Paul Ekins

Ekins was a prominent member of the Green Party UK (now the Green Party of England and Wales) in the 1970s and 1980s. He left in 1986 after controversy over reforms he and others were promoting to streamline Green Party structures. This group, known as "Maingreen", was seen as a forerunner of the moves to reform the party's internal structures by a later group known as Green 2000.Wall, Derek, Weaving a Bower Against Endless Night: An Illustrated History of the Green Party, 1994

Ekins has been a prominent green academic in the field of sustainable economics. He has also worked as a consultant. In 1996, he set up Forum for the Future with Sara Parkin and Jonathon Porritt.[http://www.forumforthefuture.org.uk/news/alistairmcgowan_page406.aspx Press Notice footnote from Forum for the Future] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928193420/http://www.forumforthefuture.org.uk/news/alistairmcgowan_page406.aspx |date=2007-09-28 }} The Forum says: “When Paul Ekins set up the Sustainable Economy Unit as part of Forum for the Future back in 1996, he argued that ‘many of today’s environmental problems are really economic problems in disguise, and getting the economics right lies at the heart of any solutions agenda.’ He aimed ‘to show that radical moves towards environmental sustainability are compatible with prosperity’. This remains a central part of Forum's mission.”[http://www.forumforthefuture.org.uk/docs/publications/403/Annual%20Report%2006.pdf Forum for the Future Annual Report 2006, p6] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928193428/http://www.forumforthefuture.org.uk/docs/publications/403/Annual%20Report%2006.pdf |date=2007-09-28 }}

He worked as head of the Environment group at the Policy Studies Institute.[https://iris.ucl.ac.uk/research/personal?upi=PEKIN72 University College London Biography]

He has worked as an advisor to the Environmental Audit Select Committee of the British House of Commons. In 1994, Ekins received a UN Environment Programme Global 500 Award ”for outstanding environmental achievement”.

Ekins was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2015 New Year Honours for services to environmental policy.

Paul Ekins took a Ph.D. in economics at Birkbeck, University of London. He became Professor of Sustainable Development at the University of Westminster, from October 2002 – 2007. He is currently Professor of Resources and Environmental Policy at University College London.

His academic work examines the "conditions and policies for achieving an environmentally sustainable economy". Ekins has predicted that substantial reserves of fossil fuels should remain in the ground and not be burned if humans are to prevent temperature increases beyond 2 degrees. His original work with Christophe McGlade in 2015 has been supported by more recent analysis.{{cite journal |last1=Brown |first1=Eryn |title=Now is the time to prepare for the economic shocks of battling climate change |journal=Knowable Magazine |publisher=Annual Reviews |date=30 September 2021 |doi=10.1146/knowable-093021-1 |url=https://knowablemagazine.org/article/food-environment/2021/cost-of-climate-change |access-date=9 February 2022 |language=en |doi-access=free }}{{cite journal |last1=van der Ploeg |first1=Frederick |last2=Rezai |first2=Armon |title=Stranded Assets in the Transition to a Carbon-Free Economy |journal=Annual Review of Resource Economics |date=6 October 2020 |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=281–298 |doi=10.1146/annurev-resource-110519-040938 |s2cid=213858475 |url=https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-resource-110519-040938 |access-date=9 February 2022 |issn=1941-1340|doi-access=free |hdl=10419/215027 |hdl-access=free }}{{cite journal |last1=McGlade |first1=Christophe |last2=Ekins |first2=Paul |title=The geographical distribution of fossil fuels unused when limiting global warming to 2 °C |journal=Nature |date=January 2015 |volume=517 |issue=7533 |pages=187–190 |doi=10.1038/nature14016 |pmid=25567285 |bibcode=2015Natur.517..187M |s2cid=4454113 |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/nature14016 |access-date=9 February 2022 |language=en |issn=1476-4687}}{{cite journal |last1=Welsby |first1=Dan |last2=Price |first2=James |last3=Pye |first3=Steve |last4=Ekins |first4=Paul |title=Unextractable fossil fuels in a 1.5 °C world |journal=Nature |date=September 2021 |volume=597 |issue=7875 |pages=230–234 |doi=10.1038/s41586-021-03821-8 |pmid=34497394 |bibcode=2021Natur.597..230W |s2cid=237455006 |language=en |issn=1476-4687|doi-access=free }}

He is author of a number of books:

• {{Citation |publisher = Routledge |isbn = 0415071143 |ol = 1319852M |location = London |title = A New world order |author = Paul Ekins |date = 1992 |id = 0415071143 }}
• {{Citation |publisher = Anchor Books |isbn = 0385419147 |location = New York |title = The Gaia atlas of green economics |url = https://archive.org/details/gaiaatlasofgreen00ekin |author = Paul Ekins |date = 1992 |id = 0385419147 |url-access = registration }}
• {{Citation |publisher = AFRC-SERC Clean Technology Unit |isbn = 1870669045 |ol = 15198651M |location = Swindon |title = Cities and sustainability |author = Paul Ekins |date = 1993 |oclc = 28261170 |id = 1870669045 }}
• {{Citation |publisher = Routledge |isbn = 9780415079778 |ol = 7482254M |title = Real Life Economics |date = August 14, 1992 |author1 = Paul Ekins |author2 = Manfred A. Max-Neef |id = 0415079772 }}
• {{Citation |publisher = Forum for the Future |location = London |title = Ecological tax reform, environmental policy and the competitiveness of British industry |author = Paul Ekins |date = 1998 |ol = 17396185M }}
• {{Citation |publisher = Routledge |isbn = 978-0415173339 |ol = 16240686M |location = London |title = Economic growth and environmental sustainability |author = Paul Ekins |date = 2000 |id = 0203011759 }}
• {{Citation |publisher = Earthscan |isbn = 9781844076802 |ol = 24407941M |location = London |title = Hydrogen energy |author = Paul Ekins |date = 2010 |oclc = 428731286 |id = 1844076806 }}
• {{Citation |publisher = Oxford University Press |isbn = 9780199584505 |ol = 25087791M |location = Oxford |title = Environmental tax reform (ETR) |author = Paul Ekins |date = 2011 |id = 0199584508 }}
• {{Citation |publisher = Oxford University Press |isbn = 978-0198719533 |ol = 25884925M |title = Global Energy: Issues, Potentials and Policy Implications |date = 2015 |author1 = Paul Ekins |author2 = Mike Bradshaw |author3 = Jim Watson |id = 0198719531 }}

• Green Party of England and Wales
• Forum for the Future
• Policy Studies Institute

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• {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20030406053643/http://www.psi.org.uk/people/person.asp?person_id=29 Policy Studies Institute]}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20161216045136/http://www.forumforthefuture.org.uk/ Forum for the Future]

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Category:Green Party of England and Wales politicians

Category:Alumni of Birkbeck, University of London

Category:Academics of the University of Westminster

Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire

Category:1950 births

Category:Living people

Category:British sustainability advocates