Stanislav Shmelev is an ecological economist based in Oxford holding a PhD in Ecological Economics and Mathematical Methods (2003) supported by a prestigious European Commission PhD Fellowship. Shmelev received a LEAD Europe Fellowship (2007), and Executive MBA from the London School of Economics and Political Science, New York University Stern School of Business and HEC Paris, has been employed as a Senior Researcher at Oxford University and was named one in top four most promising young economists in the world by the Institute for New Economic Thinking and the Handelsblatt Newspaper (2014). In 2024 Dr Stanislav Edward Shmelev has been elected a Full Member of the Club of Rome, a distinguished body of 100 top global experts in sustainability. 

Shmelev is the founder and CEO at a sustainability think tank, Environment Europe Ltd and an executive director at Environment Europe Foundation, where he has founded a unique executive education programme in ecological economics and sustainability that trained UNEP, UNDP, IUCN, OECD, GGGI, ministerial staff and academics from 60 countries.

In Shmelev’s career spanning 20 years, he has focused on the new interdisciplinary science of ecological economics addressing some of the most pressing issues of our time: climate change and renewable energy, macroeconomic sustainability and sustainability assessment, urban sustainability, circular economy, ecosystems and biodiversity.

Shmelev most important contributions included innovative sustainability assessment methods for countries going beyond GDP, new approaches to benchmark global cities on their smart and sustainable performance, new multidimensional approaches to the assessment of ecosystems and biodiversity, macroeconometric modelling and the evidence-based policy assessment, multidimensional assessment of renewable energy alternatives and decarbonisation strategies, multidimensional LCA models of circular economy at a regional scale and corporate sustainability.

He has made multiple contributions towards educating new generations of scholars worldwide as a Visiting Professor in Europe, Latin America and Central Asia. At the same time he acted as a consultant to international organizations: UNEP, UNDP, IUCN, OECD and businesses.

He is the author and editor of several bestselling volumes: ‘Ecological Economics: Sustainability in Practice’ (Springer, 2012) and ‘Green Economy Reader’ (Springer, 2017) and ‘Sustainability Analysis: An Interdisciplinary Approach’ (2012) as well as ‘Sustainable Cities Reimagined (Palgrave, 2019).

Shmelev’s book ‘Ecosystems: Complexity, Diversity and Nature’s Contribution to Humanity’ has received letters of support from HH Pope Francis, HRH Prince Charles, HE President Macron, HE Prime Minister Rutte and Sir David Attenborough.

Shmelev’s academic publications appeared in prominent journals: Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews (Impact factor 14.982), Ecological Economics (Impact factor 5.389), Cities (Impact factor 5.835), Sustainable Development (Impact factor 6.159), Sustainability (Impact factor 3.251).

He supervised cutting edge MSc theses at a range of top universities, including United Nations University, Oxford University, University of Edinburgh and University of Vienna. His Hirsch Index is 20 according to Google Scholar and 14 according to Scopus.

Shmelev brings together the added value of art and science in his work. In 2021 his environmental artwork has been selected among the world’s very best contemporary artworks at Arsenale di Venezia in Venice by Arte Laguna Prize and this dimension makes his interventions unique, emotionally engaging and successful.