Dr. Ryna Cui is Assistant Research Director, Assistant Research Professor at the Center for Global Sustainability (CGS), University of Maryland School of Public Policy. Dr. Cui is an expert in global coal transition, integrated assessment modeling, and international and national climate and energy policies. She leads the Global Fossil Transition Project at CGS that focuses on rapid, just coal phaseout pathways both globally and in key countries of interest, including China, India, Indonesia, South Africa, and others. As the China Program Co-Director, Dr. Cui also manages the development and implementation of CGS's China program portfolio. Dr. Cui also holds a joint appointment at the Joint Global Change Research Institute, a collaboration between the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the University of Maryland.
Her current research focuses on coal phaseout and energy transition, global and national long-term mitigation strategies in China, India, and the Unites States with integrated assessment modeling, low-carbon strategies through the "Belt and Road Initiative'', and subnational climate actions. She recently served as a contributing author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report, focusing on global coal transition. Her prior research has focused on long-term food security under climate change mitigation, international agriculture trade and food demand, integrated assessment of energy-food-water nexus, and international carbon markets. She holds a PhD in Environmental Policy from the University of Maryland, a Master's degree in Public Policy from the College of William and Mary, and a Bachelor's degree in Management Science and Engineering from Renmin University in Beijing.
- Coal transition; climate change mitigation; China climate & energy policy

After the U.S. withdrew from the Paris Agreement in 2017, CGS led the analysis of commitments from the more than 4,000 cities, states, businesses, universities, communities of faith, and more who pledged to support the goals of the Paris Agreement in their own capacity. Since the U.S. officially rejoined the Paris Agreement in March 2021, CGS has continued working with U.S. subnational and international partners to deliver analysis that informs how an "all-of-society" ambitious and achievable U.S. climate strategy can drive actionable and feasible policy. CGS informs U.S. climate policy from the local to global through developing integrated modeling and climate scenarios for the federal government, advising on international discussions to ramp up ambition, and collaborating from the bottom-up to move the resources necessary to set and achieve ambitious climate goals.
Learn More about Building a Comprehensive U.S. Climate Policy
Through our research on the state of global coal, CGS conducts analysis on the trends of global coal power -- leveraging and building on new global datasets to paint a global and country-specific picture of coal power worldwide.
Learn More about Program to Accelerate the Global Coal Transition
The China Program at CGS integrates scientific research, education, policy analysis, and stakeholder engagement to help understand and inform the development and deployment of China’s climate, energy, and environment strategies across international, national, and local contexts.
Learn More about China ProgramSchool Authors: Camryn Dahl, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui
Other Authors: Claire Squire, Maria Borrero, Flora Champenois, Lucy Hummer
School Authors: Jenna Behrendt, Mengye Zhu, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Meredydd Evans, Nathan Hultman, Haewon McJeon, Steven J. Smith
Other Authors: Sha Yu, Xinzhao Cheng, Wenli Li, Baobao Liu, Jared Williams, Haiwen Zhang, Qimin Chai, Minpeng Chen, Fei Guo, Lena Höglund Isaksson, Nina Khanna, Jiang Lin, Yazhen Wu
School Authors: Jenna Behrendt, Mengye Zhu, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Meredydd Evans, Nathan Hultman, Haewon McJeon, Steven J. Smith
Other Authors: Jared Williams, Haiwen Zhang, Baobao Liu, Xinzhao Cheng, Sha Yu, Wenli Li
School Authors: Alicia Zhao, Shannon Kennedy, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Haewon McJeon, Nathan Hultman, Camryn Dahl
Other Authors: Kowan O’Keefe, Maria Borrero, Kyle Clark-Sutton, Grace Deye, John Feldmann, Kevin Kennedy, Miguel Moravec, Dimitri Nilov, Sujata Rajpurohit, Joaquin Rosas, Claire Squire
School Authors: Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Jiehong Lou, Alicia Zhao, Jenna Behrendt, Gokul Iyer, Haewon McJeon, James 'Jae' Edmonds, Sha Yu, Nathan Hultman
Other Authors: Baihe Gu, Jiawei Song, Leon Clarke, Yi Wang, Xianchun Tan, Kaiwei Zhu, Yuhui Sheng, Hanbing Zhai, Lingsi Kong, Yonglong Cheng, Jon Sampedro, Stephanie Waldhoff
School Authors: Kathleen Kennedy, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Yueming 'Lucy' Qiu, Camryn Dahl, Shannon Kennedy, Nathan Hultman
Other Authors: Jared Williams, Arthur Ku
School Authors: Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, James 'Jae' Edmonds, Alicia Zhao, Sha Yu, Matthew Zwerling
School Authors: Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui
Other Authors: Caitlin Hamilton, Jiawei Song, Colin Olson, Diyang Cui
School Authors: Alicia Zhao, Haewon McJeon, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Kathleen Kennedy, Shannon Kennedy, Nathan Hultman
Other Authors: Kowan O’Keefe, Kyle Clark-Sutton, John Feldmann, Kevin Kennedy, Jake Meisel, Dimitri Nilov, Sujata Rajpurohit
School Authors: Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Alicia Zhao, Camryn Dahl, Nathan Hultman
Other Authors: Fabby Tumiwa, Deon Arinaldo, Raden Wiranegara, Diyang Cui, Lauri Myllyvirta, Claire Squire, Pamela Simamora
School Authors: Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Haewon McJeon, Jiehong Lou, Sha Yu, Nathan Hultman
Other Authors: Maria Borrero, Claire Squire
School Authors: Camryn Dahl, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Shannon Kennedy
Other Authors: Diyang Cui, Claire Squire
School Authors: Alicia Zhao, Haewon McJeon, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Gokul Iyer, Kathleen Kennedy, Shannon Kennedy, Nathan Hultman
Other Authors: Tom Cyrs, John Feldmann, Kevin Kennedy, Kowan O'Keefe (CGS PhD Candidate), Sujata Rajpurohit, Lainie Rowland
School Authors: Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Shannon Kennedy
Other Authors: Jessica Gordon
School Authors: Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Nathan Hultman
Other Authors: Jiawei Song, Xueqin Cui, Diyang Cui, Xiaoli Zhang, Fan Dai, Jessica Gordon, Zhinan Chen, Daniel Kammen
School Authors: Morgan Edwards, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Nathan Hultman, Haewon McJeon, Gokul Iyer, Alicia Zhao
Other Authors: Jiawei Song, Matilyn Bindl, Krinjal Mathur
School Authors: Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Leon Clarke
Other Authors: Jiawei Song, Colin Olson, Caitlin Hamilton
School Authors: Gokul Iyer, Leon Clarke, James 'Jae' Edmonds, Nathan Hultman, Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Sha Yu, Haewon McJeon
Other Authors: Yang Ou, Allen A. Fawcett, James R. McFarland, Matthew Binsted, Claire Fyson, Andreas Geiges, Sofia Gonzales-Zuñiga, Matthew J. Gidden, Niklas Höhne, Louise Jeffery, Takeshi Kuramochi, Jared Lewis, Malte Meinshausen, Zebedee Nicholls, Pralit Patel, Shaun Ragnauth, Joeri Rogel J., Stephanie Waldhoff
School Authors: Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Leon Clarke, Nathan Hultman, Shannon Kennedy, Camryn Dahl
Other Authors: Diyang Cui, Claire Squire
School Authors: Yiyun 'Ryna' Cui, Nathan Hultman, Haewon McJeon, Leon Clarke















