Ottmar Georg Edenhofer (born 8 July 1961) is a German economist who is regarded as one of the world's leading experts on climate change policy, environmental and energy policy, and energy economics. His work has been heavily cited. Edenhofer currently holds the professorship of the Economics of Climate Change at the

Technical University of Berlin The Technical University of Berlin (official name both in English and german: link=no, Technische Universität Berlin, also known as TU Berlin and Berlin Institute of Technology) is a public research university located in Berlin, Germany. It was ...

. Together with Earth scientist Johan Rockström, economist Ottmar Edenhofer is scientific director of the

Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK, German: ''Potsdam-Institut für Klimafolgenforschung'') is a German government-funded research institute addressing crucial scientific questions in the fields of global change, climate imp ...

(PIK), representing the interdisciplinary and solutions-oriented approach of the institute. Furthermore, he is director of the

Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change The Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change (MCC) conducts research and fosters dialogue about how the global commons, such as the atmosphere and the oceans, might be used and shared by many yet nevertheless be protected. ...

(MCC). From 2008 to 2015 he served as one of the co-chairs of the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an intergovernmental body of the United Nations. Its job is to advance scientific knowledge about climate change caused by human activities. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) a ...

(IPCC) Working Group III "Mitigation of Climate Change". Edenhofer is a member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and of the

German Academy of Science and Engineering Acatech (styled ''acatech),'' founded in 2002 and established as the German Academy of Science and Engineering (german: Deutsche Akademie der Technikwissenschaften) on 1 January 2008, represents the interests of Germany, German technical sciences ...

(acatech). In 2020 Professor Edenhofer was honoured with the most prestigious environmental prize in Germany the Environment Prize (German Environment Foundation) for his groundbreaking work in the field of carbon pricing. Before, he was awarded the Romano-Guardini-Prize by the Katholische Akademie in Bayern.

Education

Edenhofer was born in

Gangkofen Gangkofen is a municipality in the county ("Landkreis") of Rottal-Inn in Bavaria in Germany. Geography The market town (Markt) Gangkofen lies in the valley of the river Bina along the federal highway B 388 about 17 km (11 mi) west of ...

Lower Bavaria Lower Bavaria (german: Niederbayern, Bavarian: ''Niedabayern'') is one of the seven administrative regions of Bavaria, Germany, located in the east of the state. Geography Lower Bavaria is subdivided into two regions () – Landshut and Donau-W ...

, Germany. He completed his Diploma in Economics with honors at the

Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous operatio ...

. He belonged the

Jesuit Order , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

from 1987 to 1994 and following his

novitiate The novitiate, also called the noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a Christian ''novice'' (or ''prospective'') monastic, apostolic, or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether ...

earned a bachelor's degree in Philosophy at the

Munich School of Philosophy Munich School of Philosophy (German: ''Hochschule für Philosophie München'') is a small Jesuit higher education college in Munich, Germany founded in 1925. History Founded as a seminary at Pullach in 1925 by Augustin Bea, first named the Be ...

. During this time he also founded an enterprise in the public health sector and led a humanitarian aid organization in Croatia and Bosnia from 1991 to 1993. After leaving the Order, Edenhofer worked as a research assistant from 1994 to 2000 and completed his PhD in economics summa cum laude at the

Technical University of Darmstadt Technical may refer to: * Technical (vehicle), an improvised fighting vehicle * Technical analysis, a discipline for forecasting the future direction of prices through the study of past market data * Technical drawing, showing how something is co ...

in 1999 under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Carlo C. Jäger.

Career

In 2018, Edenhofer was appointed Director of the

with Earth scientist Johan Rockström. Previously, Edenhofer was Deputy Director and Chief Economist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), where he headed Research Area III ("Sustainable Solutions Strategies"). Since June 2020 Edenhofer is project lead of the major Copernicus research activity Ariadne on the German energy transition. The project is investigating options how climate targets can be met with socially accepted policy instruments From 2008 to 2015 he served as a co-chair of Working Group III "Mitigation of Climate Change" of the (IPCC). Under his leadership as co-chair, the IPCC published the Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation (SRREN), and the Fifth Assessment Report on Climate Change in 2014. In 2012 he became director of the newly founded

(MCC). From 2004 to 2008 Edenhofer was a 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 Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemi ...

in the same year. Since 2008, Edenhofer holds the professorship for th
Economics of Climate Change
at the

Other activities and advisory roles

Edenhofer has advised German Chancellor

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German former politician and scientist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), she previously served as Leader of the Oppo ...

, and Federal President

Frank-Walter Steinmeier Frank-Walter Steinmeier (; born 5 January 1956) is a German politician serving as President of Germany since 19 March 2017. He was previously Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2005 to 2009 and again from 2013 to 2017, as well as Vice Chan ...

on carbon pricing. Edenhofer was asked to submit an expertise on carbon pricing options to the

German Council of Economic Experts The German Council of Economic Experts (German: ') is a group of economists set up in 1963 to evaluate economic policies of the German government. In the media, the council is often referred to as the "Five Sages of Economy" (''Fünf Wirtschaftswe ...

. In 2021, Edenhofer was appointed to th
Vatican's Dicastry for Promoting Integral Human Development
by Pope Francis. Edenhofer is a member of the OECD Advisory Council “Growth, Investment and the Low-Carbon Transition”.http://www.oecd.org/environment/cc/advisory-council-members-project-growth-investment-lowcarbon-transition.pdf At the invitation of

Ségolène Royal Marie-Ségolène Royal (; born 22 September 1953) is a French politician who was the Socialist Party candidate for the Presidency of France in the 2007 election. Royal was president of the Poitou-Charentes Regional Council from 2004 to 2014 ...

and

Feike Sijbesma Feike Sijbesma (born 1959) is a Dutch business executive who served as CEO and Chairman of the Managing Board of DSM from 2007 until 2020. And in 2022, he was nominated as honorary chairman. He helped the Dutch government from March till Septemb ...

, Co-Chairs of the Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition (CPLC) High Level Assembly, he became a member of the High-Level Commission on Carbon Prices – co-chaired by

Joseph Stiglitz Joseph Eugene Stiglitz (; born February 9, 1943) is an American New Keynesian economist, a public policy analyst, and a full professor at Columbia University. He is a recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (2001) and the Joh ...

and

Nicholas Stern Nicholas Herbert Stern, Baron Stern of Brentford, (born 22 April 1946 in Hammersmith) is a British economist, banker, and academic. He is the IG Patel Professor of Economics and Government and Chair of the Grantham Research Institute on Cli ...

– in 2019/20. In June 2021, he was appointed to the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...

–

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster globa ...

High-Level Advisory Group (HLAG) on Sustainable and Inclusive Recovery and Growth, co-chaired by

Mari Pangestu Mari Elka Pangestu (; born 23 October 1956), is an Indonesian economist who has been managing director of Development Policy and Partnerships in the World Bank since 2020. The President of the World Bank, David Malpass, announced her appointmen ...

Ceyla Pazarbasioglu Ceyla Pazarbasioglu ( tr, Ceyla Pazarbaşıoğlu) is a Turkish economist. As of January 2010 she was an assistant director of the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Monetary and Capital Markets department and was in charge of financial supervision ...

, and

. In addition, Edenhofer holds the following unpaid or paid honorary positions: * Since 2007: Fellow of the Academy of Sciences in Hamburg, Germany *Since 2008: Member of the German Association Socialpolitik, Research Committee Environmental and Resource Economics *2012-2016: Member of the Foundation Council of

Munich Re Munich Re Group or Munich Reinsurance Company (german: Münchener Rück; Münchener Rückversicherungs-Gesellschaft) is a German multinational insurance company based in Munich, Germany. It is one of the world's leading reinsurers. ERGO, a Muni ...

*2012-2019: Member of the Advisory Committee, Green Growth Knowledge Platform (GGKP) (a joint effort of the Global Green Growth Institute, the

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries ...

(OECD), the

United Nations Environment Programme The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is responsible for coordinating responses to environmental issues within the United Nations system. It was established by Maurice Strong, its first director, after the United Nations Conference on th ...

(UNEP), and the

) *2012: Member of the Advisory Committee of the Green Growth Knowledge Platform (GGKP) *2013: Chair of the

Euro-CASE The European Council of Applied Sciences, Technologies and Engineering (Euro-CASE) is a European non-profit organization, which groups 19 to 20 European national academies of engineering, applied sciences and technology. The organization provides ...

Energy Platform *Since 2015: Member of the

(acatech) *Since 2015: Member of the Advisory Council of the Carbon Mitigation Initiative (CMI) der

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

*Since 2016: Member of th
Sustainability Council
of

Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...

*Since 2016: Editor of

Review of Environmental Economics and Policy The Review of Environmental Economics and Policy (REEP) is a peer-reviewed journal of environmental economics published twice each year. It is the official "accessible" journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (AERE), ...

(REEP) *Since 2018: Member of th
High-Level Commission on Carbon Prices
* Since 2018: Member of the German National Academy of Science Leopoldina *Since 2018: Member of the Scientific Advisory Board to th
European Institute on Economics and the Environment
(EIEE) *Since 2019: Co-Chair of the Wissenschaftsplattform Klimaschutz * Since 2019: Member of the Scientific Advisory Council of the ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research * Since 2019: Member of the Advisory Board of th
Laudato Sí Research Institute
(LSRI) *Since 2019: Member of the Food System Economics Commission (EAT) *Since 2021: Elected member of the Central Committee of German Catholics *Since 2021: Deputy chair of the Sustainability Advisory Board of the state of

Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a states of Germany, state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an ar ...

*Since 2021: Member of the High-Level Advisory Group on Sustainable and Inclusive Recovery and Growth (HLAG) Besides his teaching and research activities, Edenhofer actively contributes to public debates about political climate protection measures in Germany and the European Union.

Research interests

Edenhofer's research explores the impact of induced technological change on mitigation costs and mitigation strategies, the

value capture Value capture is a type of public financing that recovers some or all of the value that public infrastructure generates for private landowners. In many countries, the public sector is responsible for the infrastructure required to support urban dev ...

and distribution of

land Land, also known as dry land, ground, or earth, is the solid terrestrial surface of the planet Earth that is not submerged by the ocean or other bodies of water. It makes up 29% of Earth's surface and includes the continents and various islan ...

rents, and the design of instruments for climate and energy policy. He specializes in the economics of atmospheric stabilization, social cost-benefit analysis,

land value tax A land value tax (LVT) is a levy on the value of land (economics), land without regard to buildings, personal property and other land improvement, improvements. It is also known as a location value tax, a point valuation tax, a site valuation ta ...

, sustainability theory, economic growth theory, environmental economics, welfare theory, and general intertemporal equilibrium theory.

Philosophy and position on climate change

Edenhofer says that his interest in philosophy and economics was influenced by his readings of the works of

Henry George Henry George (September 2, 1839 – October 29, 1897) was an American political economist and journalist. His writing was immensely popular in 19th-century America and sparked several reform movements of the Progressive Era. He inspired the eco ...

Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

Max Weber Maximilian Karl Emil Weber (; ; 21 April 186414 June 1920) was a German sociologist, historian, jurist and political economist, who is regarded as among the most important theorists of the development of modern Western society. His ideas profo ...

Ludwig Wittgenstein Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrian-British philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. He is considere ...

, and

John Dewey John Dewey (; October 20, 1859 – June 1, 1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. He was one of the most prominent American scholars in the f ...

. 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." Edenhofer is a proponent of carbon pricing. He points out that both cap-and-trade and a direct

carbon tax A carbon tax is a tax levied on the carbon emissions required to produce goods and services. Carbon taxes are intended to make visible the "hidden" social costs of carbon emissions, which are otherwise felt only in indirect ways like more sev ...

can be implemented to reduce

greenhouse emissions Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities strengthen the greenhouse effect, contributing to climate change. Most is carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. The largest emitters include coal in China and la ...

and encourage innovation to preserve the climate. He feels strongly that moving the global economy to a low-carbon threshold requires huge increases in the use of

renewable energy Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...

across all economic sectors.

Publications

*
List of publications by Ottmar Edenhofer

References

External links

Chair of Economics of Climate Change at the Technical University of Berlin

IPCC Working Group III

Michael Otto Foundation

Ottmar Edenhofer at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)

Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) – Research Domain III (Sustainable Solutions)

Stiftung Mercator
{{DEFAULTSORT:Edenhofer, Ottmar 1961 births German economists Living people Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni Technical University of Berlin faculty Technische Universität Darmstadt alumni Institute for New Economic Thinking Members of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina