Dr. Jonathan Foley

Dr. Jonathan Foley is a climate scientist, sustainability expert, educator, and public speaker, serving as the executive director of Project Drawdown, a leading resource for climate solutions. Foley's work focuses on identifying and implementing strategies to sustain the climate, ecosystems, and natural resources essential to human well-being.

Foley advises governments, foundations, nonprofit organizations, and business leaders on climate change, global food systems, and resource sustainability. His research has advanced understanding in these areas, and he has authored more than 140 scientific articles, including papers in journals such as Nature and Science. Foley earned his doctorate from the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at the University of Wisconsin and is among the most-cited scientists globally.

As a science communicator, Foley has delivered presentations at venues including the Aspen Institute, World Bank, National Geographic Society, Chautauqua Institution, Commonwealth Club, National Science March, and TED. His writing has appeared in National Geographic, The New York Times, The Guardian, and Scientific American. Foley has been featured on National Public Radio, PBS NewsHour, BBC, CNN, and in the HBO documentary "Too Hot Not to Handle" as well as the film series "Let Science Speak."

Foley has received awards such as the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the J.S. McDonnell Foundation 21st Century Science Award, an Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellowship, the Sustainability Science Award from the Ecological Society of America, the National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Award, and the Heinz Award for the Environment.

Before joining Project Drawdown, Foley founded and directed environmental science and sustainability organizations. At the University of Wisconsin, he launched the Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment and was the first Gaylord Nelson Professor of Environmental Studies. He also served as founding director of the Institute on the Environment at the University of Minnesota, holding the McKnight Presidential Chair of Sustainability. Foley was executive director of California Academy of Sciences, recognized for its environmental leadership among science museums.

Foley engages in public discourse on climate solutions and sustainability, contributing to global awareness and action on environmental challenges.