Gernot Wagner - Climate Economist at Columbia Business School

Climate Finance Podcast

Dr. Gernot Wagner is a Climate Economist at Columbia Business School.

He is the author of Geoengineering: The Gamble (2021), Climate Shock: The Economic Consequences of a Hotter Planet (2016; Co-Authored with Dr. Martin Weitzman), and But Will the Planet Notice?: How Smart Economics Can Save the World (2012).

Previously, Dr. Wagner was a Clinical Associate Professor at New York University and the Founding Co-Director of Harvard University's Solar Geoengineering Research Program. He started off his career as a Fellow at the Financial Times, a Consultant at Boston Consulting Group, and a Lead Senior Economist at the Environmental Defense Fund.

Dr. Wagner received an Economics Master's Degree from Stanford University, and a Bachelor's degree in Environmental Science/Policy, and a Ph.D. in Political Economy and Government from Harvard University.
Check out the Climate Finance Podcast Website for more information.
Topics discussed:

• Importance of mentorship: The impact of Dr. Martin Weitzman on Gernot Wagner`s evolution in Climate Economics.

• Gernot’s Doctoral Dissertation emphasis on Green Accounting.

• How Gernot’s work at the EDF allowed him to co-author the World Bank’s Emissions Trading in Practice: A Handbook on Design and Implementation.

• Gernot’s first book: But Will the Planet Notice?: How Smart Economics Can Save the World.

• Gernot’s second book (with Dr. Weitzman): Climate Shock: The Economic Consequences of a Hotter Planet.

• The process of co-founding Harvard University's Solar Geoengineering Research Program.

• Gernot’s third book: Geoengineering: The Gamble.

  • Concepts: Green Moral Hazards, Free-Rider Effects, and Free-Driver Effects.

  • Financial Requirements for Geoengineering Research and Deployment.

• Why It’s Too Late for Big Oil’s Pivot to a Carbon Tax?

• Greeninflationism and the European Union’s response to the United States Inflation Reduction Act.

• The Climate G2: India and China.

• Gernot’s Advice to Aspiring Climate and Environmental Economists.

Note: This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered as investment advice. The interview took place on 12th July 2023.