Derek Eaton, PhD is Director of Public Policy Research and Outreach. His global experience ranges across energy, agriculture, food, water, trade, investment, finance and innovation. Through previous positions with the Global Footprint Network, the Graduate Institute Geneva and the United Nations Environment Programme, he has played a leading role in the development of the international agenda on climate change, green growth, and the bioeconomy. At UNEP he was coordinating author of a chapter on renewable energy in the Green Economy Report (2011), and responsible for oversight of the modelling analysis of green investment scenarios.
Derek was Executive Director of the Centre for International Environmental Studies at the Graduate Institute Geneva from 2012 to 2015. He subsequently managed a team of data analysts at the Global Footprint Network, undertaking calculating carbon and biomass footprints for major economic sectors for more than 100 countries and various regional and local authorities. He has coordinated projects on behalf of the UNEP Finance Initiative, together with investment management companies on the integration of climate and environmental risks into portfolio analysis.
With Technopolis, Derek undertook a range of strategy and evaluation assignments, including the development of a roadmap for the blue bioeconomy for the European Commission and an evaluation of biotech and cleantech programmes of Business Finland. He leads the green growth stream in the development of a policy and strategy on climate change for the African Development Bank (2020-21). He is also an expert advisor to EC’s DG CLIMATE on emissions in the land use sector as part of the European Climate Target Plan and Green Deal. He has served as a Senior Fellow of the Luc Hoffmann Institute of WWF International and advised the Economics for Nature Initiative.
Earlier in his career, Derek worked at the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), at Global Affairs Canada, and Wageningen Economic Research in the Netherlands. Experienced in both quantitative and qualitative methods, Derek obtained his PhD (economics) from Wageningen University, an MSc in Environmental Economics from the University College London, a diploma in international development cooperation from the University of Ottawa, and a BSc in Economics from the University of Toronto. Derek is a native English speaker, fluent in French and Dutch, and has an advanced knowledge of Spanish.
