Cornelis "Kees" van Kooten

Professor of Economics, University of Victoria

G. Cornelis van Kooten, a Fraser Institute senior fellow, held the Canada Research Chair in Environmental Studies and Climate at the University of Victoria for 21 years. His research interest focuses on natural resource economics and management, and issues related to the economics of climate change.

At the University of Victoria, Professor van Kooten was responsible for one of the world’s few softwood lumber trade models, and led interdisciplinary studies on economic factors related to land use, carbon offsets, water use, energy, agriculture, forestry and wildlife. He has published 12 books and more than 230 academic articles.

Professor van Kooten is the recipient of numerous academic and professional awards, including being named a Fellow of the Canadian Agricultural Economics Society and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

He received a B.Sc. in Geophysics from the University of Alberta, an M.A. in Economics from the University of Alberta, and a Ph.D. in Agricultural & Resource Economics from Oregon State University.

Recent Research by Cornelis "Kees" van Kooten

— Mar 14, 2024
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Electric Vehicles and the Demand for Electricity

Electric Vehicles and the Demand for Electricity is the latest installment in the Institute’s series on EVs. It finds that Ottawa’s requirement that all new vehicles sold by 2035 be electric could increase Canada’s power demands by as much as 15.3 per cent, requiring the equivalent of 10 new mega hydro dams or 13 large natural gas plants to meet the increased electricity needs.

— Oct 21, 2021
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Canadian Climate Policy and Its Implications for Electricity Grids

Canadian Climate Policy and its Implications for Electricity Grids is a new study that finds replacing coal-fired power in Canada with wind and solar (and building natural gas capacity as a backup source of power) would increase the costs of operating the electricity grid by between $16.8 billion and $33.7 billion a year, while reducing Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions by 7.4 per cent. Crucially, the 7.4 per cent emissions reduction would fall short of the federal government’s target to be 40 per cent to 45 per cent below 2005 emissions levels by 2030.