The World Resources Institute, a respected and highly data-driven environmental research organization, has named a new president: Andrew D. Steer, a British-born economist and human development expert who has spent the bulk of his career at the World Bank.
World Resources Institute
Andrew D. Steer
Dr. Steer currently serves as the World Bank’s special envoy for climate change. He previously led the bank’s environment department and was its top officer for Indonesia and Vietnam. He earned his doctorate in economics at the University of Pennsylvania and also served as a top official of Britain’s Department for International Development.
He is the third president to be named in the 30-year history of the World Resources Institute, a nonprofit research organization that does not engage in lobbying or political activism, like many other environmental groups. Its studies on climate change, resource use, transportation and ecosystems are widely cited.
The organization was established in 1982 with a $15 million grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation of Chicago, best known for its so-called annual genius grants. The institute’s previous presidents were Gus Speth, an early environmental advocate who is now a professor of law at Vermont Law School, and
Jonathan Lash, now president of Hampshire College.
“I am deeply honored and delighted to be stepping into this role for such an extraordinary organization, with its rich history of innovative and transformative solutions
to environmental and development challenges,” Dr. Steer was quoted as saying in a press release.
An earlier version of this post misidentified the law school where Gus Speth is a professor. It is Vermont Law School, not the University of Vermont.