Simon Dietz

The Economics of 1.5°C Climate Change

Economically efficient climate targets, such as whether a  1.5°C warming limit passes a cost-benefit test, is one of the research interests of Simon Dietz, an environmental economist with particular interests in climate change and sustainable development. His research also covers biodiversity, decision theory and growth theory, but he is probably best known for his work on the social cost of carbon emissions and its relationship with issues in welfare economics such as discounting, and risk and uncertainty aversion.

Mr Dietz has published dozens of research articles on a wide range of topics, including decision-making under uncertainty, questions of equity within and between generations, the links between economic growth and the environment and the formation of interna-tional environmental treaties. He also works with governments, businesses and NGOs on topics of shared interest, such as carbon pricing, insurance and institutional invest-ment.

Simon Dietz is Professor of Environmental Policy in the Department of Geography and Environment at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). He is also one of the founders and is a current Co-Director of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment and Director of the ESRC Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy. Prior to joining the LSE faculty, Simon Dietz was a Policy Analyst at Her Majesty’s Treasury, where he worked on the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change.

Mr Dietz is also a principal consultant at Vivid Economics, co-editor of the Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. In 2018 he became the first recipient of the new European Award for Researchers in Environmental Economics under the Age of Forty. As an undergraduate he studied Environmental Science at UEA Norwich and ETH Zürich, before completing an MSc and PhD at LSE in Environmental Policy and Economics.