M-RCBG Senior Fellow-Led Study Group: Christof Ruehl
Monday, November 30, 10:00-11:00am
Zoom meeting. Register using a Harvard.edu email address. Non-Harvard affiliates can join by emailing: susan_gill@hks.harvard.edu
Study group led by M-RCBG Senior Fellow, Christof Ruehl with guest, , President, King Abdullah Petroleum Studies And Research Center (KAPSARC), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
The circular carbon economy (CCE) is an integrated and inclusive approach to transitioning toward more comprehensive, resilient, sustainable, and climate-friendly energy systems. The corollary in the circular carbon economy is that people do not want bio-energy and carbon utilization; they want a safe climate and an improved quality of life. As such, the circular carbon economy welcomes all carbon mitigation options that can help achieve climate goals.
The circular carbon economy builds on the principles of circular economy and applies them to managing carbon emissions: to reduce the carbon that must be managed in the first place, to reuse carbon as an input to create feedstocks and fuels, to recycle carbon through the natural carbon cycle with bioenergy, and, unique to circular carbon economy, to remove excess carbon and store it.
Christof Rühl is an internationally renowned economist, specializing in macroeconomics and energy economics. He has a succinct track record in business, economic policy advice and academia, and is published and quoted widely in his fields. His most recent commercial expertise is in energy, specifically oil and gas, and in asset allocation, focused on global macro and geopolitical trends. He combines more than 20 years of experience in senior positions in world class companies. From 2014-18 Christof served as Global Head of Research at the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, creating and managing ADIA’s first global research team to provide economic, energy and geopolitical analysis to the Fund. Earlier, he was Group Chief Economist and Vice President of BP plc (2005-14), credited with a significant contribution to the global debate on energy, climate change, and the various links between energy and economic development. Christof joined BP from the world of global economic policy, having served at the World Bank (1998–2005) - including as the Bank’s Chief Economist in Russia and in Brazil - and at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD, 1996-98). He started his career as an academic economist, first as a Research Associate at the Universities of Bremen and Hohenheim in Germany; and from 1991-96, as an Assistant Professor at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA). Christof is a sought after lecturer and public speaker. He currently serves as independent board director and as a global advisor of companies in energy, banking and private equity. He is a German national. While an M-RCBG Senior Fellow, Christof's research will center on energy policy. His faculty sponsor is William Hogan, Raymond Plank Research Professor of Global Energy Policy at Harvard Kennedy School. Email: christof_ruehl@hks.harvard.edu