Stoknes works as the co-director for Center for Green Growth at the BI Norwegian Business School in Oslo. He's received several "Best Professor" awards from BI Executive for his original teaching style. As both an economist, author and psychologist, he's been working closely with organizational and business leaders throughout Scandinavia, the European Union as well as the Americas and Asia. In 2017-2021 he represented the Green Party in the Norwegian parliament, sitting on the standing committee of Finance. 

He is the author of a number of books. His latest book is Tomorrow Economy - A healthy economy for the 21st century (2022). The book What We Think About When We Try Not To Think About Global Warming, which won the American Libraries Association’s "Outstanding Academic Title" award for 2015, was also the starting point for his TED talk, which has been viewed over 3.3 million times. 

Educated as a psychologist at the University of Oslo, Stoknes has since supplemented this with studies in organizational theory, philosophy, and a doctoral degree in economic theory. He has worked both as a clinical psychologist and strategy consultant, bringing imagination, long-term thinking, and creative expression into these spheres.  

He is a full member of the Club of Rome, and in 2022 he co-led the project and co-authored the book Earth For All, now available in six languages, together with, among others, Sandrine Dixson-Decléve, Johan Rockström, and Jørgen Randers. 

In addition to contributing to how we think about what is possible through green and healthy growth in the outer world, Per Espen is engaged in the inner psychological transformation. That includes re-orienting the Western psyche through learning from indigenous people around the world, to inspire the paradigm shift. He has been unlearning and relearning being-in-the-world through collaborations with both the Sami of Northern Norway and some indigenous nations of the Ecuadorian Amazon. 

A popular speaker throughout Scandinavia, Stoknes lives in central Oslo. But he heads off to northern mountains or to his forest cabin in order to feel the free winds and get awe-struck as often as occasion allows. 

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Photo: Ryan Lash / TED