About

Lau Øfjord Blaxekjær is an engaged scholar working full time as Senior Project Manager at The Global Maritime Forum (GMF) working on decarbonisation of shipping. Lau is responsible for government relations and the workstream on closing the competitiveness gap between fossil fuels and zero-carbon energy sources. The GMF is an international not-for-profit organization committed to shaping the future of global seaborne trade to increase sustainable long-term economic development and human wellbeing.

Lau holds a PhD (2015) in Political Science from the University of Copenhagen focusing on climate governance and green growth. In his spare time, Lau is an Affiliated Researcher at the University of the Faroe Islands, where he currently supervises a PhD project on small universities as sustainability agents in the Arctic (2019-2022). From 2014-2018, Lau was Assistant Professor and Programme Director and developed and headed the international master’s programme on West Nordic Studies, Governance and Sustainable Management and was engaged in the Faroe Islands’ and West Nordic region’s green transition through collaborations with a range of public and private stakeholders.

As an engaged scholar, Lau works in the intersection between climate policy and science diplomacy in theory and practice. From 2019-2021, he was the Danish Maritime Authority’s lead GHG negotiator at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and also chaired a group of high ambition climate countries. He often appears in Danish media writing and commenting on sustainability and climate governance.

Relevant publications:

  • Clöck C., Castro, P., Weiler, F. and Blaxekjær, L. (eds.). 2021. Coalitions in the Climate Change Negotiations. Abingdon and New York: Routledge. 240 pages.
  • Blaxekjær, L. 2021. How the Cartagena Dialogue Brought UN Climate Negotiations Back on Track and Helped Deliver the Paris Agreement. In: Clöck C., Castro, P., Weiler, F. and Blaxekjær, L. (eds.). 2021. Coalitions in the Climate Change Negotiations. Abingdon and New York: Routledge.
  • Blaxekjær, L., Lahn, B., Nielsen, T.D., Green-Weiskel, L. and Fang, F. 2021. The Narrative Position of the Like-Minded Developing Countries in Global Climate Negotiations. In: Clöck C., Castro, P., Weiler, F. and Blaxekjær, L. (eds.). 2021. Coalitions in the Climate Change Negotiations. Abingdon and New York: Routledge.
  • Chin-Yee, S., Nielsen, T.D. and Blaxekjær, L. 2021. One Voice, One Africa: The African Group of Negotiators. In: Clöck C., Castro, P., Weiler, F. and Blaxekjær, L. (eds.). 2021. Coalitions in the Climate Change Negotiations. Abingdon and New York: Routledge.
  • Graap, T., Ingólfsdóttir, A, and Blaxekjær, L. (eds.). 2020. The Future of the North: Sustainability in the Nordic Countries. Metropolis. Young, O, …, Blaxekjær, L., et al. 2018. Moving beyond panaceas in fisheries governance, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, published ahead of print, 23 August 2018.
  • Blaxekjær, L., Olsen, M. M., Thomasen, H., et al. 2018. The Sustainable Development Goals and Student Entrepreneurship in the Arctic, Arctic Yearbook 2018, Akureyri: Northern Research Forum and UArctic Thematic Network on Geopolitics and Security.
  • Blaxekjær, L. 2016. Korea as Green Middle Power: Green Growth Strategic Action in the Field of Global Environmental Governance. International Relations of the Asia-Pacific. Vol 16 (3): 443-476.
  • Blaxekjær, L. 2016. New practices and narratives of environmental diplomacy, In. Gustavo Sosa-Nunez and Ed Atkins, Environment, Climate Change and International Relations, E-IR publications. 127-142. Online open access at www.e-ir.info
  • Blaxekjær, L. 2015. The emergence and spread of green growth. In: Transscalar Governance of Climate Change: An Engaged Scholarship Approach. Department of Political Science, University of Copenhagen, PhD Series 2015: 8.
  • Blaxekjær, L. and Nielsen, T.D., (2015). Narrative Positions of New Political Groups under the UNFCCC. Climate Policy, Vol 15 (6): 751-766.

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