Paul Ekins, a professor at University College London and former consultant to the European Commission, will deliver a lectio magistralis titled "Weak and Strong Sustainability: Perspectives on Environmental and Sustainability Indicators," on Tuesday, June 11, at 4 PM in the Conference Room of Building D (1st floor) at the University of Trieste.

The event, organized by the Department of Economic, Business, Mathematical and Statistical Sciences "Bruno de Finetti" (DEAMS) at the University of Trieste, is open to the public and will be conducted in English.

Ekins, one of the most influential scholars internationally in the analysis of the environmental dimension of sustainable development, has developed over more than 30 years a framework of indicators to assess the environmental sustainability of a territory, the Environmental Sustainability Gap (ESGAP), which compares a country’s current environmental performance with scientific reference standards.

In recent years, the English economist has introduced within ESGAP new environmental sustainability metrics for European countries: the Strong Environmental Sustainability Index (SESI), related to natural capital, which aims to complement GDP as a measure of development and well-being, and the Strong Environmental Sustainability Progress Index (SESPI), which shows the trend over time in moving towards the scientific reference standard.

ESGAP is likely to be adopted by the European Environment Agency in the next report monitoring the state of the environment in Europe.

Paul Ekins, in addition to teaching Resources and Environmental Policy at the Institute for Sustainable Resources at University College London, served as Co-Director (2004-2014) and Deputy Director (2014-2019) of the UK Energy Research Centre, focusing on low-carbon futures, fossil fuels, and hydrogen.

He is a member of the International Resource Panel of the United Nations Environment Programme and a lead author on resource efficiency and mineral resource governance.

He has provided over 50 consultancy projects for businesses and government bodies. His recent roles include Vice-Chair of the European Commission's High-Level Economic Expert Group on the Environment and Co-Chair of the UN Environment's Global Environment Outlook.

He has received recognition for his collaboration with the United Nations and was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire for services to environmental policy.