Jorgen Randers

Professor, the BI Norwegian Business School Scholars

Jorgen Randers (born 1945) is professor emeritus of climate strategy at the BI Norwegian Business School, where he works on climate and energy issues, scenario analysis and system dynamics. He spends much of his time lecturing and advising all over the world on these and other sustainable development issues, for both corporate and non-corporate audiences.

He has spent one third of his life in academia, one third in business, and one third in the NGO world. He was president of BI Norwegian Business School 1981-89, and Deputy Director General of WWF International 1994-99. He has been the chair of three Norwegian banks, non-executive member of numerous corporate boards, and served on the sustainability council of three multinationals. He is a full member of the Club of Rome.

He coauthored The Limits to Growth in 1972; wrote 2052 – A Global Forecast for the Next Forty Years in 2012, and the follow up solutions book Reinventing Prosperity with Graeme Maxton in 2016.He has written numerous papers.

Randers was first engaged in China when BI Norwegian Business School helped establish the first Western management school in Beijing in 1985. Since 2007 he has worked frequently in China: he helped Shanghai make their 2050 Plan, helped CASTED develop sustainable welfare indicators for Chinese citizens, helped the RDC make a green transition plan for China to 2050. Randers’ book on 2052 has sold more than 50.000 copies in Chinese, and he has lectured widely in China since it appeared in 2013. He is an honorary professor at Fudan University.