Speakers
AbstractMr. Christopher Flavin
President, Worldwatch Institute
Christopher Flavin is President of the Worldwatch Institute, a Washington-based research organization known for its path-breaking work on the connections between economic, social, and environmental trends. Mr. Flavin is a regular co-author of the Institute’s annual report, State of the World, which has been published in 36 languages and is read by decision makers around the world. In State of the World 2006, he assesses the decisive role that China and India will play in efforts to create a sustainable global economy.
Mr. Flavin is widely known for his writing on energy strategies and policies, including the prospects for oil, strategies for reducing carbon dioxide emissions, and the potential for new and renewable energy technologies. He is co-author of three books on energy, including Power Surge: Guide to the Coming Energy Revolution (WW Norton, 1994), which presciently described the need for a post-petroleum energy economy and laid out a roadmap for achieving it.
As President of Worldwatch, Mr. Flavin is the Institute’s chief executive officer, serves on its Board of Directors, and represents the organization before a wide range of audiences. In his long career at Worldwatch, Mr. Flavin has helped guide the Institute’s development, serving as Vice President for Research and later as Senior Vice President. He was appointed President in 2000.
Mr. Flavin is active in international policy circles and, and has participated in several historic international conferences, including the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and the Climate Change Conference in Kyoto Japan in 1997. He is a founding member of the Board of Directors of the Business Council for Sustainable Energy and serves as a board member of the Climate Institute, the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, the Global Environmental Institute in China, and the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies in Japan.
Mr. Flavin is a frequent lecturer to business, university, and policy audiences. He testifies before national legislatures, and meets frequently with the leaders of governments, international agencies, and corporations. In September 2005, he delivered a plenary speech to 5,000 delegates at the 18th World Petroleum Congress in Johannesburg and brought together technology, policy, and business leaders in the San Francisco Bay Area to discuss strategies for ramping up the use of clean energy technologies. He also spoke alongside German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer at the launch of State of the World 2005 in Berlin on the vital role of sustainable development in achieving global security.
Mr. Flavin appears regularly on radio and television, including the BBC, CNN, NPR, PBS’s Newshour, and Voice of America. He has also written for a wide range of popular and scholarly periodicals, including The New York Times, Technology Review, The Harvard International Review, and TIME Magazine.
Mr. Flavin is a native of Monterey, California, and a cum laude graduate of Williams College, where he studied economics, biology, and environmental studies.
