Breakthrough Institute

The Breakthrough Institute is a think tank located in Oakland, CA. The Breakthrough Institute is "committed to modernizing environmentalism for the 21st century" and its mission is to “accelerate the transition to a future where all the world's inhabitants can enjoy secure, free, and prosperous lives on an ecologically vibrant planet.” Founded in 2003 by Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus, Breakthrough Institute has policy programs in energy and climate, economic growth and innovation, conservation and development. It publishes a policy journal, organizes an annual conference, and offers a fellowship program for recent college graduates and grad students. Breakthrough Institute analyses of energy, climate, and innovation policy have been cited by the New York Times, National Public Radio, the Wall Street Journal, and C-SPAN. Philosophically, the Breakthrough Institute is associated with the ecological modernist movement, ecomodernism. Ecomodernists are characterized by their belief that technology can be harnessed to better humanity and the environment. They frequently support genetic engineering and believe that nuclear energy is necessary in order to address climate change.

Breakthrough's interim executive director is Peter Teague and its director of research is Ted Nordhaus. Breakthrough also has a number of senior fellows including sociologist Bruno Latour, journalist Gwyneth Cravens, Nobel prize-winning physicist Burton Richter, political scientist Roger Pielke Jr., sociologist Dalton Conley, Oxford professor Steve Rayner, plant geneticist Pamela Ronald, sociologist Steve Fuller, and environmental thought leader Stewart Brand.

Breakthrough Institute maintains programs in energy, conservation, and innovation. Their website states that the energy research is “focused on making clean energy cheap through technology innovation to deal with both global warming and energy poverty.” The conservation work “seeks to offer pragmatic new frameworks and tools for navigating" the challenges of the Anthropocene. And the innovation research “seeks to understand how economic growth and innovation happen in the real world and to consider the implications for policy makers.

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