Marisa Beck

Marisa started her Global Governance PhD in 2012, specializing in Global Environmental Governance. Marisa’a broad research interests are in exploring the interactions and interdependencies between three complex systems—the global economy, social belief systems and Earth’s climate. Specifically, she will investigate the development and use of formal modeling for climate change policymaking. 

Mathematical climate-economy models have become an increasingly popular tool for policymakers to inform decisions on when and how to respond to climate change. These models combine representations of the climate system and the economy and the interactions between them, for example, to estimate the social cost of carbon. However, given the large scientific uncertainties around central model parameters, the use of climate-economy models for policy formation has also come under increased scrutiny. Critical voices claim that modeling methodologies are flawed, and their results arbitrary. Climate-economy models may impact the trajectory of national and international climate policy, yet there is a lack of both conceptual and empirical analysis of the development and use of such formal models. Marisa aims to fill this knowledge gap, and to determine if such models are helpful, even necessary, for environmentally effective and socially just climate policy development or if they are at risk of crowding out important debates and alternative approaches to generating relevant knowledge for decision-making. 

Marisa received a graduate degree in business from the University of Mannheim in Germany and an MSc in environmental policy from the London School of Economics. Research for both her theses focused on climate change economics, one critically discussing different approaches  to estimating the cost of climate change mitigation in Germany and the other exploring the behaviour of private investors under the Kyoto Protocol’s financial mechanisms. Before coming to Waterloo, Marisa was working as an analyst for global carbon markets with a leading market research and information provider for clean energy and carbon markets in London. 

At BSIA, Marisa also works as a Research Assistant with Dr. Randy Wigle, supporting  a research project that uses economic modelling to assess domestic climate policies for Canada.