The Environmental Research Center (ERC) at DKU integrates the environment into research and education programs across multiple disciplines, including science, economics, public policy, arts and humanities. The ERC, launched in July 2016, is dedicated to tackling our planet’s most pressing environmental challenges across disciplines: biodiversity and conservation; environmental economics; environmental governance; environmental science;  environmental history; and advanced materials for a sustainable future.

The ERC collaborates closely with Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment, Sanford School of Public Policy, the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, the Energy Initiative, Chemistry Department, and Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science to serve as a hub for research cooperation. Its mission also includes educational opportunities to develop undergraduate, graduate and social professionals with diverse backgrounds as the next generation of environmental and sustainability leaders.

From 2016-2024, ERC faculty published 240 journal articles and 6 book chapters in a wide variety of environmental science, public health, economics, and environmental policy venues. Notable outlets include PNAS (four articles) and The Lancet (six articles). Multiple articles have also been featured in The Lancet Global Health; The Lancet Planetary Health; The Science, Science Advances and Nature journals; Nature Medicine and Nature Communications; PloS Medicine; and the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, as well as top Chinese economics journals such as Management World and China Industrial Economics.

The ERC has been successful in securing funding from a variety of sources including highly competitive national and regional funding agencies that aim to provide technological solutions, strategic practices and guidelines, and policy suggestions that address climate and environmental challenges in China and across the globe. These challenges include the effectiveness of China’s Emissions Trading Scheme, International Symposium of Climate Mitigation, China’s Path to Net Zero Climate Pledge and Transition Beyond Fossil Fuels.  A Roadmap of Ocean Carbon Dioxide Removal in China, a Nationwide Bird-Collision Prevention Network, and many others.

The ERC hosts an executive education program that trains entrepreneurs, professionals and government officials in environmental policymaking, and – in partnership with the Packard Foundation, the Paradise Foundation and the Yintai Foundation – it continues to develop the Blue Pioneers Program, its flagship non-degree training program. It also actively participates in DKU’s executive education and lifelong learning programs, offering expertise on topics such as Advanced Materials for Sustainability and Profitable Growth, and Lessons from Nature on Resilience and Adaptability.