Dr. Li Zhang is a professor and principal investigator of Ecology at Beijing Normal University, who is also a member of the National Scientific Committee on Endangered Species (CITES China Scientific Committee), the member of the Steering Committee of the UN Science Policy and Business environment forum of the United Nations Environment Program, and the member of the Executive Committee of the G20 foundation platform F-20. He is the director of Green Inclusive Carbon Neutrality Promotion Center and the executive director of International Academy for Carbon Neutrality; the Deputy Secretary General of the Zoological Society of China and the Deputy Director of its conservation biology branch; he is also a handle editor of the journal of Conservation biology.

He has been engaged in environmental policy studies such as forestry carbon sequestration, collective forest property right system reform, ecological compensation, nature reserve legislation, community conservation agreement, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, and has published more than 100 opinion articles and research papers in well-known academic journals such as Nature, Science, Nature Ecology and Evolution, Biodiversity and Conservation, Conservation Letters and Biological Conservation etc.

In addition, Prof. Li Zhang has also been engaged in the program management of non-governmental organizations in China for a long time. He served as the country director of International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) in China from 2002 to 2006, the China Program director of Conservation International (CI) from 2008 to 2013, and the China representative of Freeland Foundation from 2013 to 2016. He has been on the judge panel of Ford Motor Environment Conservation Fund in China since 2002. From 2016 to 2021, he served as the Secretary General of China of largest environmental fund, the Society of Entrepreneurs and Ecology Foundation (SEE).