About

Simon was Co-Director of the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, along with Professor Samuel Fankhauser from March 31 2011 until 31 August 2017.

Simon has worked at LSE since 2006, and joined the Grantham Research Institute upon its launch in 2008.

Simon also holds the following positions:

Background

Previously, Simon worked at the UK Treasury, as an economic adviser on the ‘The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change’.

Simon holds a starred first class honours degree in Environmental Science from the University of East Anglia, and Masters and PhD degrees from LSE, specialising in environmental policy and economics.

Research interests

  • Decision-making under uncertainty;
  • Questions of equity/social justice within and between generations;
  • The links between economic growth and the environment;
  • International environmental agreements.

Prospective PhD students

Simon welcomes enquiries from prospective PhD students with shared interests and a strong background in economics or related disciplines.
Visit the ‘Study with us’ page for further information on applying to be a PhD student with us.

Research

Research - 2022

How best to make the transition from a high- to low-carbon economy remains open for debate, involving complex dynamics that go beyond basic models of emissions abatement. It is these dynamics that the authors aim to analyse with the model they develop in this paper, showing that it is optimal to repurpose and strand a substantial amount of capital. Read more

Research - 2021

Research - 2019

The authors of this paper apply a newly developed insurance pricing model to two catastrophe model data sets relating to hurricane risk in two locations in the Atlantic basin, estimating ambiguity loads – the extra insurance premium due to ambiguity – and showing how these depend on the insurer’s attitude to ambiguity. Read more

The authors of this comment respond to a recent argument put forward by Lemoine and Rudik (2017), that it is efficient to delay reducing carbon emissions because there is substantial inertia in the climate system. Mattauch et al. show that there is no such inertia, which means there is no lag between carbon emissions and warming. Read more

Research - 2018

Research - 2017

Research - 2016

This paper examines the question of whether fighting climate change has the additional advantage of reducing the aggregate risk borne by future generations. This raises the question of the ‘climate beta’, i.e. the elasticity of climate damages with respect to a change in aggregate consumption. Read more

Research - 2015

‘To slow or not to slow’ (Nordhaus, 1991) was the first economic appraisal of greenhouse gas emissions abatement and founded a large literature on a topic of worldwide importance. We offer our assessment of the original article and trace its legacy, in particular Nordhaus's later series of ‘DICE’ models. From this work, many have drawn the conclusion that an efficient global emissions abatement policy comprises modest and modestly increasing controls. We use DICE itself to provide an initial illustration that, if the analysis is extended to take more strongly into account three essential elements of the climate problem – the endogeneity of growth, the convexity of damage and climate risk – optimal policy comprises strong controls. Read more

Research - 2014

Since Nicholas Stern published his influential 'Review on the Economics of Climate Change' for the British government in 2006, economists have become increasingly interested in how the value of climate policy, especially the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions at the global level, depends on risk and uncertainty. New lines of research make the case that mitigating climate change is above all an exercise in catastrophic risk management. Read more

Research - 2013

Research - 2012

Research - 2011

Research - 2010

Research - 2009

Research - 2008

Policy

Policy - 2022

This report and brief provide improved estimates of the likely economic damages from climate change to the UK, highlighting where the greatest risks and need for adaptation are. These are translated into loss of socioeconomic welfare and reported as an equivalent loss of the UK’s GDP under two different policy scenarios – one in which current policies continue and another in which strong mitigation policies are put in place. Read more

Policy - 2021

Policy - 2017

Policy - 2016

Policy - 2015

Policy - 2014

Policy - 2011

Policy - 2010

Policy - 2007

Books

Books - 2014

Books - 2011

Events

Events - 2024

Events - 2022

Events - 2021

Events - 2020

Events - 2019

Events - 2017

Events - 2016

Events - 2015

Events - 2014

News

News - 2023

News - 2022

News - 2020

News - 2019

News - 2018

News - 2016

News - 2014

News - 2012

News - 2011

News - 2010

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