On Wednesday, John Doerr announced that he and his wife Ann gave $1.1 billion to Stanford University to establish its first new school in 70 years: The Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. Doerr, a venture capitalist whose most recent book focuses on addressing the climate crisis, has been investing in sustainable technologies since 2006 and believes that the next generation is eager to address one of the most pressing issues to face humanity. “This is what the young people want to work on with their lives, for all the right reasons,”Doerr told The New York Times. Aside from its proximity within Silicon Valley, Doerr has plenty of good reasons to choose Stanford as the university he’s placing a big bet on: The school recently transitioned to 100% renewable energy and has supported a series of promising studieson sustainable technologies.
According to the Times, the school will include academic departments focused on planetary science, energy technology, and resource security, along with interdisciplinary institutes and a policy and technology solutions development center, which somewhat goes hand-in-hand with Doerr’s guide to reaching net-zero by 2050. Doerr’s “Speed and Scale” includes conversations with other billionaires seemingly invested in the climate crisis, including Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates, though some of the world’s richest people barely invest in climate change compared with their overall worth. They also are some of the biggest individual culprits driving climate change. Their emissions, of course, are nothing compared with major fossil fuel companies, but it’s kind of frustrating that the rich talk a big game but do little to actually move the needle on reaching net-zero when the clock is ticking and they’re only getting richer.