Dani Rodrik
Ford Foundation Professor of International Political Economy, Harvard Kennedy School | Author, Shared Prosperity in a Fractured World | Past IEA President
William Nordhaus
2018 Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences | Sterling Professor Emeritus, Yale University | Father of Climate-Change Economics | Creator of the DICE Model
William Nordhaus spent fifty years building the economic case for pricing carbon — and the models governments now use to do it. The 2018 Nobel Laureate in Economic Sciences and creator of the DICE model, he is the founding figure of climate-change economics, whose work on carbon taxes, the social cost of carbon, and climate clubs continues to define the terms of global climate policy debate.
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William Nordhaus biography
William Nordhaus is the economist who put a price on the planet’s future. Over five decades at Yale University, he built the intellectual and quantitative foundation for how the world thinks about the economics of climate change — pioneering frameworks that are now used by governments, central banks, and international institutions to evaluate climate risk, design carbon pricing systems, and calculate the true social cost of carbon emissions. Often called the “father of climate-change economics,” Nordhaus stands as the most influential economist in the history of environmental policy.
Economics speaker William Nordhaus shared the 2018 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences with Paul Romer for “integrating climate change into long-run macroeconomic analysis.” The Royal Swedish Academy recognized decades of work that began in the 1970s, when Nordhaus was among the first economists to treat global warming as a serious economic problem — at a time when most of the profession ignored it entirely. His central contribution was the creation of the DICE model (Dynamic Integrated model for Climate and the Economy), first published in 1992 and continuously updated since, most recently with the landmark DICE-2023 paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DICE is the most widely used climate-economic integrated assessment model in the world: the U.S. government and other nations rely on it to calculate the social cost of carbon and evaluate climate policy.
The model’s core insight is deceptively simple and enormously consequential: climate change is fundamentally an economic externality — a cost imposed on society by carbon emissions that markets do not automatically price. The solution Nordhaus has championed for decades is a global carbon tax, calibrated to reflect the true social cost of each ton of CO₂ emitted. His DICE-2023 findings estimate that a global carbon price of $80 per ton of CO₂ would be necessary to meet the Paris Accord goals — yet the current global average price is just $3. This gap between economic prescription and political reality defines the central challenge of climate policy.
Climate Clubs, Carbon Policy, and a Career Still Shaping the Debate
Nordhaus’s contributions extend well beyond DICE. In 2015 he introduced the concept of a “climate club” — a coalition of nations adopting coordinated carbon pricing with border tariffs on imports from non-participating countries — a framework that has influenced the design of the European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism. He also co-developed the Measure of Economic Welfare with James Tobin in 1972, one of the first attempts at environmental accounting, and has written landmark books including The Climate Casino: Risk, Uncertainty, and Economics for a Warming World and The Spirit of Green: The Economics of Collisions and Contagions in a Crowded World (2021). A Sterling Professor Emeritus at Yale, he has served on the Brookings Panel on Economic Activity since 1972, on President Carter’s Council of Economic Advisers, and as chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
As a speaker, William Nordhaus brings the unmatched authority of the economist who created the field of climate economics — and who remains its most active and rigorous practitioner. His keynotes address the economic logic of climate change, the design and politics of carbon pricing, why current global policies fall dangerously short, and what a realistic path to climate stability actually requires. For senior audiences in business, policy, finance, and sustainability, few speakers offer greater intellectual depth or more consequential insight.
William Nordhaus Speaking Videos
Prize lecture: William D. Nordhaus, Prize in Economic Sciences 2018
Nobel laureate William Nordhaus: The economics of climate change
William Nordhaus Keynote Topics
Climate change is not just a scientific challenge — it is an economic one. In this keynote, based on his landmark book of the same name, Nordhaus explains why carbon emissions represent one of the greatest market failures in economic history, what the true cost of inaction looks like when modeled rigorously, and why the gap between current global policy and what his DICE-2023 model recommends is not a matter of scientific uncertainty but of political will. Audiences leave with a clear-eyed, evidence-based framework for understanding climate risk — not as an environmental abstraction, but as a measurable economic variable with calculable consequences.
A global carbon tax is, by broad economic consensus, the most efficient mechanism available for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Yet the current global average carbon price is roughly $3 per ton of CO₂ — compared to the $80 Nordhaus estimates is needed to meet Paris Accord goals. In this policy-focused keynote, Nordhaus explains how carbon pricing works, why it is more effective than alternative regulatory approaches, what the social cost of carbon actually means and how it is calculated, and what political and institutional obstacles have prevented its adoption at the necessary scale. Essential for corporate leaders, investors, and policymakers thinking seriously about climate transition strategy.
Why has international climate cooperation repeatedly fallen short of its stated goals? In this keynote, Nordhaus presents his climate club framework — a proposal for a coalition of nations that adopt coordinated carbon pricing and impose border tariffs on imports from non-participating countries, creating economic incentives for global participation rather than free-riding. He explains the game theory behind current cooperation failures, why the Paris Agreement architecture is structurally insufficient, and how a well-designed climate club could achieve the emissions reductions that decades of international negotiation have not. Directly relevant to executives and policymakers navigating carbon border adjustment mechanisms and ESG strategy.
Standard GDP accounting treats the destruction of natural capital as invisible — a profound distortion that leads to systematically poor economic decisions. In this keynote, Nordhaus traces his pioneering work on environmental accounting — from his 1972 Measure of Economic Welfare with James Tobin to his 2021 book The Spirit of Green — and makes the case for a new economic framework that properly values natural resources, prices pollution, and aligns market incentives with long-term human welfare. For leaders in finance, sustainability, and public policy, this is a compelling argument for why getting the economics right is not optional.
FAQs on Booking William Nordhaus
Why William Nordhaus?
Booking William Nordhaus means bringing the founder of climate-change economics to your event — the Nobel laureate who built the models governments use to price carbon, the scholar who first quantified the social cost of emissions, and the economist who has spent five decades translating the most complex environmental challenge in history into policy-relevant frameworks that actually work. His DICE model is not an academic curiosity; it is used by the U.S. government and other nations to set climate policy, calculate regulatory costs, and evaluate the trade-offs between economic growth and emissions reduction. He speaks with the authority of someone who was right about climate economics before the world was ready to listen — and whose updated DICE-2023 findings remain essential reading for anyone serious about climate policy today. Whether your audience consists of corporate strategists, policymakers, investors, or sustainability leaders, Nordhaus delivers with rare depth and clarity. Contact Aurum Speakers Bureau to check availability and speaking fees.
What is the DICE model and why does it matter?
The DICE model — Dynamic Integrated model for Climate and the Economy — is the world's most widely used climate-economic integrated assessment model. First developed by Nordhaus at Yale in 1992 and continuously updated, it models the global economy and the climate system as an interconnected whole, tracing the pathway from economic activity to carbon emissions, from emissions to atmospheric concentrations, from concentrations to temperature change, and from temperature change to economic damages. The model allows policymakers to calculate the "social cost of carbon" — the economic damage caused by each additional ton of CO₂ emitted — and to evaluate different policy interventions, including carbon taxes, cap-and-trade systems, and international agreements. The U.S. government uses DICE-derived estimates to set the social cost of carbon used in federal regulatory analysis. The most recent update, DICE-2023, was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and found that current global policies fall far short of what is needed to meet the Paris Agreement targets.
What is the "social cost of carbon" and how did Nordhaus develop it?
The social cost of carbon is the monetary value of the economic damages caused by emitting one additional ton of CO₂ into the atmosphere — accounting for effects on agriculture, health, sea-level rise, extreme weather, and other climate impacts across future generations. Nordhaus was one of the first economists to develop a rigorous quantitative framework for estimating this figure, using his DICE model to balance the costs of reducing emissions against the costs of climate damages over time. His estimates have evolved significantly as scientific understanding has improved: his DICE-2023 model estimates that a global carbon price of around $80 per ton of CO₂ would be required to meet the Paris Accord goals — compared with a current global average of approximately $3. The social cost of carbon calculated by Nordhaus and subsequent researchers is now embedded in the regulatory frameworks of multiple governments and forms the economic foundation of most serious climate policy proposals.
What topics does sustainability speaker William Nordhaus cover?
As a keynote speaker, William Nordhaus addresses the economics of climate change and environmental policy with the authority of the field's founding figure. His core themes include the economic logic of carbon pricing and why markets fail to price climate risk, the design and politics of carbon taxes and cap-and-trade systems, the concept of the climate club and international policy coordination, the social cost of carbon and how it should guide regulatory and investment decisions, the gap between current global policies and what is actually needed to meet climate targets, and the long-run economic consequences of inaction. His talks are particularly well-suited for corporate sustainability leaders, financial institutions, policymakers, and any organization integrating climate risk into its strategy. To book speaker William Nordhaus for your event, contact Aurum Speakers Bureau.
How to book William Nordhaus as a keynote speaker?
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How much is William Nordhaus speaking fee?
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Can I book William Nordhaus for a virtual keynote?
Yes, William Nordhaus is available for virtual keynotes and webinars. To book William Nordhaus for a virtual event, please complete the contact form or send us an email to inquire about the special fees for virtual engagements.
