Professor Jorgen Randers
Areas of Interest
Campaigner, Science and TechnologyHonorary Award
Honorary Doctor of Science, 2013Biography
Professor Jorgen Randers is a Norwegian academic and practitioner in the field of future studies. He is Professor of Climate Strategy at the BI Norwegian Business School, where his research interests have been system dynamics and sustainable development, with a focus on climate change over the last decade. He has always worked on the global arena, and lived for many years both in the US and Switzerland, but Jorgen is still largely based in Oslo.
In 1972, at the age of just 27, Jorgen became one of the original four authors of The Limits to Growth, a seminal text on the use of computer-modelling in simulating the consequences of economic and population growth in a finite world. After obtaining a PhD from MIT he went back to Oslo and started a futures research institute in Oslo. Many books and reports appeared on the future of Norwegian economy, and in 1980 he edited the book Elements of the System Dynamics Method, published by MIT Press.
From 1981 to 1989, he served as President of the BI Norwegian Business School, and from 1994 to 1999 he was Deputy Director-General of the international conservation organisation WWF (the Worldwide Fund for Nature) in Switzerland. In parallel with his careers in academia and the non-governmental world, Jorgen has worked for one third of his professional life in the business world. He has served as chairman of the boards of several Norwegian corporations both within and outside the financial sector. Currently he is a non-executive member of the state-owned Postal Service and chair of the internet-based yA Bank. From 2005 to 2006, Jorgen led the Norwegian Commission on Low Emissions, which presented a plan to the Norwegian cabinet for how Norway can reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions by two-thirds by 2050. In addition, he sits on the Sustainability Council of the Dow Chemical Company in the US and - until last year - of BT's sustainability panel.
Citation
"Vice Chancellor, it is my pleasure to read the citation for Jorgen Randers for the award of Doctor of Science, honoris causa.
Professor Jorgen Randers is a Norwegian academic and practitioner in the field of future studies. He is Professor of Climate Strategy at the BI Norwegian Business School, where his research interests have been system dynamics and sustainable development, with a focus on climate change over the last decade. He has always worked on the global arena, and lived for many years both in the US and Switzerland, but Jorgen is still largely based in Oslo.
After completing his MS degree in solid state physics at the University of Oslo in 1968, Jorgen went on to be awarded a PhD from the MIT Sloan School of Management. He had originally gone to MIT to do a PhD in physics, but after accidentally hearing a talk by Professor Jay Forrester of MIT's Sloan School of Management - he realised it wasn't really what he wanted. Pioneer of a method called 'system dynamics', Professor Forrester was using his engineering view of electrical systems to break new ground in the field of human systems. He used computer simulations to analyse social systems and predict the implications of different models. Jorgen found this so fascinating that he approached Professor Forrester and said: "Here I am. I want to do a PhD in management instead."
The timing was fortuitous, because Professor Forrester had just won a contract with the Club of Rome, a global think tank with a concern for the future of humanity, to produce a computer model of the world system. The model would take into account changes and pressures in society, growth in population and economy, and track the resulting ecological footprint - studying various global scenarios for as far as the year 2100.
So it was that in 1972, at the age of just 27, Jorgen became one of the original four authors of The Limits to Growth, a seminal text on the use of computer-modelling in simulating the consequences of economic and population growth in a finite world. After obtaining his PhD from MIT he went back to Oslo and started a futures research institute in Oslo. Many books and reports appeared on the future of Norwegian economy, and in 1980 he edited the book Elements of the System Dynamics Method, published by MIT Press.
From 1981 to 1989, he served as President of the BI Norwegian Business School, and from 1994 to 1999 he was Deputy Director-General of the international conservation organisation WWF (the Worldwide Fund for Nature) in Switzerland. In parallel with his careers in academia and the non-governmental world, Jorgen has worked for one third of his professional life in the business world. He has served as chairman of the boards of several Norwegian corporations both within and outside the financial sector. Currently he is a non-executive member of the state-owned Postal Service and chair of the internet-based yA Bank. From 2005 to 2006, Jorgen led the Norwegian Commission on Low Emissions, which presented a plan to the Norwegian cabinet for how Norway can reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions by two-thirds by 2050. In addition, he sits on the Sustainability Council of the Dow Chemical Company in the US and - until last year - of BT's sustainability panel.
Last year, in an interview with the Transitions Network, which supports community-led responses to climate change and shrinking supplies of cheap energy, Jorgen said: "I've spent 40 years of my life working in vain for sustainability. Science tells us that we are on the threshold of starting to do real damage to the world, but humanity is not rising to the occasion."
In 2012 Jorgen also published the book 2052: A Global Forecast for the Next Forty Years. Reviewing it, Jorgen's good friend and colleague Jonathon Porritt said that, given the challenges we face, the book doesn't make for 'cheery reading'. However, he is quick to underline Jorgen's overriding optimism, and quotes from the book: "Don't let the prospect of impending disaster crush your spirits. Don't let the prospect of a sub-optimal long-term future kill your hope. Hope for the unlikely! Work for the unlikely!"
For his practical concern for the future of humanity, Vice Chancellor, it is my pleasure to present Jorgen Randers for the award of Doctor of Science, honoris causa."