ZEW Environmental Economist Andreas Löschel Appointed as Chairman of the Expert Group for the Supervision of Germany’s Energy Transition

Prof. Dr. Andreas Löschel will monitor the change in Germany’s energy policy and critically analyse its development. As head of the research department “Environmental and Resource Economics, Environmental Management” of the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) and Professor of Economics at Heidelberg University, he has been appointed by the German government as chairman of an expert group that will regularly evaluate the state of Germany’s energy transition.

"Changing climate policy towards a sustainable energy supply is an important project for the future of Germany. To succeed, energy has to be secure, affordable, and climate friendly in the future", explains Löschel. Along with Löschel, Georg Erdmann from the TU Berlin, Frithjof Staiß from the Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research in Stuttgart and Hans-Joachim Ziesing from the Arbeitsgruppe Energiebilanzen (Working Group on Energy Balances) will join the expert group for the supervision of Germany’s energy transition.

As head of the expert group, Löschel benefits from his longstanding economic research in energy supply and climate change economics. He is the leading author for the Fifth Assessment Report (2010-2014) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and research associate at the Centre for Climate Economics and Policy, Crawford School of Economics & Government, Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra. Löschel has advised the European Commission, the European Parliament and German federal and state ministries on economic issues in the field of Environmental Economics, especially concerning energy and climate policy. Since 2006, he is member of the committee for Environmental and Resource Economics of the Verein für Socialpolitik (leading association of German speaking economists) and he also has been member of the European Union’s delegation at the World Climate Conference at Bali in 2007.

Löschel’s latest research projects in the area of energy policy range from an analysis of long-term aims of Europe’s energy and climate policy for the European Commission, to the interdisciplinary Helmholtz Alliance for future infrastructure and energy supply and an investigation on behalf of The Voice of German Industry (BDI), examining indicators for the monitoring of Germany’s energy transition and evaluating the availability of the required data. In addition to the BDI, the project is joined by other stakeholders, such as environmental organisations.

For further information please contact

Prof. Dr. Andreas Löschel, Phone +49 621/1235-200, E-mail loeschel@zew.de