Paul Portney, President, Resources for the Future

Paul has devoted his life to research to try and find ways to harness the power of the market in the service of the environment. He believes so-called market instruments are the key to successful environmental and energy policy. His organisation, Resources for the Future, originated the idea for one of the first such policy instruments, the now widely implemented tradable emission permit. Providing quality independent research is still his aim but the big challenge he faces is explaining technical findings in a simple way that will inspire people to take up the ideas in their work.