Mailing address
Littauer 370
Belfer Center for Science & International Affairs
79 John F. Kennedy Street, Mailbox 53
Cambridge, MA, 02138
John P. Holdren
Director and Faculty Chair, Science, Technology and Public Policy Program
Member of the Board, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Teresa and John Heinz Professor of Environmental Policy, Kennedy School of Government
Co-Principal Investigator, Managing the Atom Project
Co-Principal Investigator, Energy Technology Innovation Policy
Contact:
Telephone: (617) 495-1464
Fax: (617)-495-8963
Email: john_holdren@harvard.edu
Experience
John P. Holdren is the Teresa and John Heinz Professor of Environmental Policy and Director of the Program on Science, Technology, and Public Policy at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, as well as President and Director of the Woods Hole Research Center. He is also Professor of Environmental Science and Policy in Harvard’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and from 2005–2008 served as President-Elect, President, and Chair of the Board of American Association for the Advancement of Science. His work has focused on causes and consequences of global environmental change, sustainable development, energy technology and policy, nuclear arms control and nonproliferation, and science and technology policy.
Dr. Holdren is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Council on Foreign Relations. From 1993–2004 he served as Chair of the Committee on International Security and Arms Control of the National Academy of Sciences, and from 1994–2001 he was a member of President Bill Clinton's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology. (In the latter capacity, he led major studies for the White House on U.S. energy research and development strategy, nuclear nonproliferation, and international cooperation on energy. Since 2002, he has been Co-Chair of the independent, bipartisan National Commission on Energy Policy, and from 2004 to the present he has served as a coordinating lead author of the Scientific Expert Group on Climate Change and Sustainable Development, reporting to the Department of Economic and Social Affairs and the Commission on Sustainable Development of the United Nations..
He is a recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Prize Fellowship (1981–1986), the Volvo International Environment Prize (1993), the Kaul Foundation Award for Scientific Excellence (1999), the Tyler Environment Prize (2000), and the John Heinz Prize in Public Policy (2001), among other awards. In 1995, he gave the acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize on behalf of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs (where he served as Chair of the Executive Committee from 1987–1997).
August 5, 2008
"Climate-Change Skeptics Revisited"
Paper
By John P. Holdren, Director and Faculty Chair, Science, Technology and Public Policy Program
STPP Director John P. Holdren's August 4, 2008, op-ed, "Convincing Climate Change Skeptics", which appeared in both the Boston Globe and International Herald Tribune, has generated much criticism. Professor Holdren has written this essay in response.
August 4, 2008
"Convincing the Climate-Change Skeptics"
Op-Ed, The Boston Globe
By John P. Holdren, Director and Faculty Chair, Science, Technology and Public Policy Program
"THE FEW climate-change "skeptics" with any sort of scientific credentials continue to receive attention in the media out of all proportion to their numbers, their qualifications, or the merit of their arguments. And this muddying of the waters of public discourse is being magnified by the parroting of these arguments by a larger population of amateur skeptics with no scientific credentials at all....The extent of unfounded skepticism about the disruption of global climate by human-produced greenhouse gases is not just regrettable, it is dangerous. It has delayed — and continues to delay — the development of the political consensus that will be needed if society is to embrace remedies commensurate with the challenge."
July 9, 2008
Report of the Harvard University Task Force on Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Report
By William Clark, Harvey Brooks Professor of International Science, Public Policy, and Human Development; Co-director, Sustainability Science Program; Faculty Chair, ENRP; and John P. Holdren, Director and Faculty Chair, Science, Technology and Public Policy Program
Harvard University released the report of its Greenhouse Gas Task Force. The task force, appointed by President Drew Faust in February, proposes elements of a framework for much-intensified efforts to reduce the University's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, as part of a broader effort to promote environmental sustainability.
March 31, 2008
"Harvard Kennedy School Faculty Discuss Energy and Environment–Related Challenges for China and the World"
Event Report
By John P. Holdren, Director and Faculty Chair, Science, Technology and Public Policy Program and Kelly Sims Gallagher, Director, Energy Technology Innovation Policy
Harvard Kennedy School Dean David Ellwood and HKS faculty John P. Holdren and Kelly Gallagher participated in a panel discussion on "The Challenge of Energy and Environment in China" in Shanghai, China.
March 14, 2008
"Ending the Energy Stalemate: A Bipartisan Strategy To Meet America’s Energy Challenges"
Presentation
By John P. Holdren, Director and Faculty Chair, Science, Technology and Public Policy Program
John P. Holdren provides the context for and an overview of the recommendations made by the National Commission on Energy Policy its 2004 and 2007 reports to the President and Congress of the United States.
Winter 2008
"Global Warning"
Magazine or Newspaper Article, John F. Kennedy School of Government Bulletin
By Robert O'Neill and John P. Holdren, Director and Faculty Chair, Science, Technology and Public Policy Program
Someone usually asks Holdren why we should be worried about it. Holdren, who has been thinking about climate change since the late 1960s, has a prepared list: “Heat waves, drought, wildfires, rising sea level, reduced agricultural productivity, damage to ocean fisheries, loss of coral reefs,” he says. “I mean, I have a much longer litany,” he reminds his audience. This isn’t just about beach erosion on Cape Cod or warmer summers in Europe, it’s about trying to preserve the conditions for our economic, social, and political well-being.
January 25, 2008
"Science and Technology for Sustainable Well-Being"
Journal Article, Science, issue 5862, volume 319
By John P. Holdren, Director and Faculty Chair, Science, Technology and Public Policy Program
"I would urge every scientist and engineer with an interest in the intersection of S&T with sustainable well-being...to 'tithe' 10% of your professional time and effort to working in these and other ways to increase the benefits of S&T for the human condition and to decrease the liabilities. If so much as a substantial fraction of the world's scientists and engineers resolved to do this much, the acceleration of progress toward sustainable well-being for all of Earth's inhabitants would surprise us all."
January 17, 2008
"Meeting the Climate-Change Challenge"
Presentation
By John P. Holdren, Director and Faculty Chair, Science, Technology and Public Policy Program
John P. Holdren presented the John H. Chafee Memorial Lecture on Science and the Environment on January 17, 2008, at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington, D.C. Holdren's lecture was presented during the 8th National Conference on Science, Policy and the Environment: Climate Change: Science and Solutions, organized by the National Council for Science and the Environment.
The Chafee Memorial Lecture is presented in memory of the late Senator John Chafee of Rhode Island, who was a champion of bipartisan, scientific approaches for protecting the environment.
December 10, 2007
"Linking Climate Policy with Development Strategy: Options for Brazil, China, and India"
Presentation
By John P. Holdren, Director and Faculty Chair, Science, Technology and Public Policy Program
Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program Director John P. Holdren spoke at a Woods Hole Research Center–sponsored side event at the 13th United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Bali, Indonesia.
November 6, 2007
"Global Climate Disruption: What Do We Know? What Should We Do?"
Presentation
By John P. Holdren, Director and Faculty Chair, Science, Technology and Public Policy Program
"Global warming is a misnomer," said John P. Holdren, speaking at the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum at the Kennedy School on November 6. "It implies something gradual, uniform, and benign. What we’re experiencing is none of these."
Holdren also urged the United States to spearhead this effort, going from being a "laggard in climate policy to being a leader." Once that happens, he said, the rest of the world will follow suit.
