Sam Reed

Senior Policy Adviser, Emissions Trading, Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Sam is interested in all aspects of climate policy, but has particular interest in:

• How cap and trade policy should evolve to decarbonise different sectors at different stages of decarbonisation.
• The role of markets in climate policy.
• How our understanding of complex climate systems can inform our understanding and development of the, arguably, equally complex problem of decarbonising all aspects of an economy.

On policy making in general, he is interested in the ‘science’ of policy making, decision making under uncertainty, and how policy makers assess and make decisions on the back of trade-offs when designing climate policy.

Sam’s background is in Earth Sciences – specialising in climate science – and worked in particular on climate system dynamics. In government, he has worked in energy policy strategy and environmental legislation, and now leads on market policy for the UK Emissions Trading System, which includes the policy to set the cap and cap trajectory, allocation of allowances (auctioning vs free), and mechanisms to support market stability.