Biography
Edward B. Barbier is a University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Economics, Colorado State University. He previously held positions at University of Wyoming, University of York and the International Institute of Environment and Development. He has also consulted for a variety of national, international and non-governmental agencies, including many UN organizations, the World Bank and the OECD. In 2009, Barbier authored the UN’s Global Green New Deal, for which he is world renowned.Barbier is a highly cited and leading scholar on the economics of environmental and sustainability issues (see Google Scholar, ScholarGPS and AD Scientific Index 2024). He has authored over 350 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters, written or edited 27 books, and published in popular journals and social media. Among his honors and awards, he received the 1991 Mazzotti Prize (Italy) for contributions to economics and ecology, and in 2008, he was named by Cambridge University as one of the world’s 50 most influential thinkers on sustainability. In 2015, Barbier was elected a Fellow of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists.
His latest book, Economics for a Fragile Planet, Cambridge University Press, was Winner of the 2022 Choice Outstanding Academic Titles. In this book, Barbier outlines a blueprint for building more sustainable economies in the face of mounting global environment risks. He calls for new thinking on markets, institutions and governance based on five economic principles: ending the underpricing of nature, fostering collective action, accepting absolute limits, attaining sustainability, and promoting inclusivity. He illustrates, with examples, how policies and business actions based on these principles can overcome the global challenges posed by climate change, land use and biodiversity loss, freshwater scarcity, and deteriorating marine and coastal habitats. Overall, the book "lays out the roadmap for the kind of economic thought and policymaking needed to save our 'fragile planet' – for us and those who will inherit this earth from us" (Achim Steiner – Administrator, United Nations Development Programme).
