Jeremy Rifkin is the founder and the president of the Foundation on Economic Trends, the president of the TIR Consulting Group LLC, a senior lecturer at the Wharton School’s Executive Education Program at the University of Pennsylvania, and the author of 20 bestselling books on the impact of scientific and technological changes on the economy, the workforce, society, and the environment. Rifkin speaks frequently before government, business, and labor and civic forums, and has lectured at hundreds of the world’s leading corporations and over 200 universities in some 30 countries over the past three decades.
Rifkin’s book The Zero Marginal Cost Society: The Internet of Things, the Collaborative Commons, and the Eclipse of Capitalism was published with Palgrave Macmillan in spring 2014. In 2011, he published the New York Times bestseller The Third Industrial Revolution, inspiring the European Union’s Third Industrial Revolution long-term economic sustainability plan to address the triple challenge of the global economic crisis, energy security, and climate change. His vision of a sustainable, post-carbon economic era has been endorsed by the European Union and the United Nations and was embraced by world leaders including Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, President François Hollande of France, and Premier Li Keqiang of China. Rifkin’s other recent titles include The Age of Access, The End of Work, The European Dream, The Biotech Century, and The Hydrogen Economy.
Rifkin has been an influential figure in both US and international public policy, advising the government of France during its presidency of the European Union in 2008 and serving as adviser to Chancellor Angela Merkel, Prime Minister Jose Socrates of Portugal, and Prime Minister Janez Janša of Slovenia, during their respective European Council Presidencies. He advises the European Commission, the European Parliament, and several EU and Asian heads of the state. Rifkin’s sustainable development team advises governments and global corporations on the latest in cutting-edge technologies and best practices designed to address the twin challenges of climate change and energy security.
His monthly column on global issues has appeared over the years in many of the world’s leading newspapers and magazines, among others, the Los Angeles Times, Guardian, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Handelsblatt, and in other newspapers in Belgium, Italy, Spain, Greece, Denmark, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Luxembourg, Estonia, Bulgaria, Argentina, and the UAE. He has been a frequent guest on numerous TV programs, including Face the Nation, The Lehrer News Hour, 20/20, Larry King Live, Today, and Good Morning America.
