- Phone:
- (812) 855-1461
- Email:
- kenricha@indiana.edu
- Room Number:
- 410L
- Areas of Interest:
- Domestic and international climate change policy ,
- Environmental policy implementation ,
- Carbon sequestration economics and law ,
- Energy law ,
- U.S. Forest Service organizational design and management
Education
- Ph.D., Public Policy, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, 1997
- J.D., University of Pennsylvania, 1997
- B.S.C.E., Environmental Engineering, Technological Institute, Northwestern University, 1983
- M.S.C.E., Urban and Regional Planning, Northwestern University, 1983
- B.A., Botany and Chemistry, Duke University, 1979
Courses
- Public Management Economics
- Environmental Economics and Policy
- Sustainability in a Tri-sectoral World
- Environmental and Natural Resources Policy Design and Implementation
Biography
Dr. Kenneth Richards is an economics and law scholar specializing in environmental economics and the selection and design of environmental policy tools including environmental taxes, carbon offsets, marketable allowances, public information campaigns, regulation, and subsidies. His work combines academic research and policy advice to policy makers and the private sector.
Dr. Richards holds appointments in environmental economics, policy and law at the O’Neill School, the IU Maurer School of Law, and the Ostrom Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis. He has previously held appointments at the Oxford Martin School and the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, both at the University of Oxford. Richards also recently held a chaired visiting position in sustainability at the National University of Singapore (NUS) Business School and continues to teach courses in Business Sustainability for NUS. His work includes the first analysis of the cost-effectiveness of forest carbon sequestration, the first work on the time-value of carbon emissions reductions, and some of the earliest work on institutions to support terrestrial carbon sequestration (predating REDD). In 2008 he was recognized by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for his contribution to their receipt of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize Award.
Dr. Richards co-founded the Bloomington-based certified B-corporation, Gnarly Tree Sustainability Institute (GTSI). Through his association with GTSI, Richards has provided public service support to the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, USAID, U.S. Federal Government and other many other public and private organizations, with projects related to environmental policy design, carbon pricing, supply chain management and sustainability. These include, for example, the World Bank’s Carbon Tax Guide, design of an emissions levy for the government of Costa Rica, development of a sustainability governance strategy for a large Chinese waste-to-energy corporation, and analysis of options for managing sustainability and risk in the U.S. Federal Government’s supply chain.
Highlights
- Best Professor in Sustainability, CMO Asia's Best B-School Awards, National University of Singapore
- Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award (2009), Excellence in Teaching Award (2000), Outstanding
- Undergraduate Teaching Award (1999), O'Neill, and Trustees Teaching Award (2002), Indiana University
In the News
- “Top conservatives already back a carbon tax; it’s time for energy producers to follow suit” - Published in 30 U.S. newspapers, December 2018
- “China and U.S. agree, time to tax CO2 pollution into submission” - Published in 35 U.S. newspapers, January 2015.
- “Can Pope Francis save the planet?” - Newsweek, June 22, 2015
- “Of markets and morals, encyclicals and environment, poverty and the pope” - The Hill, July 1, 2015
- “Carbon tax will boost the economy,” - Published by 32 U.S. newspapers and news outlets, August 2012
Selected Works
- “Experience with Carbon Taxes and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Systems,” (with E. Haites, et al), Duke Environmental Law and Policy Forum 29: 109-182 (2018)
- Carbon Tax Guide: A Handbook for Policy Makers, (with D. Conway, J.Ross, A. Tran, A. Liu, S. Richards), Publication for World Bank Partnership for Market Readiness (2017)
- Carbon Tax Guide: A Handbook for Policy Makers. Case Studies, Publication for World Bank Partnership for Market Readiness (2017)
- “Covenant IX: Environmental Justice for All.” Chapter supplement in The Covenant for Black America – Ten Years Later, Tavis Smiley, et al, publishers.
- "Understanding the effectiveness of environmental offset policies," (with R. Hahn) Journal of Regulatory Economics. 44(1): 103-119 (2013)
- “Evaluating Protocols and Standards for Forest Carbon-Offset Programs, Part B: Leakage, Assessment, Wood Products, Validation and Verification” (with G. Huebner), Carbon Management 3 (4): 411-425 (2012)
- “Evaluating Protocols and Standards for Forest Carbon-Offset Programs, Part A: Additionality, Baselines, and Permanence” (with G. Huebner), Carbon Management 3 (4): 393-410 (2012)
- "REDD, PINC and other shades of green: Institutional requirements for an international forest carbon sequestration treaty in a post-Kyoto world," (with L. Baldwin), Natural Resources Journal, 52(1): 1-59 (2012)
- “Pouring Out Our Soils: Facing the Challenge of Poorly Defined Property Rights in Subsurface Pore Space for Carbon Capture and Storage” (with J. Chang, J. Allerhand, and J. Rupp), The George Washington University Journal of Energy and Environmental Law 3: 33-62 (2012)