Pengfei Liu*, Yueming Lucy Qiu*, Lufan Liu. The weather affects air conditioner purchases to fill the energy efficiency gap. Nature Communications 13, no. 1 (2022): 1-8.
Peipei Chen, Yi Wu, Jing Meng*, Pan He, Deyu Li, D’Maris Coffman, Xi Liang, and Dabo Guan. The heterogeneous role of energy policies in the energy transition of Asia-Pacific emerging economies. Nature Energy (2022): 1-9.
Yixin Guo*, Pan He, Tim D. Searchinger, Youfan Chen, Marco Springmann, Mi Zhou, Xin Zhang, Lin Zhang, Denise L. Mauzerall*. Environmental and human health trade-offs in potential Chinese dietary shifts. One Earth 5, no. 3 (2022): 268-282.
Li Fang, Pan He, Chuanhao Tian*, Yao Yao, Hongjie Chen. Beyond the ceremony: Mega-event, air quality and political career. Plos One, 17(2), p.e0262470.
2021
Pan He*, Kuishuang Feng*, Giovanni Baiocchi*, Laixiang Sun, and Klaus Hubacek. Shifts towards healthy diets in the US can reduce environmental impacts but would be unaffordable for poorer minorities. Nature Food (2021): 1-9.
Jing Liang*, Pan He*, Yueming Lucy Qiu*. Energy transition, public expressions, and local officials’ incentives: Social media evidence from the coal-to-gas transition in China. Journal of Cleaner Production 2021, 298: 126771.
Rodrigo A. Bellezoni*, Fanxin Meng*, Pan He*, Karen C. Seto*. Understanding and conceptualizing how urban green and blue infrastructure affects the food, water, and energy nexus: A synthesis of the literature. Journal of Cleaner Production 2021: 125825.
Yue He, Boqun Wu, Pan He, Weiyi Gu, Beibei Liu*. Wind disasters adaptation in cities in a changing climate: A systematic review. Plos One 2021, 16(3): e0248503.
Peng Jia*, Xiongfeng Pan, Fangchao Liu, Pan He, Weiwei Zhang, Li Liu, Yuxuan Zou, Liding Chen*. Land use mix in the neighbourhood and childhood obesity. Obesity Reviews 2021, 22: e13098.
Peng Jia*, Xinxi Cao, Hongxi Yang, Shaoqing Dai, Pan He, Ganlin Huang, Tong Wu, Yaogang Wang*. Green space access in the neighbourhood and childhood obesity. Obesity Reviews 2021, 22: e13100.
2020
Pan He, Zhenpeng Zhou, Yongping Zhang, Giovanni Baiocchi*. Boosting eco-friendly sharing economy: Effect of gasoline price on the bikeshare ridership in three U.S. metropolises. Environmental Research Letters 2020, 15(11), 114021.
Pan He, Beiming Cai*, Giovanni Baiocchi*, Zhu Liu. Drivers of GHG emissions from dietary transition patterns in China: Supply versus demand options. Journal of Industrial Ecology 2021, 25(3): 707-719.
Pan He*, Jing Liang, Yueming Lucy Qiu*, Qingran Li, Bo Xing. Increase in domestic electricity consumption from particulate air pollution. Nature Energy 2020, 5(12): 1-11.
Feng Wang, Yongyuan Li, Wei Zhang*, Pan He*, Beiming Cai, Pengyan Zhang, Haoran Pan, Hongqiang Jiang. China's trade-off between economic benefits and sulfur dioxide emissions in changing global trade. Earth's Future 2020, 8(1), e2019EF001354.
2019
Can Cui, Zhen Wang*, Pan He*, Shanfeng Yuan, Beibei Niu, Ping Kang, Chaogui Kang*. Escaping from pollution: The effect of air quality on inter-city population mobility in China. Environmental Research Letters 2019, 14(12): 124025
Pan He*, Yueming Qiu*, Yi David Wang, Cihan Cobanoglu, Olena Ciftci, Zhu Liu. Loss of profit in the hotel industry of the United States due to climate change. Environmental Research Letters 2019, 14 (8): 084022.
Pan He, Giovanni Baiocchi*, Kuishuang Feng, Klaus Hubacek, Yang Yu. Environmental impacts of dietary quality improvement in China. Journal of environmental management 2019, 240: 518-526.
2018
Pan He, Giovanni Baiocchi*, Klaus Hubacek, Kuishuang Feng, Yang Yu. The environmental impacts of rapidly changing diets and their nutritional quality in China. Nature Sustainability 2018, 1(3): 122. (cover story)
Pan He, Bing Zhang*. Environmental Tax, Polluting Plants’ Strategies and Effectiveness: Evidence from China. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management 2018, 37(3): 493-520.
Bing Zhang*, Hanxun Fei, Pan He, Yuan Xu*, Zhanfeng Dong, Oran R. Young. The indecisive role of the market in China’s SO2 and COD emissions trading. Environmental Politics 2016: 1-24.
Grants
2024
“Mercury Exposure Risks from Aquatic Product Consumption and Regulatory Strategies”, Nanjing University International Fellowship for Young Scholars (¥40,000/£4,400), PI, Nanjing University
“Interregional Cascading Impacts of Extreme Weather on Nutritional Security”, Royal Society International Exchanges (£11,785.00), UK-side PI, Royal Society 2023 “GW4 Sustainable Food Consumption Research Community”, GW4 Generator Funding (£19,682.35), PI, GW4
2022
“Land Use and Sustainable Development in the Eastern Amazon”, SPRINT 2021 call (£10,000), Co-PI, FAPESP & Cardiff University
2021
“Leveraging Human Nutrition and Environmental Sustainability with Equality: Identifying Opportunities and Challenges in Approaching a Net-Zero Global Food System”, GW4 Crucible Seed Funding Award (£2,800), PI, GW4
2019
“Uncovering the Driving Forces of the Environmental and Health Impacts of Chinese Dietary Transition”, National Natural Scientific Fund of China, Young Scholar Program (¥175,000/£19,200), PI, National Natural Science Foundation of China
“Socio-economic Determinants of the Environmental and Health Impacts of Chinese Dietary Transition”, Chinese Postdoc Scientific Grant (¥80,000/£8,800), PI, China Postdoctoral Science Foundation
2018
“The Change of Environmental and Health Impacts of the Dietary Transition in Global Developing Countries”, Vice-Chancellor Global Challenges Research Fellowship (£19,000), University of East Anglia
“Examining the Unequal Global Food-Health-Environment Nexus”, International Fellowship for Postdoc Researches (¥600,000/£66,000), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation