Stanford University has announced a $1.1 billion commitment from philanthropists John and Ann Doerr to extend the university’s scholarship and amplify its impact in tackling urgent climate and sustainability challenges.

The Doerrs’ gift, combined with nearly $600 million in additional gifts and commitments, will establish the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability, which is focused on cultivating deep knowledge of and high-impact solutions to pressing planetary challenges. The first new school at Stanford in 70 years will include academic departments that advance subject understanding, interdisciplinary institutes that innovate across fields, and an accelerator focused on developing near-term policy and technology solutions, bringing breadth and scale to the university’s work in addressing the future of the planet.

The Doerr School has been designed to drive excellence in eight areas of scholarship that are crucial for advancing the long-term prosperity of the planet: climate change, Earth and planetary sciences, energy technology, sustainable cities, the natural environment, food and water security, human society and behavior, and human health and the environment. To that end, the academic departments will launch with about 90 existing Stanford faculty and add another 60 over 10 years; the interdisciplinary institutes will include the existing Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment and Precourt Institute for Energy and a new Institute for Sustainable Societies; and the Sustainability Accelerator will help advance high-potential technologies by providing laboratories, tools, and domain expertise to help researchers refine and scale prototypes.

“These gifts will help Stanford bring its full effort to bear on solving the most complex problems in climate and sustainability, and on training the next generation of students who are eager and driven to address these challenges,” said Stanford president Marc Tessier-Lavigne. “We have designed a school for the future combining knowledge generation and impact, building on the strong foundation established through Stanford’s history of scholarship in Stanford Earth and our other schools and interdisciplinary institutes. We are deeply grateful to John and Ann for partnering with us to realize the school’s mission, as well as to the other generous lead donors who are leveraging their resources to help us create a more livable future.”

“Stanford is making a bold, actionable, and enduring commitment to tackle humanity’s greatest challenge, and we have deep conviction in its ambition and abilities,” said John and Ann Doerr. “We believe the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability will be a model for the interdisciplinary collaboration required to solve this existential challenge—and set a new standard for scholarship in the 21st century. Today’s real and pressing challenges—not least, solving our climate crisis—require that knowledge be channeled toward the building of practical, implementable solutions. With a deep track record in groundbreaking scholarship and impact, and a critical mass of subject experts and innovators, Stanford is perfectly positioned to make a measurable difference in climate and sustainability challenges. This is the decisive decade, and we must act with full speed and scale.”

(Photo credit: Ed Caldwell/Stanford University)