Alaa Khourdajie

You’re always learning something new

In his late teens and early twenties, Alaa Khourdajie didn’t have a “grand direction of where to go.” Then he read about climate change: “Climate change is the problem that stuck to my mind and… I thought, okay, I’ll try to do something here, whatever I can.” Halfway through his undergrad in business administration, he decided to focus on climate change, and from then on every single assignment and essay was about it.

He went on to a master’s in environmental and natural resource economics, which was “a huge leap to catch up with things,” then a PhD in game theory, a branch of microeconomics. After teaching in Edinburgh, his interest pulled him toward modeling climate solutions. He has now dedicated about 20 years of his career to climate change.

When we asked about the biggest challenge of his work, Dr. Khourdajie pointed to the “continued… steep learning curve.” Though he isn’t a trained natural scientist, he is now co-leading a chapter on the impacts of climate tipping points, which put him “in a massive learning curve.”

“There’s always something to learn… The learning process I find it fascinating and I’m always excited about it, but I’m always tired.”

Whether it’s land use, carbon capture and storage or soil carbon, there are always “multiple and competing perspectives” to keep up with. If you love learning, this is a field that will never run out of things to teach you.

A lot of climate change is a “people” job

Writing an IPCC report is “very intense on so many levels.” Each working group has 200 to 250 authors. Every draft goes out for public review, and it goes “back and forth three to four times.” Last cycle, the reports ran 2,000 to 3,000 pages. Those pages are then distilled into a 30 to 60 page Summary for Policymakers, which is negotiated line by line with governments around the world.

That negotiation is the part Dr. Khourdajie didn’t expect to enjoy. “As someone who likes to concentrate on research and publications,” he found that “working with people from different disciplines is… fascinating, and learning and listening to everyone is interesting.”

“The intensity of dealing with 195 governments around the world providing input to a 30 page document is beyond belief. But I find it fascinating.”

The goal is a “shared and common understanding of the latest scientific evidence” that is also usable by policymakers. As he put it, “It’s human interactions at its highest intensity.” And no one does it alone: “One person out of nearly thousands… it’s a collective effort.”

Don’t confine yourself to one discipline, especially when fighting climate change

Dr. Khourdajie is still often labeled an economist, but “it’s been a while since I thought of economics.” Today he works on integrated assessment models, which link the energy system, transport, buildings and industry to simple climate models. These models project long-term scenarios for how the world could reach the Paris Agreement goals of 1.5 or 2 degrees.

His economics background is what let him expand into this area. Rather than a label, he sees his education as “a suite of tools and skills that could be expanded and applied… in different contexts.”

“These are kind of my tools, my equipment, my skills that I can deploy in different contexts.”

This matters for students, too. Interests shift and “the market will shift over time,” and by the time you graduate, “the world would look very different.” Whether you study economics, mathematics or something else, think of it as a toolkit you can carry into whatever problem needs it.

Find something that motivates you

His top advice for students: “Find something that drives you or something that motivates you and always keep that in mind.” For him, that’s climate change, and being “adaptable to fulfill this goal or this dream or this vision.”

It doesn’t have to be climate change. Advancing economic theory is “something we terribly need,” and applying it to health or antimicrobial resistance is “all equally important and valid.”

“At the risk of sounding idealistic, perhaps each person, especially in these times, should ask, what am I adding to society… and to future generations?”

And remember: “Any little contribution would be great.”