Benjamin Warr is Director of
Environmental Services and Senior Environmental Scientist at GeoQuest Ltd based in Zambia
and the Democratic Republic of Congo, providing high quality, cost
effective and innovative environmental services in Central and
Southern Africa.
Benjamin trained as an environmental soil scientist at the University of Reading. As
Leverhulme Scholar he specialised in the collection and analysis of spatial
information for environmental and natural resource mapping at Ecole Nationale Superieure des Mines de Paris. He has worked in
Africa, Asia, Australia and Europe providing expertise to small-holders, academic
institutions, private companies and governments on environmental mapping and monitoring, sustainable development
strategies, natural resource management practices and eco-positive business
models.
Prior to taking this position Benjamin worked
as Senior Research Fellow
in
Sustainability at INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France, where he remains as Visiting Scholar. His research concerns the biophysical dimensions of economic activity, the development of sustainable society through eco-positive business innovations, the interface between economic development and environmental sustainability and emerging markets for environmental services and their impact on the poor. He is author of a number of publications in Energy,
Ecological
Economics and Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, book chapters,
case
studies and co-author of "The Economic Growth Engine: How energy and work drive material prosperity", with Professor Robert Ayres. This work has led to the development of a new theory of economic growth, the Useful Work Growth Theory based on the Ayres-Warr Model. In this capacity Benjamin has
lectured widely to industry associations, leading research institutions and
universities as well as providing strategic consulting expertise to businesses.
Benjamin's interests and areas of expertise are diverse and include: industrial ecology (material and exergy flow analysis, eco-efficiency, product service systems), payments for ecosystem services (soil, REDD+, carbon, water); inclusive growth and participatory development (base-of-pyramid business models); eco-innovation strategy (dematerialisation, immaterialisation, production-consumption systems, impacts of information communication technologies); and ecological economics (natural resource augmented production functions and sustainable wealth creation).
For interesting eco-stories and updates read my Google Reader and Posterous blog. View my latest presentations on Slideshare INSEAD Alumni can search additional resources from the INSEAD Connect site
Professional Experience
Director of
Environmental Services and Senior Environmental Scientist at GeoQuest Ltd (current position)
Senior Research Fellow, INSEAD, Fontainebleau, France. (2006 - present; 2001-2012)
Director, A Better World, Sustainability Consultants and Environmental Analytics. (2003 - present)
Research Fellow, IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria. (2006)
Analyst, Earth Resource Management Services, Fontainebleau, France. (2001)
Awards
Oikos Corporate Sustainability Case Study Finalist (2009)
Leverhulme Trust Scholarship (1998)
University of Reading “PhD Studentship Award” (1997)
Remote Sensing
Society Conference, Best Poster Award (1997)
University
of Reading Final Year Soil Science Prize for Best Student (1997)
University of Reading First Year Soil Science
Prize for Best Student (1995)
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Teaching and Mentoring
Sustainability Strategy and Policy (Biophysical and Coevolutionary
Assessment of Sources of Comparative and Competitive Advantage)
Industrial Ecology (Life Cycle Analysis, Exergy Analysis, Eco-Efficiency, Technology Forecasting, Scenario Methods)
Geostatistics (Variograms, Linear Estimation, Disjunctive and Indicator Methods, Simulation Techniques)
Environmental Soil Science (Physical, Chemical, Biological and Spatial Applications and Methods)
Books (and Chapters)
“The Economic
Growth Engine: How energy and work create material prosperity.” Robert Ayres and Benjamin Warr (2009). Edward
Elgar.
"Accounting
for growth: The role of physical work." Ayres, R. U. and B. Warr
(2005). Chapter in: Joan Martinez-Alier and Inge Røpke (Ed.) Recent
developments in Ecological Economics (2008), Edward Elgar.
“Energy
Efficiency and Economic Growth: The ‘Rebound Effect’ as a Driver”, Ayres R. and B.
Warr, In “Energy
Efficiency and Sustainable Consumption: The Rebound Effect” (2008). Horace Herring and Steve Sorrell (Eds.),
Palgrave.
“Economic growth models and the role of physical resources.” Ayres,
R.U. and Warr, B. (2002). In: P. Bartelmus (Ed.) Unveiling Wealth: On Money,
quality of life and sustainability. Kluwer Academic Publishers.
“Is
the US
Economy Dematerializing ? Main Indicators and Drivers”. Ayres, R.U.,
Ayres, L.W. and Warr, B. (2004) Chapter in: Jeroen C.J.M. van den Berg (Ed.) Economics of Industrial Ecology: Materials,
Structural Change and Spatial Scales.
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Peer-Reviewed Publications
“Useful
Work and Information as Drivers of Economic Growth”, Warr, B. and R.U.Ayres, Energy (accepted with revision)
“Evidence of
causality between the quantity and the quality of energy consumption and
economic growth”.(2010). Warr, B., Ayres, R.U., Energy, Volume 35, Issue 4.
“Energy Use
and Economic Development: A comparative analysis of useful work supply in
Austria, Japan, the United Kingdom and the US during 100 years of economic
growth”. (2010) Warr, B.,
Eisenmenger, N., Krausmann, F., Schandl, H. and R.U. Ayres. Ecological Economics, Volume 69, Issue 10, 15 August
2010, Pages 1904-1917.
"Long term trends in resource exergy consumption and useful work supplies in the UK, 1900 to 2000", (2009). Warr, B., and H. Schandl. Ecological Economics, 68 (1-2), pages 126-140.
“REXS:
An Economic Forecasting Model for Assessing the Impact of natural resource
consumption and technological change on economic growth”. Warr, B. and Ayres, R.U., (2006). Structural Change and Economic Dynamics. 17: 329-378.
"Accounting for growth: The role of physical
work." Ayres, R. U. and B. Warr (2005). Structural Change & Economic Dynamics 16(2): 181-209.
“Efficiency
Dilution: Long-Term Exergy Conversion Trends in Japan”. Environmental
Science and Technology. Williams, E., Warr, B. and R.U. Ayres. 2008. 42, 4964 – 4970.
“Exergy,
Power and Work in the US Economy, 1900-1998”.Ayres, R.U., Ayres, L.W. and
Warr, B. (2003). Energy, An International
Journal. 28, pp.219-273.
“Economic
growth models and the role of physical resources.” Ayres, R.U. and Warr, B.
(2002). In: P. Bartelmus (Ed.) Unveiling
Wealth: On Money, quality of life and sustainability. Kluwer Academic
Publishers.
“From LTER to LTSER:
Conceptualizing the Socioeconomic Dimension of Long-term Socioecological
Research”. Haberl, H., Winiwarter, V., Andersson, K., Ayres, R. U., Boone,
C., Castillo, A., Cunfer, G., Fischer-Kowalski, M., Freudenburg, W. R., Furman,
E., Kaufmann, R., Krausmann, F., Langthaler, E., Lotze-Campen, H., Mirtl, M.,
Redman, C. L., Reenberg, A., Wardell, A., Warr, B., & Zechmeister, H. 2006.
Ecology and Society, 11(2).
“Mapping of salinity risk in the lower Namoi valley using non-linear kriging methods.”
Triantifilis, J., Ahmed M.F., Odeh, I.O.A. and Warr, B. (2004). Agricultural Water Management.
“The
application of factorial kriging and Fourier analysis for remotely sensed data
simplification and feature accentuation”. Warr, B., Oliver, M.A. and White,
K. (2003). Geographical and
Environmental Modelling 6(2): 171-187.
“Geostatistical
estimation and simulation of the lateral and vertical extent of soil horizons".
Warr, B., Odeh, I.O.A and Oliver M. (2003). In: G. Foody & P. Atkinson
(Eds.), Uncertainty in Remote Sensing
and GIS. Wiley & Sons.
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Theses, Working Papers, Reports
"Greening the Economy: Creating a Climate for
Change", Warr, B. and Orsato, R.
Report presented at the European Business Summit 21-22nd February 2008.
"Austrian energy use and economic development
during industrialization in the 20th Century: Exergy inputs, useful work
outputs and modelling of economic growth”, Warr, B., Eisenmenger, N., Krausmann, F. And Ayres,
R.U., 2009. IFF Social Ecology Working Paper No. 115. IFF/Social Ecology, Vienna.
"Accounting
for economic growth in 20th Century Japan: From hindsight to foresight."
Warr, B, Williams, E. and Ayres, R. 2008. (INSEAD Working Paper)
"Long Term Trends in Resource Exergy
Consumption and Useful Work Supplies in the UK, 1900-2000",
Socio-Economics and the Environment in Discussion (SEED) Benjamin Warr &
Heinz Schandl & Robert U Ayres, 2007, Working Paper Series 2007-08, CSIRO
sustainable Ecosystems.
"MARS - Monitoring Alpine Regional Sustainability" - INTERREG IIIb.
“Analysis of proximal and remotely sensedspectral data for the prediction of soil properties.” 2003. Warr, B. Soil Science.
Thesis, University
of Reading: pp 250.
“A geostatistical characterisation of the long-term effects of vehicular
compaction”, 1997. Warr, B. Internal Report, Soil Science, University of Reading.
“Soil spatial prediction".,
1997. Warr, B., Internal Report, Soil Science, University of Reading.
Internal Report.
"An introduction to REXS, a system dynamics
model of long-run endogenous technological progress, resource consumption and
economic growth", INSEAD Working Paper 2003/EPS/CMER.
"Accounting for soils: Towards an integrated sustainability and
productivity assessment for soils", Fontainebleau,
France, Centre
for the Management of Environmental and Social Responsibility.
"Useful work and information as drivers of
growth", Fontainebleau, France, INSEAD Working Paper
2002/121/EPS/CMER.
"Analysis of
proximal and remotely sensed spectral data for the prediction of soil
properties". Soil Science. Thesis, University of Reading: pp 250. download
Presentations, Seminars, Conference Proceedings
“Interfacing Renewable Energy / Energy Efficiency and
Agribusiness.” AGROTEC
- EMRC International Business Forum, 20-21st January 2011, Lisbon, Portugal.
“Evolving complementarity using the 4see model”,
Executive
Affairs Authority (EAA), Abu
Dhabi, 1st December 2010.
“The
Economic Growth Engine.” CERNA 27th October 2010, Ecole des Mines, Paris.
“Corporate Entrepreneurship Bringing
Sustainable Value Innovation to Agribusiness: The case of Farmstar.” Toulouse Space Show, 8-11th June 2010.
“Sustainable Agriculture Challenges for Business.” INSEAD
Alumni Meeting, Athens,
January 26th 2010.
“Possibilities
and Policies for Renewables.” University of Lund, 29th October 2009.
“ICT and the Environment.” European
ICT Association (EICTA), Brussels,
14th February 2009.
“The Growth
Engine.” World
Future Energy Summit, World Presidents Association
– Young Presidents Association (WPO/YPO) Meeting, Abu Dhabi, 17 January 2008 .
"Energy
Use and Economic Growth. A Comparative Analysis of Useful Work Supply
in Austria, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the USA for the Last 100
Years and its Contribution to Economic Growth", Monte Verità Conference on Sustainable Resource Use and Economic Dynamics - SURED, June 2nd-5th 2008.
“Forecasting
future economic growth under alternative energy efficiency and energy intensity
scenarios”, Benjamin Warr and
Nina Eisenmenger. 4th International Conference of the International
Society for Industrial Ecology, ISIE, June 17-20, 2007. University
of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
“Efficiency
dilution and technology asymptotes: Long-term exergy conversion trends in Japan”
Eric Williams, Robert Ayres
and Benjamin Warr. 4th
International Conference of the International Society for Industrial Ecology,
ISIE, June 17-20, 2007. University of Toronto, Toronto,
Canada.
“Investigating
the causal relationships between the efficient use of energy and output growth
in Japan” 7th
IIASA-TiTech Technical Meeting between IIASA and TITech,
Japan on “An Elucidation of the Role
of Institutional Systems in Characterizing Technology Development Trajectories”. IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria,
September 17-18, 2006.
“The role of exergy (services)
in driving economic growth: An historical long-term analysis” XIV
International Economic History Conference, Helsinki, Finland
21-25th August 2006.
“On economic growth, energy
consumption and technological progress” A Tribute to Howard Odum,
Society for Green Technology, Institute for Pharmaceutics and Analytical Chemistry Section for
Physical Chemistry , Copenhagen 22nd
May 2006.
« La croissance économique, progrès
technologique et utilisation d’énergie » Séminaires du Laboratoire Matière et Systèmes Complexes,
Université Paris 7, Paris
April 24th 2006
“Time series analysis of
output and factors of production, Japan
and US 1900-2000” 6th IIASA-TiTech Technical
Meeting between IIASA and TITech,
Japan on “An Elucidation of the Role of Institutional Systems
in Characterizing Technology Development Trajectories”.
IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria, September 18-19, 2005.
“The socio-economic dimension
of long-term socio-ecological research” IGBP / LUCC / IHDP-IT
Workshop. From LTER to LTSER: - February 20-22, 2005
“Integrating MEFA into economics, via REXS,
the Resource Exergy Services Model” and “REXS for
Japan” ConAccount 2004, A future research agenda for MFA –
Towards a new common ground for Research on Sustainable Resource use. - October 10-12 , 2004.
“Exergy Efficiency and
Economic Productivity: Historic Trends
and Future Policy Guidelines - A Tale of Four Countries” 4th
IIASA-TiTech Technical Meeting between IIASA and TITech, Japan on “An Elucidation of the Role of Institutional Systems
in Characterizing Technology Development Trajectories”.
IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria, 2nd - 3rd May 2004, 2006.
“Resource EXergy
Services Forecasts REXS-F An economic forecasting model with quasi-logistic
technical progress” 3rd IIASA-TiTech Technical
Meeting between IIASA and TITech, Japan on “An Elucidation of the Role of Institutional Systems in Characterizing
Technology Development Trajectories”. IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria,
21st - 22nd September
2003
“Land Use Impacts and Dependence on Soil
Functions” Economic interests
and benefits of the sustainable use of soils and land, January 30-31,
2003, Thalwil, Switzerland.
“An introduction to a simple endogenous
evolutionary model of macro-economic growth called REXS” 2nd
IIASA-TiTech Technical Meeting between IIASA and TITech,
Japan on “An Elucidation of the Role
of Institutional Systems in Characterizing Technology Development Trajectories”. IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria,
27th –28th April 2003
"Spatial prediction and representation of
soil colour". GeostatsUK, Theoretical Developments and Applications of Spatial
Analysis in the Environmental, Earth and Agricultural Sciences, March 25–26,
2002. Reading, England.
"Geostatistical
estimation and simulation of the lateral and vertical extent of soil horizons”. 4th Conference of
the Working Group on Pedometrics of the International Union
of Soil Sciences, September 19-21, 2001. Gent,
Belgium.
"Soil spectral
reflectance curves to predict soil properties - Southeast Australian
Soils." B. Warr, I.O.A. Odeh, M.A. Oliver & K. White (Australia)
"Geostatistical
estimation and simulation of the lateral and vertical extent of soil
horizons". Uncertainty in Remote Sensing and GIS, July 3-4, 2001. Southampton, England.
"Geostatistical
estimation of soft pedological data." (Poster Presentation). Australian
and New Zealand
Second Joint Soils Conference, December 3-8 2000. Lincoln University, New
Zealand, pp 219-220.
"Characterisation
of the erosion effects of long-term vehicular compaction." Journées de
Géostatistique, May 18-19, 1999. Centre de Géostatistique, Fontainebleau, France.
“Factorial
kriging of Synthetic Aperture Radar Imagery.” RSS ’97
Observations and Interactions, September 2-4, 1997. Reading, England
B. Warr and M.A.Oliver.
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