Lorenzo Sileci

Lorenzo will join IE University’s School of Politics, Economics and Global Affairs as an Assistant Professor of Economics in September 2025. Previous to this role, he was a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment (London School of Economics and Political Science) and the Land, Environment, Economics and Policy (LEEP) Institute (University of Exeter). He is affiliated as a Visiting Fellow with the Dragon Capital Chair Programme in Biodiversity Economics and the Grantham Research Institute.
His work combines environmental and development economics, focussing on the interplay between climate mitigation, biodiversity preservation, and economic development. He is also interested in issues of global and local environmental justice, and in the role of polluting industries in shaping environment-development trade-offs in resource-rich economies.
Background
Lorenzo obtained a PhD in Environmental Economics at the London School of Economics and Political Science in April 2023. He holds a MSc in Environmental Economics and Climate Change (LSE) and a BSc in Economics and Trade from the University of Florence, Italy. During his PhD, he also held a Research Associate role at the European University Institute.
Research Interests
- Biodiversity Economics
- Environment and Development Economics
- Environmental Justice
Research
Research - 2025
The authors of this paper evaluate the extent of set-aside's trade-offs in England between 1992 and 2007. Read more

Research - 2024
This study examines the National Greening Program (NGP) in the Philippines, a major tree planting initiative involving more than 80,500 localised projects that have directly or indirectly generated hundreds of thousands of jobs. Read more

Research - 2023
The carbon tax introduced in British Columbia, Canada in 2018 is found to have had positive impacts on air quality. However the health co-benefits have been greatest in less polluted, less densely-populated and better-off neighbourhoods - highlighting that a carbon tax can exacerbate existing variations in pollution and health, where poorer areas are worse affected. Read more

Research - 2021
The authors of this paper evaluate the effectiveness of Indonesia’s moratorium on forest concessions (between 2011 and 2018) by applying a matched triple difference strategy to a unique panel dataset. Read more

Research - 2020
This article examines the impact of Colombia’s lockdown on forest fires, motivated by satellite data showing a particularly large upsurge of fires at around the time of lockdown implementation. Read more

News
News - 2023
This article reports on a study which shows how a carbon tax introduced in the Canadian province of British Columbia led to a reduction in air pollution and health benefits. Read more

News - 2022
Ben Groom, Charles Palmer and Lorenzo Sileci demonstrate that Indonesia’s moratorium on forest concessions delivered cheap but modest reductions in carbon emissions – and call for new policies as well as sources of finance to drive further cuts to emissions from deforestation globally. Read more
