Dr. Stelios Grafakos is an environmental economist with 15 years of working experience in the field of environment, sustainability and climate change. He is the former Head of Urban Environment, Sustainability and Climate Change at IHS.
Stelios currently is working as a scientific advisor and researcher in the field of urban sustainability and climate change mitigation and adaptation in urban areas. His research interests and experience lie towards the urban sustainability assessment and evaluation, environmental decision making and analysis, environmental economics and ecosystems valuation and urban low carbon and climate resilient development and planning. He has been leading several advisory, research and capacity building assignments for clients such as the European Commission, UN-HABITAT, The World Bank, Inter - American Development Bank, United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) and the Dutch government. He also coordinates the Urban Climate Change education activities in IHS such as the Urban Climate Change Management (UCCM) specialization in the Urban Management and Development Master’s course and the short postgraduate course for professionals on Urban Management Tools for Climate Change (UMTCC).
Stelios has worked in various countries including the Philippines, Indonesia, Cambodia, Bhutan, India, Sri Lanka, South Korea, China, Colombia, South Africa, USA, and the EU on various research, advisory and training assignments.
Stelios has been appointed member of the Advisory Committee of the Cities in Climate Change Initiative (CCCI) programme of UN Habitat. In addition he is member of the Urban Climate Change Research Network (UCCRN) and contributor to the 2nd Assessment Report of Cities and Climate Change. Furthermore, he has been leading the development of the climate actions prioritization (CLIMACT Prio) decision support and capacity building tool for cities to conduct local climate change action plans.
Prior to IHS he worked at the Energy Research Centre of The Netherlands (ECN) on international climate change issue.
Stelios holds a Bachelor degree in Economics from the Athens University of Economics and Business, a Master’s Degree in Environmental Management and Policy from the University of Amsterdam and he got his PhD at Erasmus University Rotterdam. His thesis focused on the development of an integrated decision support and analysis framework for the sustainability evaluation of low carbon energy technologies. In addition he has published several peer reviewed articles in books, journals and international conferences.
Completed projects
- LoCAL: Development of a Monitoring and Evaluation system of local government climate change resilience activities, funded by the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), (http://www.local-uncdf.org/)
- Sustainability Benefits Assessment Methodology for the Green Growth Programme in Colombo, Sri Lanka, funded by The World Bank.
- Integrated Economic assessment of climate resilience measures in water sector in the City of Ahmedabad, India.
- Analysis of Green Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) and incorporation into the local green growth decision making in selected South East Asian cities.
- Covenant CapaCITY: development of a capacity building programme for local governments to conduct Low Carbon and Sustainable Energy action plans, funded by the European Commission, Intelligent Energy Europe (IEE) programme (http://www.covenant-capacity.eu/)
- SUSTAIN: Strengthening Urban Sustainability (curricula) in Higher Education in Europe and Asia, European Commission, Erasmus Mundus programme
- LEAN CC: Enhancing climate change awareness in higher education and linking academic networks in Europe, Asia and Africa in the field of Climate Change, funded by the European Commission, Erasmus Mundus programme. (http://www.eur.nl/climatechangeedu/)
Publications
Grafakos, S., Enseñado, E. M. and Flamos, A. 2016. Developing an integrated sustainability and resilience framework of indicators for the assessment of low-carbon energy technologies at the local level. International Journal of Sustainable Energy, |
Grafakos, S., Gianoli, A. and Tsatsou, A. 2016. Towards the development of an integrated sustainability and resilience benefits assessment framework of urban green growth interventions. Sustainability, 8 (5), pp. 461-494. |
| Grafakos, S., 2016. Integrated decision support for the sustainability assessment of low carbon energy options in Europe (PhD. thesis). Rotterdam: Erasmus University Rotterdam. |
Grafakos, S., Enseñado, E. M., Flamos, A. and Rotmans, J. 2015. Mapping and measuring European local governments’ priorities for a sustainable and low-carbon energy future. Energies, 8 (10), pp. 11641-11666. |
Grafakos, S. and Flamos, A. 2015. Assessing low-carbon energy technologies against sustainability and resilience criteria: results of a European experts survey. International Journal of Sustainable Energy. Published online: 28 May 2015. |
Grafakos, S., Flamos, A. and Enseñado, E. M. 2015. Preferences matter : a constructive approach to incorporating local stakeholders’ preferences in the sustainability evaluation of energy technologies. Sustainability, 7 (8), pp. 10922-10960. |
Grafakos, S., Pacteau, C., and Driscoll, P. [et al.], 2014, The UCCRN assessment report on climate change and cities : guidelines for developing climate change strategies. (Paper presented at Deltas in times of Climate Change International Conference, September 24–26, 2014, Rotterdam, the Netherlands). |
Oikonomou, V., Flamos, A. and Grafakos, S., 2014, Combination of energy policy instruments : creation of added value or overlapping? Energy Sources, Part B : Economics, Planning, and Policy, 9 (1), pp. 46-56. |
Grafakos, S., Kaczmarski, C., Olivotto, V. and Gianoli, A., 2013, Measuring the immeasurable : towards an integrated monitoring and evaluation framework of climate change adaptation projects [Paper presented at: 4th Resilient Cities Congress, 31 May - 2 June, Bonn, Germany]. |
Grafakos, S., Olivotto, V. and Gianoli, A., 2013, Towards an integrated evaluation framework of climate change adaptation projects [Paper presented at: European Climate Change Adaptation Conference (ECCA), March 19-20, Hamburg, Germany]. |
Kaklauskas, A., Pacheco Torgal, F., Grafakos, S. and Lapinskiene, V., 2013, Built environment life cycle process and climate change. In: (eds.) F. Pacheco Torgal, M. Mistretta, A. Kaklauskas, C. G. Granqvist and L. F. Cabeza, Nearly zero energy building refurbishment : a multidisciplinary approach. London: Springer Verlag. pp. 61-97. |
Gianoli, A., Grafakos, S., Olivotto, V. and Haque, A., eds., 2012, Climate change adaptation projects : integrating prioritization and evaluation, [Paper at Rethinking Cities : Framing the Future : Sixth [World Bank] Urban Research and Knowledge Symposium]. Barcelona, 2012. Washington, DC, USA: World Bank. |
Grafakos, S., Oikonomou, V. and Flamos, A., 2012, A qualitative assessment of EU energy policy interactions.Energy Sources, Part B : Economics, Planning, and Policy, 7 (2), pp. 177-187. |
Grafakos, S., Oikonomou, V., Zevgolis, D. and Flamos, A., 2012, Integrated assessment of climate policy instruments. In: W. L. Filho and M. Manolas eds., 2012, English through climate change. Orestiada: Department of Forestry and Management of the Environment and Natural Resources, Democritus University of Thrace. pp. 57-74. |
Grafakos, S. and Olivotto, V., 2012, Choosing the right adaptation assessment method, [Paper at ICLEI Resilient Cities Congress]. Bonn, 2012 |
Grafakos, S., Zevgolis, D. and Oikonomou, V., 2012, Towards a process for eliciting criteria weights and enhancing capacity of stakeholders in ex ante evaluation of climate policies. In: A. Martinuzzi and M. Sedlako eds., 2012, Governance by evaluation for sustainable development : institutional capacities and learning. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. |
Haque, A. N., Grafakos, S. and Huijsman, M., 2012, Participatory integrated assessment of flood protection measures for climate adaptation in Dhaka. Environment and Urbanization, 24 (1), pp. 197-213. |
Grafakos, S., Developing an integrated indicators’ framework for sustainability assessment of climate mitigation technologies in the energy sector [Poster presentation at 9th International Conference of the European Society for Ecological Economics (ESEE) Advancing, Ecological Economics, Theory and Practice], June 14-17, 2011, Istanbul, Turkey. |
Grafakos, S., 2011, A methodology to integrate adaptation and development objectives during adaptation planning [Paper presented at Resilient cities 2011 : 2nd World Congress on Cities and Adaptation to Climate Change], Bonn, 3-5 June 2011. |
Grafakos, S., Oikonomou V. and Flamos A. [et al.] 2011, Linking least-cost energy system costs models with MCA : an assessment of the EU renewable energy targets and supporting policies, Energy Policy, 39 (5), pp. 2786-2799. |
Grafakos, S., 2010, Multi criteria analysis as a climate change adaptation assessment tool, paper presented at Deltas in Times of Climate Change conference, Rotterdam, 29 September – 1 October 2010. |
Grafakos, S., Flamos, A., and Oikonomou, V., [et al.] 2010, Integrating environmental, socio-political, economic and technological dimensions for the assessment of climate policy instruments, In: (ed.) Leal Filho, W. The economic, social and political elements of climate change, Berlin, Springer Verlag, part 4, pp. 623-648. |
Grafakos S., Flamos, A., and Zevgolis D., [et al.], 2010, Multi criteria analysis weighting methodology to incorporate stakeholders’ preferences in energy and climate policy interactions, International journal of energy sector management, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 434-461. |
Haque, A. N., Grafakos S. and Huijsman M., 2010, Assessment of adaptation measures against flooding in the city of Dhaka, Bangladesh (IHS working papers series, no. 25) Rotterdam, Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies (IHS), 48 p. |
Oikonomou, V., Flamos, A., and Grafakos, S., 2010, Is blending of energy and climate policy instruments always desirable? Energy Policy, vol. 38, no. 8, pp. 4186–4195. |
Grafakos, S., Flamos, A., and Oikonomou, V., 2009, Integrating environmental, socio–political, economic and technological dimensions for the assessment of climate policy instruments [Paper prepared for the Climate 2009 online conference] |