Zhi Li: Credit for the environment

It's not easy to arrange a meeting with him. Everything is coming to a head for economist Zhi Li, who is finishing his six-month stay at UM as part of the Mak'it program and is preparing to return to China. The researcher is, in any case, a very busy man. Whether some people like it or not, the environment remains on the agenda of economists. At least for Zhi Li and his colleagues, who are determined to promote environmental goods and services so that they carry weight in political calculations.

"I have a scientific background—in atmospheric sciences," Zhi Li announces right off the bat, emphasizing his environmental roots. " But I've always been interested in human behavior. " So he turned to social sciences, which took him to the United States for seven years, where he earned a master's degree in environmental and natural resource economics and a PhD in economics. His goal is no longer to model climate phenomena, but rather the behavior of economic actors, in order to develop tools for natural resource management and environmental protection.

Save the Goglu of the Meadows

He combines this theoretical research, which draws heavily on game theory,with experimental field research. "My colleagues and I have worked with the American NGO The National Audubon Society to save the bobolink on the northeast coast of the United States, designing a crowdfunding tool to encourage citizens to invest in protecting the habitat of this songbird," says Zhi Li.

The economist then cites two projects of a completely different scale: the Chinese carbon and water markets. "I am involved in providing technical support for the design of China's national carbon market system, which requires decisions to be made on the initial allocation of carbon credits, their price, and so on," explains the researcher. As for water, there has been a national market for this resource in China since 2016: "How can water rights be reallocated for optimal allocation, how much should be left to the market and how much should be controlled by the public authorities?" explains the economist.

Voluntary carbon credit mechanisms

With no shortage of topics to explore, Zhi Li is also working on the design of multi-factor environmental credit markets, in other words, when a single action contributes to several benefits and therefore to as many credits: "For example, a farmer who produces both carbon credits and high-quality water." This is known as "credit stacking" in the jargon.

This work overlaps with that of laboratories in Montpellier. In 2024, Zhi Li and his Chinese colleagues were invited by Cee-m to a seminar at the University of Montpellier. Then in 2025, it was the turn of the Montpellier researchers to visit Xiamen University. When the Mak'It program launched residencies on the theme of transition and water, in an interdisciplinary setting, Zhi Li ticked all the boxes in the call for projects. And he won. Since then, he has strengthened his local collaborations: "With Cee-m, we are working on voluntary carbon credit mechanisms. And with G-eau, we are working on the impact of water policies on farmers, with field surveys planned in Europe and China." These partnerships will continue in the years to come.

Happy to return to China? Against all odds, life in Montpellier reminds him of his hometown, a coastal life where he also walks along the river to reach the sea. As we finish a slightly cooled Oolong tea, Zhi Li talks about his taste for French culture, nurtured in his youth by the adventures of Jules Verne, "Around the World in 80 Days changed my outlook on life," then by the novels of Hugo and Balzac. He even decided to learn French before his arrival so that he could read them in the original. These first rudiments were not in vain, as we hear from his final anecdote: while waiting for the tram in front of the Agora de la Danse, he understood a lady's unlikely invitation to accompany her to a concert. And he accepted.