People and Expertise 

Paul Watkiss is an independent researcher with over 20 years' experience of multi-disciplinary research in climate change and adaptation policy.

Paul’s areas of expertise cover climate change risk assessment, co-design, adaptation planning and appraisal, decision making under uncertainty, the economic costs and benefits of adaptation, and adaptation finance.

Paul has led the development of the climate change risk and adaptation assessment methods. He was involved in the first, second and third UK Climate Change Risk Assessments (CCRA) and has worked on climate risk and adaptation assessment methods for the Asian Development Bank and European Investment Bank.  He has also developed adaptation frameworks, developing methodological approaches for the UK Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Department for International Development (DFID), including in decision making under uncertainty. He has led numerous studies on the costs and benefits of adaptation for UK Government (Defra, DFID), the Committee on Climate Change, the European Environment Agency, the European Commission, the OECD, UNDP and the UNFCCC.

He has worked on adaptation policy and planning at multiple scales. He has led country studies on the economics of climate change and adaptation including in the UK, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nepal, Tanzania, Rwanda and Zanzibar, as well as local studies, including Glasgow City Region. He also has practical experience of adaptation programming and design, and has put together business cases and proposals for over £200 million of adaptation projects and programmes globally, including for UK International Climate Finance and the Green Climate Fund.

Paul has led numerous major studies and has written over 100 publications, reports and conference papers. He was a contributory author on three chapters of the IPCC AR5 WGII and one chapter of WGIII.

Federica Cimato

Federica Cimato is a senior economist specialised in international development, infrastructure investment, and climate change. She worked as an economist and policy advisor for the UK Government Economic Service, for Defra and then DFID, and has 15 years in both theoretical and applied environmental and development economics. During this time she has used her technical and subject matter expertise to design, implement, monitor and evaluate government policies and projects. Her knowledge and experience include cost-benefit analysis, financial modelling and risk management, climate change risk and adaptation assessment, economic appraisal, and political economy analysis.  Most recently she has been working as a senior economist on projects in Europe, Nepal, Malawi, Rwanda and Tanzania, undertaking detailed economic and financial modelling of adaptation projects, including international climate finance projects. 

Alistair Hunt

Alistair Hunt is an environmental economist and an expert in the valuation of climate change impacts and the costs and benefits of adaptation.  He is a Senior Lecturer in Environmental Economics at the University of Bath and also works part time for Paul Watkiss Associates.  Alistair is an expert in the application of economic principles to project and policy analysis in the field of climate change. He has expertise in the monetary valuation of climate impacts, cost-benefit analysis (CBA) and decision support under uncertainty, including the application to the health, flood and other sectors.  He has worked on numerous studies on adaptation for PWA, including work for Defra, DFID, the EC, OECD, the Committee on Climate Change, World Bank and UNEP.  

Paul Watkiss Associates also works with a network of associates to provide expertise on a wide range of policy issues, each of which is a recognised expert in the field.  This includes:  

Matthew Savage is an international policy economist, with finance and investment expert specialising in greenhouse gas mitigation and climate adaptation. He is Director of Oxford Consulting Partners, and has worked for both DFID and the International Finance Corporation, and acted as a senior advisor for a range of international financial institutions, including the World Bank, the European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the African Development Bank (AfDB).  He worked on the UK Climate Change Programme and has led assignments in more than 30 countries, incuding Central and South Asia, Sub Saharan Africa, East Asia and the Carribbean.