Mr Paul Graham.

Mr Paul Graham.

Mr Paul Graham: energy economist

Mr Paul Graham is an economist with expertise in energy market analysis, forecasting and economic modelling.

  • 9 June 2009 | Updated 2 April 2013

Current activities

Mr Paul Graham is Theme Leader, Carbon Futures, for the Energy Transformed National Research Flagship and is looking at the future of our energy supply and reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Australia.

In this role Mr Graham is responsible for:

  • developing innovative approaches to modelling energy projection
  • forming partnerships with external organisations
  • overall research program design.

Since 2005, Mr Graham has led CSIRO's series of Future Forums, a sector-wide initiative that brings together a diverse group of Australia’s leading energy and transport stakeholders to identify plausible scenarios and their implications for the nation’s energy future.

They include:

Mr Graham has also contributed to a variety of important national policy processes including modelling which underpinned the State’s National Emission Trading Task Force, the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, the Clean Energy Future carbon price policy, the Energy White Paper and Alternative Fuel Strategy Input Group.

Background

Mr Graham has developed a number of economic models designed to examine the likely technological development paths in Australia’s electricity generation and transport industries.

His models are used to determine the economic and physical implications of different energy paths and the expected level of market penetration of new technologies.

In his previous employment at the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE), he published, and provided advice to government on:

  • analysing the fundamental drivers of the major national and international energy markets (including electricity, coal, oil, gas and uranium)
  • energy costs and price formation
  • market structure and competitiveness
  • market failure and policy influences
  • environmental implications of alternative energy paths.

Academic qualifications

Mr Graham holds a Bachelor of Economics with Honours from the University of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia.

Achievements

In 2007 Mr Graham was awarded the CSIRO Strategic Partnership Excellence Award for his seminal contribution to the Energy Futures Forum project.

In 2004 Mr Graham won the CEO’s Award for Best Report (Options for electricity generation in Australia: Technology assessment report 31) under Project 4.1 Portfolio Options and Risk Assessment.

Read more about Energy forums: planning for the future.