Niko Paech studied political economy at the University of Osnabrück, where he worked as a research assistant in the field of foreign trade and received his doctorate in 1993. He then worked in the Oldenburg city administration as an Agenda 21 representative. In 2005, he habilitated at the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, represented the Chair of Production and Environment from 2008 to 2016 and became an associate professor in 2010.
He currently teaches and researches as an adjunct professor in the master's program “plural economics” at the University of Siegen. His research topics include microeconomic theory, environmental economics, consumption theory, climate protection, innovation and diffusion theory, sustainability research, operations research, supply chain management, and post growth economics.
He has received various awards for his activities in the science and media fields, such as the journalism prize "Oldenburger Feder" (2002), the "Kapp Research Prize for Ecological Economics" (2006), the ZEIT-WISSEN Prize "Courage for Sustainability" (2014), the "Leopold-Kohr Prize" (2016), and the "Bad Herrenalber Academy Prize" (2018).