On March 31 at the Arctic Encounter Symposium in Anchorage, Alaska, the government of Norway presented its program for Norway’s upcoming Chairship of the Arctic Council. In response, John Holdren, Co-Director of the Arctic Initiative at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, issued the following statement of support.

Arctic Initiative Co-Director John Holdren and Senior Fellow Fran Ulmer call for increased U.S.-Canadian cooperation on geopolitical challenges around relations with Russia and China as well as the critical problems being imposed by climate change on the North American Arctic.

Riikka Karppinen, a prominent youth leader, environmental activist, and politician from Finnish Lapland, has been appointed to the International Advisory Board of Harvard Kennedy School’s Arctic Initiative. As a Board member, Karppinen will leverage her substantial expertise in nature conservation, policymaking, activism, and communication to help the Arctic Initiative advance its research and education goals and train the next generation of interdisciplinary Arctic experts and leaders.

In October, members of the Belfer Center’s Arctic Initiative joined more than 2,000 Arctic policymakers, scholars, business leaders, and residents in Reykjavík, Iceland, for the Arctic Circle Assembly—the world’s largest annual gathering on Arctic issues. The Arctic Initiative delegation of students presented innovative ideas for Arctic resilience. 

The Belfer Center Communications Team reached out to policy experts John P. Holdren and Matthew Bunn to reflect on the recent achievement of fusion ignition at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. 

John P. Holdren, Co-Director of the Belfer Center’s Arctic Initiative and former Science Advisor to President Obama, has been appointed to the National Academies’ Polar Research Board (PRB). The PRB, composed of 19 independent senior experts across a wide range of scientific disciplines, exists to promote excellence in polar science and to provide independent scientific guidance to U.S. federal agencies and the nation on science issues in the Arctic, the Antarctic, and cold regions in general. 

On October 3, 2022, John Holdren delivered the third annual Lecture on Engineering and Society at the Annual Meeting of the National Academy of Engineering in Washington, D.C.

Permafrost thaw has significant implications for adaptation and mitigation policy worldwide. However, it remains almost entirely excluded from policy dialogues at the regional, national, and international levels. This paper discusses current gaps and recommendations for increasing the integration of permafrost science into policy, focusing on three core components: reducing scientific uncertainty; targeting scientific outputs to address climate policy needs; and co-developing just and equitable climate adaptation plans to respond to the hazards of permafrost thaw.

John Holdren spoke to The Harvard Gazette about the proposed Inflation Reduction Act legislation and its potential impact, should it survive House scrutiny and be signed by President Biden.

The newly elevated "Major Questions Doctrine" of the Supreme Court's conservative majority puts a vast array of environmental and business regulations at risk, writes John Holdren.