How can a better economics help address the climate crisis?

About the lecture

In this lecture Dr. Pete Barbrook-Johnson will consider whether economics has helped or hindered action on the climate crisis and explore how new dynamic and participatory approaches to economics are informing more effective climate action. Pete will introduce in an accessible manner, influential economic modelling and decision tools used by governments and big business. He will consider how they take account of uncertainty and dynamics in the energy transition, before sharing some of the improvements and alternatives that have emerged to better support the needs of decision makers and ambitious climate action.

About the speaker

Dr. Pete Barbrook-Johnson is a social scientist, economist, complexity scientist, and systems thinker, regularly working on energy and environmental policy issues. He is a Lecturer in Social Economics at UCL, a Teaching Associate at the Environmental Change Institute and an Associate at the Institute for New Economic Thinking, both at the University of Oxford.

About the chair

Nadia Ameli is a multidisciplinary researcher specializing in the economic, financial, and policy aspects of climate change and energy-related issues. She is a Full Professor of Climate Finance at the UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources (ISR) and also serves as Research Director at ISR. Her work focuses on the pivotal role of finance in driving the global transition to a low-carbon economy, with a particular emphasis on integrating financial mechanisms into climate policy. She explores how to stimulate a virtuous cycle of investments and non-linear growth trajectories across diverse countries, market conditions, and stages of technological development, employing systemic and complexity-based approaches.