Prof. Dr. Claudia Kemfert

Prof. Dr. Claudia Kemfert has been head of the Department of Energy, Transport and Environment at the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW Berlin) since April 2004 and is Professor of Energy Economics and Energy Policy at Leuphana University. Until 2019, she was Professor of Energy Economics and Sustainability at the Hertie School of Governance (HSoG). From 2004 to 2009, she held the professorship for environmental economics at Humboldt University.

Claudia Kemfert studied economics at the Universities of Bielefeld and Oldenburg (doctorate in 1998) and Stanford. As part of a research stay, she was at the Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM) in Milan (1998). From January 1999 to April 2000, she headed the junior research group at the Institute for Rational Energy Use at the University of Stuttgart. From 2000 to 2004, Claudia Kemfert held a position as a junior professor and headed a junior research group at the University of Oldenburg. She was the first junior professor to be appointed to a full professorship.

Prof. Dr. Claudia Kemfert researches the economic effects of the transformation of the energy, transport and building systems towards more renewable energies, electromobility or hydrogen. For more than two decades, Claudia Kemfert's scientific work has focused on questions of sustainability in the context of energy applications. In cooperation with national and international research groups, Ms. Kemfert conducts research on the assessment of economic effects of climate, energy and transport policy. On the basis of empirical market and macroeconomic impact analyses, Ms. Kemfert developed quantitative models to assess the economic consequences of energy and climate protection policy. These are e.g. in the Energy Modelling Forum (EMF) model network. As part of her dissertation, she dealt with the macroeconomic effects of various environmental economic instruments such as the eco-tax or emissions trading. Subsequent studies dealt with the economic assessments of the consequences and costs of environmental and climate damage, as well as the investigations of the economic consequences of energy and climate policy in Germany and Europe. Later work will concentrate on the analysis of the interdependencies of the gas markets and electricity markets as well as the full supply from renewable energies. Ms. Kemfert has published over 600 scientific publications in the context of numerous research projects. It prepares research reports, studies and specialist publications. These are also discussed in the context of policy advice, such as in the Council of Economic Experts. Prof. Kemfert explains research findings on the topic of climate change in the "Kemferts Klima Podcast" MDR, where scientific findings are explained to a broad audience.

Claudia Kemfert was appointed to the Advisory Council on the Environment at the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety in 2016. She was an advisor to EU President José Manuel Barroso and is active on advisory boards of various research institutions as well as federal and state ministries as well as the EU Commission. Claudia Kemfert was a member of the High Level Expert Group of the EU Commissioner for the Environment and the Advisory Group on Energy of the European Commission (DG Research). Since 2011, she has been a member of the presidium of the German Society of the Club of Rome.

In 2006, Claudia Kemfert was honored as a top researcher within the framework of the Eleven of Science by the German Research Foundation (DFG), the Helmholtz Association and the Leibniz Association. In 2011 she received the Urania Medal and the B.A.U.M Environmental Award in the Science category, as well as the German Solar Prize, the Adam Smith Prize for Market Economy Environmental Policy in 2016 and the Environmental Media Prize and the Bavarian Environmental Award in 2022. She has already published several books on topics such as climate change, energy policy and energy transition, see www.claudiakemfert.de.