John Hall

John Hall is an environmental leader and policy strategist whose career spans nearly four decades in clean energy, environmental justice, and climate resilience across Texas and beyond. Hall is President and CEO of HARC (Houston Advanced Research Center). He also serves as associate vice president and Texas state director for clean energy at the Environmental Defense Fund, where his areas of expertise include the Texas legislative and policy landscape, environmental justice, climate policy, and clean energy.

Before joining Environmental Defense Fund, Hall accumulated more than 15 years of public service and 20 years of consulting for Texas cities and businesses. He previously served as executive director of the Texas Environmental Research Consortium in Houston; chairman of the Texas Water Commission and the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission; project manager and facilitator at the Port of Houston Authority; and deputy commissioner at the Texas General Land Office. Hall also served as chairman of the state's environmental agency under Governor Ann Richards. For 20 years, his consulting firm, John Hall Public Affairs, assisted local governments and businesses in navigating environmental, energy, and water issues.

At Environmental Defense Fund, Hall has contributed to efforts to position Texas as a national leader in clean energy. He has worked to implement plans to increase the use of Texas' clean energy resources—including wind, solar, energy efficiency, and demand response—with the goal of reducing the state's carbon emissions and advancing Texas' role in the global clean energy economy. As associate vice president, Hall has overseen the Clean Energy Program in the United States, with a focus on Texas, New York, California, Florida, Illinois, Ohio, North Carolina, and New Jersey. He has authored research, including the Environmental Defense Fund report "Well Within Reach: How Texas Can Comply with and Benefit from the Clean Power Plan," which demonstrated Texas' ability to meet federal carbon pollution standards through existing market trends.

Hall's work also includes distributed energy and vehicle electrification. He led Environmental Defense Fund's clean energy efforts in 10 of the largest states and vehicle electrification initiatives in Texas. As lead author of the report "Encouraging the Development of Distributed Energy Resources in Texas," Hall outlined actions for Texas legislators, regulators, and local decision makers to spur investment in distributed energy resources such as rooftop and community solar, energy storage, energy efficiency, and demand response. He later transitioned to serve as president and CEO of the Houston Advanced Research Center, where his policy and research expertise focuses on environmental justice, clean energy, climate resilience, and emerging technologies to reduce air and climate pollution, while connecting the center's policy-related research with federal, state, and local officials, community leaders, partners, and funders.

Hall has contributed to the understanding of the impacts of energy on air quality, the environment, communities, and climate. As a keynote speaker and industry expert, he addresses topics including environment, environmental policy, environmental activism, energy, and conservation. Hall's combination of government experience, private-sector consulting, and nonprofit leadership positions him as a credible voice in the clean energy sector.