Cornelis "Kees" van Kooten

Professor of Economics, University of Victoria

G. Cornelis van Kooten, Fraser Institute senior fellow, holds the Canada Research Chair in Environmental Studies and Climate at the University of Victoria. His research interest focuses on natural resource economics and management, and issues related to the economics of climate change.

At the University of Victoria, Professor van Kooten is responsible for one of the world’s few softwood lumber trade models, and leads interdisciplinary studies on economic factors related to land use, carbon offsets, water use, energy, agriculture, forestry and wildlife. He has published nine books and more than 200 academic articles.

Professor van Kooten is the recipient of numerous academic and professional awards, including being named a Fellow of the Canadian Agricultural Economics Society.

He received a B.Sc. in Geophysics from the University of Alberta, an M.A. in Economics from the University of Alberta, and a Ph.D. in Agricultural & Resource Economics from Oregon State University.

Recent Research by Cornelis "Kees" van Kooten

— Oct 21, 2021
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Canadian Climate Policy and Its Implications for Electricity Grids

Canadian Climate Policy and its Implications for Electricity Grids is a new study that finds replacing coal-fired power in Canada with wind and solar (and building natural gas capacity as a backup source of power) would increase the costs of operating the electricity grid by between $16.8 billion and $33.7 billion a year, while reducing Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions by 7.4 per cent. Crucially, the 7.4 per cent emissions reduction would fall short of the federal government’s target to be 40 per cent to 45 per cent below 2005 emissions levels by 2030.