Purdon, Mark

Mark Purdon is an expert in the emerging field of comparative climate change politics, which combines elements of comparative politics, comparative public policy and international relations. His goal is to develop a bottom-up understanding of global climate change politics and international cooperation through rich and contextualized comparative research, as well as to rethink international relations theory in order to better inform domestic politics and public policy. Mark earned a PhD in political science at the University of Toronto in 2013 and completed a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellowship at the London School of Economics in 2014. He joined the Department of Strategy, Social and Environmental Responsibility at the École de sciences de la gestion (ESG) at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) as a professor in 2018 where he has held the Chair in Decarbonization since 2021. Professor Purdon’s book entitled “The Political Economy of Climate Finance Effectiveness in Developing Countries: Carbon Markets, Climate Funds, and the State” is forthcoming at Oxford University Press.

Research interest

Mark Purdon is particularly interested in the relationship between decarbonization and political economy, and has extensive research experience in both developing and developed countries in areas of climate finance, renewable energy, transportation, forestry and land-use. Other elements of his research include global climate governance and international cooperation, especially carbon markets and others forms of climate finance. Professor Purdon is also interested in research methodology, particularly comparative methods and techno-economic modeling.

Mentoring

Supervisor of over five master's students in management, environmental science and political science. Co-supervisor of PhD students in economics and political science.

Grants and consultancy

• Mapping the political economy of regional electricity integration in northeastern Canada and the United States, 2022 (RRECQ)
• Bridging Analytical Divides between Energy System Modeling, the Geography of Sustainability Transitions and Comparative Political Economy of Development, 2019 (SSHRC)
• Joint Clean Climate Transport Research Partnership, 2018 (SSHRC)
• Consultancies with UNDP, Gold Standard Foundation, Transparency International, CGIAR and the Canadian International Development Agency

Policy Engagement

• Leads UQAM’s delegation to the annual UN climate change conference
• Member of Canada Climate Talk, a group made up of climate policy professionals from academia, business and law, located across Canada.
• Sits on the Scientific Committee of the Institut d'études internationales de Montréal (IEIM)

Awards

• Researcher at Network for Strategic Analysis (Queens University-UQAM), 2023
• Member of Réseau de recherche en économie circulaire du Québec (RRECQ), 2022
• Chair in Decarbonization, 2021 (UQAM)
• University of Toronto PhD Student Award, 2007 (UToronto)
• MSc with Distinction, 2004 (Oxford)