Jørgen Randers


Jørgen Randers is a Norwegian academic, professor emeritus of climate strategy at the BI Norwegian Business School, and practitioner in the field of future studies. His professional field encompasses model-based future studies, scenario analysis, system dynamics, sustainability, climate, energy and ecological economics. He is also a full member of the Club of Rome, a company director, a member of various not-for-profit boards, a business consultant on global sustainability matters and an author. His publications include the seminal work The Limits to Growth , and Reinventing Prosperity. He served, between 1994 and 1999, as deputy director general of the World Wildlife Fund International.

Early life and education

Randers is the son of the Norwegian physicist Gunnar Randers and the nephew of Norwegian mountaineer Arne Randers Heen. He received a Masters of Science in Solid State Physics at the University of Oslo in 1968, and a PhD in Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management in 1973, having originally been accepted to complete a PhD in physics. Whilst at MIT, he became one of the original four co-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".

Academic career

In 1973, he was appointed Assistant Professor of Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management. In 1974, he left MIT to pursue a career in business.
From 1981 to 1989 he served as president of the BI Norwegian Business School, and he served as a professor from 1985 to 2015. Since 2015, he has been Professor Emeritus.
From 2001 to 2012, he was a core member of the faculty of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, Cambridge.
In 2013, he was appointed as Honorary Professor, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge.
In 2016, he was appointed as Honorary Professor, Fudan Institute for Advanced Study in Social Science, Shanghai.
In 2018, he was appointed as Honorary Researcher, School of Marxism, Peking University, Beijing.
In 2019, Randers was appointed as the inaugural co-chair of the Ecological Civilization Center at Peking University's Research Institute of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.
Randers' research interests are on climate issues, scenario planning and system dynamics, especially on the topics of sustainable development, climate change and global warming mitigation.

Business career

In 1974, he left the MIT Sloan School of Management and founded the Resource Policy Group, a system dynamics-based policy analysis institute based in Oslo, and served as director between 1974 and 1980.
In 1980, he was appointed to the Ministry of Long-Term Planning, in Oslo, involved with macroeconomic planning. Subsequently, he was appointed as deputy director of Deminex AS, an oil production company.
Between 1989 and 1991, he served as managing director of World City AS, a financial holding company based in Oslo.

Board appointments

During his career, he has served as Chair of a number of companies including:
  • yA Bank AS, an internet bank
  • 8 eBok AS, an electronic publisher
  • 21st Venture AS, a radio and IT holding company
  • P4 Radio Hele Norge AS, commercial radio company
  • David Livsforsikrings AS, a life insurer
  • Green Business AS, an environmental goods and services business
  • Norwegian Bank for Industry
  • Åke Larson Construction AS
  • Sven Sejersted Bødtker & Co. AS, ship-owners
  • Sunnmørsbanken Oslo AS, a commercial bank
Between 1988 and 1993, he also served as Chair of the Norwegian Institute for Market Research.
In addition, he has served as a director of:
  • Posten Norge ASA, the Norwegian Postal Service
  • Norge AS, a commercial radio company
  • Egroup ASA, an internet consulting business
  • Tomra Systems AS, a recycling company
  • Unique AS, Sandnes, a software house
  • Tiki Data AS, a PC producer
  • Åke Larson Construction AB, Stockholm
Jorgen has also served as a member of various advisory boards and not-for-profit councils, including:

Government appointments

In the year 2005-06 he led the Norwegian Commission on Low Emissions, which proposed a path for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Norway by two-thirds by 2050. Randers is currently professor of climate strategy at the BI Norwegian Business School.
He has also undertaken a number of other Government appointments, including:

Publications