Paul has been Professor of Resources and Environmental Policy at UCL Institute for Sustainable Resources, of which he is also Director, since 2011, having previously held similar positions at UCL Energy Institute and King’s College London; and before that he was Head of the Environment Group at the Policy Studies Institute and Professor of Sustainable Development at the University of Westminster.
He was a member of the UK Government’s Sustainable Energy Policy Advisory Board from 2003-2007. He was also a specialist adviser to the Environmental Audit Committee of the House of Commons (1997-2005), a specialist adviser to the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Climate Change Bill in 2007, and a Member of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (2002-2008). His academic work focuses on the conditions and policies for achieving an environmentally sustainable economy.
In addition to the literature about sustainable energy and energy policy, Paul has made contributions in many areas relating to sustainable development and environmental policy more broadly, including the conceptualisation and measurement of environmental sustainability, the adjustment of the national accounts to take account of environmental impacts, environmental taxes and ecological tax reform, and environment and trade. He also has had extensive experience consulting for business, government and international organisations.
He is the author of numerous papers, book-chapters and articles, and has written or edited twelve books, two of the most recent of which are Energy 2050: the Transition to a Secure, Low-Carbon Energy System for the UK (Earthscan, London, 2011) and Global Energy: Issues, Potentials and Policy Implications (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2014 forthcoming). In 1994 Paul Ekins received a Global 500 Award ‘for outstanding environmental achievement’ from the United Nations Environment Programme.
Paul has a PhD in economics from the University of London.