Prof. Dr. Claudia Kemfert

Prof Dr Claudia Kemfert has been head of the department Energy, Transportation, Environment at the German Institute of Economic Research (DIW Berlin) since April 2004 and is Professor of Energy Economics and Energy Policy at the Leuphana University, Till 2019 she was Professor of Energy Economics and Sustaiability at Hertie School of Governance and from 2004-2009 she was Professor of Environmental Economics at Humboldt University.

Claudia Kemfert studied economics at the Universities of Bielefeld and Oldenburg (PhD 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 the Rational Use of Energy at the University of Stuttgart. From 2000 to 2004 Claudia Kemfert held a position as junior professor and headed a junior research group at the University of Oldenburg.

Claudia Kemfert was appointed to the Expert Council for Environmental Issues 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 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 Environment Commissioner and the Advisory Group on Energy of the European Commission (DG Research). Since 2011 she has been a member of the Executive Committee of the German Society of the Club of Rome.

In 2006, Kemfert was recognized as a top researcher in the Elf der Wissenschaft by the DFG, the Helmholtz and Leibniz Associations. In 2011 she received the Urania Medal and the B.A.U.M Environment Prize in the science category and in 2016 the German Solar Prize and the Adam Smith Prize for market-based environmental policy. 2013 she published her book “Kampf für Strom” (English version “The battle about electricity”) in which she describes the myths of the energy debate. 2017 followed her book “Das fossile Imperium schlägt zurück”. Her latest book „Mondays for Future - Freitags demonstrieren, Samstags diskutieren und am Montag anpacken und umsetzen“ was published in spring 2020.