During London Climate Action Week, COP30 President André Corrêa do Lago launched the Economics of Climate Organisation (ECO) at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), marking a significant new chapter in the relationship between economic research and global climate policymaking. ECO is a global, collaborative initiative between leading economists and policymakers, designed to inject new thinking into the design and implementation of climate policies.
“Climate change is already reshaping lives, geopolitics, and the economy,” said André Corrêa do Lago, COP30 President. “ECO will bring together the brightest minds to oversee and guide the necessary transformations, ensuring they promote better quality of life, reduce inequalities, and improve governance.”
ECO directly supports the COP process, mobilising the analytical capacity of leading economists to enable informed debate on adaptation, energy, deforestation, carbon markets and climate finance, and to help decision-makers turn ambitions into implementable policy.
“People around the world want to live full and healthy lives,” said Michael Greenstone, the Milton Friedman Distinguished Service Professor in Economics and director of the Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth at the University of Chicago. “With that goal in mind, climate diplomacy won’t work, unless it involves innovative policies rooted in both promoting growth and reducing emissions, especially in the Global South. Economics is fundamental to that discussion. I am honored to join some of the world’s most important economists in injecting new and creative thinking into the climate policy process through ECO.”
Greenstone is on the Executive Committee of ECO, which also includes researchers from LSE, Columbia University, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), Yale University and MIT. It is hosted at the Economics of Environment and Energy (EEE) Programme at LSE, in collaboration with the Global School of Sustainability (GSoS) and the International Growth Centre (IGC).