Professor Ben Groom

Professor Groom is the Dragon Capital Chair in Biodiversity Economics. This is a philanthropically funded Chair whose objectives are to strengthen public policy on biodiversity and investigate how the financial sector and consumer behaviour can be changed so that biodiversity is conserved for current and future societies.

Professor Groom is a member of the HM Treasury Biodiversity Working Group which is tasked with looking at how to ensure biodiversity is accounted for Cost Benefit Analysis of public policy and investment. He is also consulting with HM Treasury on introducing a form of environmental discounting into the Treasury Green Book. He has worked on intergenerational fairness in social decision making and has advised governments across the world on their approach to long-term policy and investment in relation to environmental issues such as biodiversity and climate change.

His papers, published in the American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, the Economic Journal, the American Economic Review (P&P), and Science and Nature, have been presented to the UK, US and EU governments and informed their guidance on social discounting and long-term decision-making. Professor Groom has written reports to HM Treasury, the Office of National Statistics, the Department of Transport and international organisations such as the OECD, International Transport Forum, the International Seabed Authority, the government of the Peoples Republic of China and the US Environmental Protection Agency.