Dr. Axel Michaelowa

Axel Michaelowa holds a PhD in Economics and has worked on international climate policy instruments and the UNFCCC process since 1994. From 1999 to 2006, he was head of the Research Programme ”International Climate Policy” at the Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWA). Since 2007 he is leading a research group on climate policy at the University of Zurich`s Institute of Political Science.

Axel is president of the Zurich Carbon Market Association. He is member of the board of Climate Strategies and the constituency of Research and Independent NGOs observing the UNFCCC negotiations. Axel was lead author on international mitigation policies in the 4th and 5th IPCC Assessment Reports between 2006 and 2013. He served on the CDM Registration and Issuance Team for the CDM Executive Board between 2006-2013 and evaluated over 175 CDM projects. He serves on the editorial boards of the peer reviewed journals “Climate Policy”, “Climate and Development” and “Greenhouse Gas Measurement & Management”.

Thanks to his extensive work experience, Axel Michaelowa is one of the leading experts in the field of international climate policies, market mechanism design and the UNFCCC process and has over 400 academic publications on these issues. Axel has participated in UNFCCC negotiations since COP 1 in 1995 and provided related support to the governments of Mexico, Morocco, Qatar and the UAE, as well as done capacity building in over 30 developing countries, ranging from Algeria to Yemen, with a focus in the Middle East and North Africa, South Asia and South-East Asia. He has worked on national mitigation strategies in Algeria, Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Madagascar, Mexico, Peru, Sudan, Tanzania, Trinidad & Tobago, Tunisia, Uzbekistan and Vietnam, as well as on 10 approved baseline methodologies under the CDM, focusing on energy efficiency, waste, transport and the cement sector.