Scott Barrett

Focus areas: International cooperation, global public goods, climate change, ocean governance, infectious diseases

Scott Barrett is a leading scholar on transnational and global challenges, ranging from climate change to disease eradication. His research focuses on how institutions like customary law and treaties can be used to promote international cooperation.

He has advised a number of international organizations, including the United Nations, the World Bank, the OECD, the European Commission, and the International Task Force on Global Public Goods. He was previously a lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and a member of the Academic Panel to the Department of Environment in the UK.

Barrett previously taught at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C., where he also directed the International Policy program. Before that, he was on the faculty of the London Business School. He has also held visiting positions at Yale, Princeton, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, the Institute for Advanced Study in Berlin, and École Polytechnique.

Barrett is a research fellow with the Beijer Institute (Stockholm), CESifo (Munich), and the Kiel Institute of World Economics.

Education

• PhD in Economics, London School of Economics

Honors & Awards

• Fellow, Institute for Advanced Study, Berlin, September-December 2016
• Publication of Enduring Quality Award, Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, ("for publications based on their seminal nature and enduring value"), June 2016
• Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, University of Bath (UK), October 2016
• Erik Kempe Award (European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists), 1996
• Resources for the Future Dissertation Prize, 1990

On December 12 in Paris, the UN’s Framework Convention on Climate Change concluded its 21st Conference of the Parties with a landmark agreement among the world’s nations to reduce emissions that...

"Why 2 degrees Celsius is climate change’s magic number": Scott Barrett visits PBS NewsHour to discuss.