Ottmar Edenhofer

Ottmar Edenhofer

Ottmar Georg Edenhofer (born 8 July 1961 in Gangkofen, Lower Bavaria, Germany) is a German economist dealing with climate change policy, environmental and energy policy as well as energy economics. Edenhofer currently holds the professorship of Economics of Climate Change at the Technical University of Berlin was appointed one of the co-chairs of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group III "Mitigation of Climate Change". He is Deputy Director and Chief Economist of the [http:www.pik-potsdam.de/ Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research] and Director of the Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change. Among many other functions he is member of the group "Climate, Energy & Environment" of the German National Academy of Science Leopoldina, of the Advisory Committee of the Green Growth Knowledge Platform (joint effort of the Global Green Growth Institute, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development Environment Programme (UNEP), and World Bank), of the Forschungsforum, Promoter Group Economy, chair of the Euro-CASE Energy Platform and of the German Academy of Science and Engineering acatech.

Education

Edenhofer completed his Diploma in Economics with honors at the Ludwig-Maximilian-University Munich. He joined the Jesuit Order from 1987-1994 and earned a bachelor degree in Philosophy with summa cum laude at the Munich School of Philosophy . During this time he also founded an enterprise in the public health sector and lead a humanitarian aid organization in Croatia and Bosnia from 1991-1993. After leaving the Order, Edenhofer worked as a research assistant from 1994-2000 and completed his PhD in Economics with summa cum laude at the Technical University of Darmstadt in 1999.

Career

2004-2008 Edenhofer was lead author of the Fourth Assessment Report on Climate Change published by the IPCC in 2007. The IPCC was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize the same year. [1]

Besides his function as a fellow at the Hanse Institute for Advanced Studies in Delmenhorst, Germany, in 2005, Edenhofer headed the Innovation Modelling Comparison Project “The Economic and Technological Dimensions of Stabilising the Atmospheric Greenhouse Gas Concentration” in close cooperation with Michael Grubb, Carlo Carraro and Kai Lessmann. Funded by the German Federal Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, the project results were published in a special issue of the International Association for Energy Economics’ Energy Journal in 2006.

Since 2007, Edenhofer is deputy director and chief economist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), co-charing Research Domain III "Sustainable Solutions", which focuses on the scientific research of the economics of atmospheric stabilization. In close cooperation with the research domain’s staff he formulated the concept “Global Deal” for climate protection as well as developed a concept for the transatlantic carbon market. In addition, he supervises several PhD as well as Diploma Students at PIK. He is also in charge of the coordinating various third-party-funded research projects.[2][3][4][5]

Edenhofer holds the professorship for Economics of Climate Change at the Technical University of Berlin which was initiated by the Michael Otto Foundation for Environmental Protection in 2008. The same year he was appointed co-chair IPCC's Working group III "Mitigation of Climate Change". In 2012 he became director of the newly founded Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC). Among many other engagements, Edenhofer is a member of the Forschungsunion Science-Industry Cooperation, Promoter Group Climate Energy, the group "Climate, Energy & Environment" of the German National Academy of Science Leopoldina, the Advisory Committee of the Green Growth Knowledge Platform (joint effort of the Global Green Growth Institute, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development Environment Programme (UNEP), and World Bank), of the Forschungsforum, Promoter Group Economy, chair of the Euro-CASE Energy Platform and of the German Academy of Science and Engineering acatech. Besides his teaching and research activities, he actively contributes to public debates about political climate protection measures in Germany and the European Union.

Research interests

Professor Ottmar Edenhofer’s research explores the impact of induced technological change on mitigation costs and mitigation strategies, as well as the design of instruments for climate and energy policy. He specializes in the Economics of Atmospheric Stabilization, Social Cost-Benefit Analysis, Sustainability Theory, Economic Growth Theory, Environmental Economics, Welfare Theory and General Intertemporal Equilibrium Theory.

Philosophy and position on climate change

In a profile published in Nature in 2013, Edenhofer says that his interest in philosophy and economics was influenced by his readings of the works of Karl Marx, Max Weber, Ludwig Wittgenstein and John Dewey. Regarding climate change he says: ”Denying out and out that climate change is a problem for humanity, as some cynics do, is an unethical, unacceptable position.”[6]

Fellowships

Scientific Honors

Publications

References

  1. ↑ http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Al_Gore%27s_Nobel_Peace_Prize_acceptance_speech
  2. ↑ http://globalabergerecht.de/
  3. ↑ http://globalabergerecht.de/Publikationen.64.0.html
  4. ↑ http://www.pik-potsdam.de/members/edenh/research/research
  5. ↑ http://www.pik-potsdam.de/research/sustainable-solutions/projects/current-projects/externally-funded-projects
  6. ↑ "The Climate Chairman", Nature, v. 501, pp 304-306, 19 Sept 2013
  7. ↑ http://www.awhamburg.de/mitglieder/korrespondierende-mitglieder/detail/memberList/Ottmar%20Edenhofer/cHash/276ff26f62cc1088076da66b19fade6a.html?no_cache=1
  8. ↑ http://www.cer.ethz.ch/auroe/mitglieder/members.pdf
  9. ↑ http://www.iaee.org/en/
  10. ↑ http://www.cesifo-group.de/portal/page/portal/ifoHome/f-about/f3aboutifo/40ifobodies/_ifobodies?item_link=wiss-beirat.htm
  11. ↑ http://www.leopoldina.org/de/politik/themengruppen-der-akademie/klima-energie-und-umwelt.html
  12. ↑ http://www.greengrowthknowledge.org/about/advisory-committee
  13. ↑ https://www.munichre.com/site/corporate/get/documents_E-12349725/mr/assetpool.shared/Documents/4_Corporate%20Responsibility/Downloads/munichre-foundation-report2012-de.pdf
  14. ↑ https://www.pik-potsdam.de/news/press-releases/edenhofer-to-advise-201eenergiewende-research-forum201d?set_language=en
  15. ↑ https://www.pik-potsdam.de/news/press-releases/politikberatung-fuer-eu-entscheider-edenhofer-leitet-neue-energieplattform

External links

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