Paul Ekins has 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, University College London.  He is also Deputy Director of the UK Energy Research Centre, in charge of its Energy Resources and Vectors theme.

He was a Member of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution from 2002-2008. He also has extensive experience consulting for business, government and international organisations, and has been a regular contributor to His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales’ course for senior executives on business and the environment, now continuing with involvement with the Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership, at the University of Cambridge. In 2011 he was appointed Vice-Chairman of the DG Environment Commissioner’s High-Level Economists Expert Group on Resource Efficiency, and in 2012 a member of the European Commission’s European Resource Efficiency Platform. In 2012-14 Paul Ekins was the Chair of the UCL Green Economy Policy Commission, which published its final report Greening the Recovery, in February 2014.

Paul Ekins’ academic work focuses on the conditions and policies for achieving an environmentally sustainable economy, concerning which he has written, edited or co-edited numerous books, papers and articles.  In 1994 Paul Ekins received a Global 500 Award ‘for outstanding environmental achievement’ from the United Nations Environment Programme.