Eric Kemp-Benedict

Eric Kemp-Benedict is an Affiliated Researcher with SEI US. He is an Associate Professor of Ecological Economics at the University of Leeds, where he leads the Ecological Economics Master’s program. His research focuses on the macroeconomics of a sustainability transition. Working within post-Keynesian, structuralist and classical traditions, but viewing the economy through an ecological economics lens, Eric addresses questions around long-run growth, decoupling, structural change, and economic development.

In addition to his work in ecological economics, Eric has contributed to studies on diverse topics of relevance to sustainability at national, regional, and global levels and has actively developed and applied tools and methods for participatory and study-specific sustainability analyses. He is a key contributor to the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs), part of the global climate scenario framework that underpins a wide range of climate studies.

Until the end of 2023, Eric worked at SEI. He directed SEI’s Asia Center from February 2013 until February 2016, and the SEI US Center’s Equitable Transitions Program from 2018 to 2023. He has served in multiple SEI global leadership roles.

Eric holds a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Boston University.