Rate My Professor Kevin Lo

Tek Sheng Kevin Lo is the Department Chair and Associate Professor in the Department of Geography at Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU), within the Academy of Geography, Sociology and International Studies in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. He also serves as Associate Director and Acting Director of the David C. Lam Institute for East-West Studies. Lo holds a PhD in Geography from the University of Melbourne, awarded in 2014, and a BSc in Computer Science and Information Systems from the University of Hong Kong. His academic career at HKBU commenced around 2014, advancing to current leadership positions in teaching courses on global energy development, energy audit, carbon management, and renewable energy.

Lo's research develops human geography perspectives on climate change at the intersection of environmental, energy, political, urban, rural, and development geographies, with emphasis on China. Key areas include just transitions, authoritarian environmentalism, renewable energy policies, low-carbon cities, and rural poverty alleviation resettlement. He has received major grants from the Hong Kong Research Grants Council, including Early Career Scheme, General Research Fund, and principal investigator for a GRF project on decentralized climate governance in China (2019-2021). As Founder and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Asian Energy Studies, he influences Asian energy scholarship. His work supports multiple UN Sustainable Development Goals, such as affordable clean energy, climate action, sustainable cities, and reduced inequalities. Lo has published over 70 papers in top journals like Global Environmental Change, Political Geography, Energy Policy, and Urban Studies. Influential publications include "Just transition: A conceptual review" (2021, 994 citations), "A critical review of China's rapidly developing renewable energy and energy efficiency policies" (2014, 422 citations), "How authoritarian is the environmental governance of China?" (2015, 301 citations), "China's low-carbon city initiatives: The implementation gap and the limits of the target responsibility system" (2014, 210 citations), and "Spatial restructuring through poverty alleviation resettlement in rural China" (2016, 199 citations). With over 1,500 citations, he ranks among the world's top 2% scientists, impacting environmental and energy geography profoundly.