Dieter Helm

{{short description|British economist and academic (born 1956)}} {{For|the German politician|Dieter Helm (politician)}} {{Use British English|date=November 2017}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2017}} {{Infobox academic | honorific_prefix = | name = Sir Dieter Helm | honorific_suffix = CBE | image = Dieter Helm at Politics of Climate Change conference.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = Helm at the Policy Network Politics of Climate Change conference in 2009 | birth_name =  | birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1956|11|11}} | birth_place = | death_date =  | death_place = | death_cause = | region = | nationality = | other_names = | occupation = | period = | known_for = | title = | boards =  | spouse = | children = | family = | awards =  | website = | education = | alma_mater =  | thesis_title = | thesis_url = | thesis_year = | school_tradition = | doctoral_advisor = | influences =  | era = | discipline = Economics | sub_discipline = Energy Policy | workplaces = {{plain list| * New College, Oxford * Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford * Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, University of Oxford }} | doctoral_students = | notable_students =  | main_interests = | notable_works = | notable_ideas = | influenced =  }} '''Sir Dieter Robin Helm''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CBE}} (born 11 November 1956) is a British economist and Professor of Economic Policy at the University of Oxford.

==Early life== The son of Fritz W. Helm and his wife Ruth Rigby, Helm was born and brought up in Essex. His father was a German prisoner-of-war originally from Saxony, interned in East Anglia. With his home under Russian occupation, at the end of the war he stayed where he was, married an Englishwoman, and launched a mushroom farm in Essex.<ref>Jonathan Ford, [https://www.ft.com/content/a54efcb0-0740-11e8-9650-9c0ad2d7c5b5 "How Dieter Helm’s rural upbringing shaped his view on energy overhaul"], ''Financial Times'', 7 February 2018 {{subscription}}</ref>

He was educated at Brasenose College, Oxford, graduating BA in philosophy, politics and economics in 1978, Nuffield College, Oxford (MPhil, 1981), and New College, Oxford (DPhil in Economics, 1984).<ref name=WW>[https://doi.org/10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U265141 "Helm, Prof. Sir Dieter (Robin)"], ''Who's Who'' online edition published 1 December 2024 {{subscription}}</ref>

==Career== Helm was a Junior Research Fellow at New College, Oxford, from 1981 to 1983, then a Fellow in Economics at Lady Margaret Hall from 1985 to 1988. He was elected as a Fellow of New College in 1988 and was appointed as the university's Professor of Energy Policy in 1990, a post he held until 2007, when he became Professor of Economic Policy at Oxford.<ref name=WW/> Helm is also a Tutor in Economics at New College.<ref name="oxfnewcollbio">New College, University of Oxford [http://www.new.ox.ac.uk/fellows/dieter.helm "Dieter Helm"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121223103928/http://www.new.ox.ac.uk/fellows/dieter.helm |date=23 December 2012 }}</ref><ref name ="oxfeconbio">Economics Department [https://archive.today/20130419121830/http://www.economics.ox.ac.uk/index.php/academic/dieter-helm "Dieter Helm"]. Retrieved 29 November 2012.</ref><ref>Pearce, Fred. [https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21628912-700-embracing-shale-gas-may-help-cut-emissions/ "Embracing shale gas may help cut emissions"], ''New Scientist'', 17 November 2012. Retrieved 4 July 2021.</ref>

He was a Member of the Ministerial Task Force on Sustainable Development, 2003–2005; Sustainable Energy Policy Advisory Board, 2003–2007; Energy Advisory Panel of the Department of Trade and Industry, 2004–2007,<ref name=WW/> and the Economics Advisory Group to the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, also chairing the Natural Capital Committee.<ref name="oxfnewcollbio" /><ref name="defrapress">DEFRA [http://www.defra.gov.uk/naturalcapitalcommittee/2012/03/21/defra-appoints-dieter-helm210312/ press release] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120621045604/http://www.defra.gov.uk/naturalcapitalcommittee/2012/03/21/defra-appoints-dieter-helm210312/ |date=21 June 2012 }}, 21 March 2012. Retrieved 29 November 2012.</ref><ref>Whipple, Tom. [https://www.thetimes.com/comment/register/article/economists-plan-to-save-countryside-puts-price-on-nature-vl32qkh2239 "Economists plan to save countryside puts price on nature"], ''The Times'', 29 November 2012. Retrieved 30 November 2012.</ref>

Helm founded Oxford Economic Research Associates Ltd in 1982 and was director of it until 2005; he was also a director of Aurora Energy Research Ltd from 2013 to 2020 and has been a director of Natural Capital Resources Ltd since 2020.<ref name=WW/>

His research interests include energy, utilities, and the environment.<ref name="guardianprofile">Guardian [https://www.theguardian.com/profile/helm-dieter profile]. Retrieved 29 November 2012.</ref>

===''The Carbon Crunch''=== In his book ''The Carbon Crunch'' (2012) and in print media, Dieter Helm criticised efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through current regulation and government intervention, and the deployment of renewable energy, particularly wind power.<ref>Helm, Dieter. [https://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/12/opinion/on-climate-change-the-us-is-doing-better-than-europe.html "To Slow Warming, Tax Carbon"], ''The New York Times'', 11 November 2012. Retrieved 30 November 2012.</ref><ref>[https://www.economist.com/news/books-and-arts/21564815-climate-change-needs-better-regulation-not-more-political-will "Climate change: How to fix it"], ''The Economist'', 20 October 2012. Retrieved 30 November 2012.</ref><ref>Clark, Pilita. [https://www.ft.com/content/4efad1c8-2441-11e2-94d0-00144feabdc0 "Ways through the world’s ‘wicked problem’"], ''Financial Times'', 5 November 2012. Retrieved 30 November 2012.</ref><ref>Yearley, Steve. [http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=421935&c=1 "Insulated from the truth?"], ''Times Higher Education'', 29 November 2012. Retrieved 2 December 2012.</ref>

He recommended establishing a carbon tax and carbon border tax, increased funding for research and development, and an increased use of gas for electricity generation to substitute coal and to act as a bridge to new technologies.<ref>Helm, Dieter. ''The Carbon Crunch: How We're Getting Climate Change Wrong – and How to Fix it''. Yale University Press, 2012.</ref>

===''Net Zero''=== In 2021 his book ''Net Zero'' was shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize in the Global Conservation Writing category''.''<ref>{{Cite web|date=2021-08-21|title=Sethi, Winn and Rebanks shortlisted for Wainwright Prize|url=https://www.thebookseller.com/news/sethi-winn-and-rebanks-shortlisted-wainwright-prize-1274286|url-status=live|access-date=2021-08-05|website=The Bookseller|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210804150146/https://www.thebookseller.com/news/sethi-winn-and-rebanks-shortlisted-wainwright-prize-1274286 |archive-date=4 August 2021 }}</ref>

==Honours== *Commander of the Order of the British Empire, 2003 *Knight Bachelor, 2021 New Year Honours, for services to the environment, energy and utilities policy.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=63218|supp=y|page=N2|date=31 December 2020}}</ref>

==Bibliography==

===Books=== '''As author''' *[https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/legacy/FBC79EFE59814788F7FFCAA96DF85632 ''Legacy: How to Build the Sustainable Economy''] ''(October 2023), Cambridge University Press, {{ISBN|9781009449212}} {{open access}}.'' *''Net Zero: How We Stop Causing Climate Change'' (September 2020), HarperCollins, {{ISBN|9780008404468}}. *''Green and Prosperous Land'' (March 2019), William Collins, {{ISBN|978-0008304478}}. *''Burn Out: The Endgame for Fossil Fuels'' (2018), Yale University Press, {{ISBN|9780300234480}}. *''Burn Out: The Endgame for Fossil Fuels'' (March 2017), Yale University Press, {{ISBN|9780300225624}}. *''Natural Capital: Valuing the Planet'' (May 2015), Yale University Press, {{ISBN|978-0300210989}}. *''The Carbon Crunch: How We're Getting Climate Change Wrong – and How to Fix it'' (September 2012), Yale University Press, {{ISBN|978-0300186598}}. *''Energy, the State, and the Market: British Energy Policy since 1979'' (February 2004), revised edition, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|978-0199270743}}.

'''As editor''' *''The Economics and Politics of Climate Change'' (October 2009), with Cameron Hepburn, {{ISBN|978-0199573288}}. *''The New Energy Paradigm'' (April 2007), {{ISBN|978-0199229703}}. *''Climate Change Policy'' (May 2005), {{ISBN|978-0199281466}}. *''Environmental Policy: Objectives, Instruments, and Implementation'' (November 2000), {{ISBN|978-0199241361}}. *''Competition in Regulated Industries'' (April 1998), with Tim Jenkinson, {{ISBN|978-0198292524}}. *''British Utility Regulation: Principles, Experience and Reform'' (September 1995), {{ISBN|978-1873482278}}. *''The Economic Borders of the State'' (December 1990), {{ISBN|978-0198286066}}. *''The Market for Energy'' (May 1989), with John Kay and David Thompson, {{ISBN|978-0198286080}}.

===Selected peer-reviewed articles=== *Helm, D., 2008. Climate-change policy: why has so little been achieved?. Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 24(2), pp. 211–238. JSTOR: 23606642; doi: [https://doi.org/10.1093/oxrep/grn014 10.1093/oxrep/grn014] *Helm, D., 2005. The assessment: the new energy paradigm. Oxford Review of Economic Policy, 21(1), pp. 1–18. JSTOR: 23606814; doi: [https://doi.org/10.1093/oxrep/gri001 10.1093/oxrep/gri001] *Helm, D., 2002. Energy policy: security of supply, sustainability and competition. Energy policy, 30(3), pp. 173–184. doi: [https://doi.org/10.1016/S0301-4215(01)00141-0 10.1016/S0301-4215(01)00141-0]

==See also== {{Portal|Global warming|Business and economics}} *Global warming *Climate change mitigation *Economics of global warming *Energy policy of the United Kingdom *Environmental economics

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== {{Commons category}} *[http://www.dieterhelm.co.uk/ Personal website] *[http://www.naturalcapitalcommittee.org/ Natural Capital Committee Website]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Helm, Dieter}} Category:Living people Category:English economists Category:Fellows of New College, Oxford Category:British non-fiction environmental writers Category:1956 births Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Category:Knights Bachelor