Interview at Vetenskapsfestivalen by Karin Gyllenklev (in Swedish):

“In the video interview below, Thomas Sterner, Professor of Environmental Economics at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, explores the risks associated with climate change and the uncertainty surrounding their quantification. He goes on to discuss the most efficient tools to mitigate those risks from the perspective of policymakers, corporates and the (re)insurance industry.” – SCOR Live Blog

Consists of the CEOs in the world’s leading insurance companies. This year, at their 45th General Assembly I was invited to give a speech on the efficacy of public policy instruments in the fight against climate change. Below is an interview they made afterwards.

We have tried for years to spread the idea of environmental economics across the whole world and now we are finally hosting a World Conference. It will start on Monday 25^th of June with a couple of preconference activities. In the evening there will be a spectacular speech by Gina McCarthy who was Obamas Head of the EPA. She will speak on Trump’s attack on science and truth.  – check out the Webpage!

Copied below is the welcome letter:

Very welcome to the 6^th World Congress of Environmental and Resource Economists between the 25^th-29^th June 2018. 

The five-day congress will take place at the School of Business, Economics and Law, which is part of the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. We welcome you to our campus, situated right in the heart of the city. The Department of Economics is an international and socially engaged department with staff from across the world.

We want WCERE 2018 to be both deep and broad. We delve into economic theory to understand the mechanisms behind social change but listen also to subjects such as political science and history as well as the many natural science disciplines that help us understand the resource and environmental challenges we face. These are times when environmental issues are very pressing and sensible policy making is becoming more difficult and more scarce. We hope, in addition to theory and empirical studies, also to engage with the policy agenda. We extend a particular welcome to the many environmental and resource economists who are practitioners.

We hope to make WCERE 2018 a good meeting point, for fun and discussions at the different social events and at the post conference dinner in the beautiful archipelago at Marstrand.

To all of you, we look forward to welcome you to our home.

On behalf of the LOC

Thomas Sterner President of the LOC

I was just at Chalmers for a Conference entitled Negative Emissions. The discussion in the panel focused on the overall message that we researchers send when we discuss negative emissions. On the one hand there are some who think we should not discuss Neg E because then people will not quite understand how important it is to stop emissions today. Most of us disagree, negative emissions can indeed be an additional help to limit the damages from climate change and should be taken seriously but the main instrument is still abatement of emissions for example through carbon taxes. There is no way negative emissions can substitute for reduction of ordinary emissions – but they can be a complement in some circumstances.

Note the Legendary Jim Hansen who testified on climate change to the US Congress in 1988 and really is a father of the modern climate awareness. He insisted on carbon taxes. I really admire that he is still so calm and friendly.

Moderated this panel:

Wednesday, May 23, 15:00-15:40 Panel 2. Modelling, policy and incentives.

Discussion:  How much negative emissions will be needed? How do reach the policy makers? Incentives.

Moderators: Glen Peters and Thomas Sterner

Panelists: Christian Azar, Josep Canadell, Sabine Fuss, Oliver Geden, James Hansen, Jan Minx, Naomi Vaughan, Detlef van Vuuren,

Hi and welcome to my new web page. I decided to have a more personal webpage outside the university system. I will still link to a number of pages at the University but also other professional activities related to lecturing, policy, research, consultancy and NGO activities – and just a small teaser of a more personal character.

Please Visit “Home” for a quick guide to the different sections. This here, is the news section where I will post recent news and activities and maybe the odd blog post or new article.

The launch is today on the 22nd of May 2018 and hence there are no news posted before this date.

Once again: A very warm welcome to my pages .

Plenary talk “Did Paris Solve the Climate Problem?” at 13th Annual Conference on Economic Growth and Development, Indian Statistical Institute, New Delhi.