Gao Climate and Energy Solution Lab
Meeting the Paris Agreement’s climate goal of keeping temperature increases well below 2 °C — even 1.5 °C — will require removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere beyond reducing GHG emissions. However, research on carbon dioxide removal remains in an early stage with large knowledge gaps. The global potential and scalability, full climate consequences, and potential side effects of currently suggested carbon sequestration options — afforestation and reforestation, bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS), direct air carbon capture — are uncertain. Moreover, although about 120 national governments have a net-zero emission target, few have actionable plans for developing carbon dioxide removal. My research is focused on biological carbon sequestration, nature-based climate solutions, and bioenergy.
High-integrity carbon accounting for nature-based climate solutions
Nature-based climate solutions require fundamental knowledge on how to quantify carbon emissions and/or sequestration by forest systems and interventions. I use AI and satellite observations to contribute to robust and transparent Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) methods and systems. Topics include: selecting baselines and assessing additionality, incorporating digital measurements and remote sensing, addressing permanence and leakage, and exploring new frontiers in accounting, such as adjusting for albedo effects and non-climate feedback, temporary accounting measures, and jurisdictional accounting.
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Publications:
Gao, X., Liang, S., He, B. Detected global agricultural greening from satellite data, Agricultural and Forest Meteorology (2019) [link]
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Gao, X., Liang, S., Sauer, J. Greening hiatus in Eurasian boreal forests since 1997 caused by a wetting and cooling summer climate, Journal of Geophysical Research - Biogeosciences (2020) [link]
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Gao, X., Liang, S., Wang, D., Li, Y., He, B., Jia, A. Exploration of a novel carbon dioxide removal option: lighting up tropical forests at night. Earth System Dynamics (2022) [link]. American Association of Geographers Council Award for Outstanding Graduate Student Paper, AAG, 2023
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Gao, X., Peter B. Reich, Jeffrey R. Vincent, Matthew E. Fagan, Robin L. Chazdon, Steffen Fritz, Dmitry Schepaschenko, Matthew D. Potts, Matthew C. Hansen, Martin Jung, Pedro H. S. Brancalion, María Uriarte, Trevor F. Keenan, Thomas W. Crowther, Ralph O. Dubayah, Myroslava Lesiv, Shunlin Liang, Dongdong Wang, The Importance of Distinguishing Between Natural and Managed Tree Cover Gains in the Moist Tropics, Nature Communications, [2025] [link]. Ecological Society of America Early Career Ecologists Outstanding Paper Award, ESA, 2025; American Geophysical Union “Impactful Dataset” award, AGU, 2026​
Robust quantification of nature-based climate solutions’ co-benefits
Increasing forest systems’ ability to store carbon often yields significant co-benefits, such as conserving biodiversity and enhancing rural livelihoods. I aim to advance the robust quantification of the various co-benefits of nature-based climate solutions, ensuring that the carbon-motivated nature-based climate solutions create values for other ecosystem services.
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Publications:
Gao, X., Jonathan Levine, Jeffrey Smith, Valuing land carbon is key to biodiversity benefits of climate change mitigation, preprint
Economic and policy incentives to help realize nature-based climate solutions
Nature provides one third of the solution to climate change, yet it receives only 3% of climate finance. By engaging with Paris Agreement Article 6 carbon market and voluntary carbon and nature market stakeholders, I am committed to fostering a collaborative community among governments, the private sector, non-profit organizations, research institutions, and practitioners, leveraging the carbon pricing mechanism to bridge the finance gap and mobilize capital for nature-based climate solutions.​
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