The first Goodwin Lecture was held during the workshop Financialisation and sustainability, as part of the European Research Project FESSUD, in Siena on September 8–9, 2014.
PROGRAM
Chair: Alessandro Vercelli, University of Siena
Introduction
Angelo Riccaboni, Rector of the University of Siena
Michelangelo Vasta, Head of the Department of Economics and Statistics University of Siena
Speaker:
Paul Ekins, UCL, University of London
Policies for a green economy: making a reality of sustainable development
Discussants:
Malcom Sawyer, University of Leeds
Ignazio Musu, University of Venice
Paul Ekins holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of London and is Professor of Resources and Environmental Policy and Director of the UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources at University College London (UCL). Previously, he served as Professor of Energy and Environment Policy and Director of Research at the UCL Energy Institute. Since its establishment in 2004, he has been a Co-Director of the UK Energy Research Centre (UKERC), leading key research themes on Energy Systems and Modelling, Energy Systems, and Energy Resources as Deputy Director. He is also a Fellow of the Energy Institute and a Senior Consultant to Cambridge Econometrics. At UCL, he leads participation in the EPSRC SUPERGEN consortium on hydrogen and fuel cells, as well as a major project under the EPSRC Bioenergy Challenge.
Ekins has played a significant role in shaping sustainability and environmental policy. He co-founded the sustainable development charity Forum for the Future, served as Director of the Green Fiscal Commission, and was Chairman of the National Industrial Symbiosis Programme (NISP)—the UK’s most successful initiative to enhance resource productivity. He has also been a member of Ofgem’s Sustainable Development Advisory Group and the UK National Ecosystem Assessment Expert Panel. His advisory roles extend to government and international institutions. He was a Member of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (2002–2008) and served as a Specialist Adviser to the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee (1997–2005). Additionally, he was a Member of the Government’s Sustainable Energy Policy Advisory Board (2003–2007), a Specialist Adviser to the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Climate Change Bill (2007), and a consultant to the Government’s Sustainable Development Commission. He has advised the Advisory Committee on Business and the Environment, the Round Table on Sustainable Development, and contributed to HRH The Prince of Wales’ Business and Environment Programme at the University of Cambridge.
Ekins has also served on several prestigious award panels. Since 2003, he has been a member—and now Chairman—of the UK Ashden Sustainable Energy Awards Judging Panel and serves on the Rushlight and Rosenblatt New Energy Awards Judging Panel. In 2010–2011, he was a member of two Ministerial Advisory Panels on the Green Deal (DECC) and the Natural Environment White Paper (DEFRA). In 2011, he was appointed Vice-Chairman of the DG Environment Commissioner’s High-Level Economists Expert Group on Resource Efficiency, and in 2012, he joined the European Commission’s European Resource Efficiency Platform. For his contributions to environmental sustainability, Paul Ekins received the Global 500 Award for Outstanding Environmental Achievement from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in 1994.