Dr Jonathan Pershing The Hewlett Foundation
LSE is delighted to announce the appointment of Dr Jonathan Pershing as the Inaugural Dean of its new Global School of Sustainability (GSoS).
Established in 2025, GSoS at LSE is helping to catalyse global change for a more hopeful, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable world.
Jonathan Pershing has extensive experience at the highest level of US climate policy and has played a key role in creating international climate agreements. He has held significant positions in the US Department of State — including as the US Special Envoy for Climate Change — and at the US Department of Energy, as well as leadership roles in the World Resources Institute and the International Energy Agency.
Most recently, he has been the Director of the Environment Program at the Hewlett Foundation.
The flagship Global School of Sustainability (GSoS) is advancing pioneering social science research to guide action on the urgent challenges of building a sustainable future. It aims to create global impact by convening leading scholars and practitioners from around the world, while equipping future leaders with the knowledge and skills to drive change. Recognising that the greatest barriers to sustainability are rooted in the economy, politics and society, GSoS will harness the interdisciplinary expertise found across LSE’s departments and research centres.
Professor Lord Nicholas Stern, Chair and co-founder of the Global School of Sustainability, said: “The climate and biodiversity crises are urgent, complex, and global in scale—and, given the nature of the necessary transformations and the obstacles along the way, effective responses must be rooted in analyses and perspectives from the social sciences. As a world leader in this field and one of the most internationally connected universities, LSE is uniquely positioned to respond. The Global School of Sustainability (GSoS) is a timely and vital initiative, and we are deeply thankful to Zhang Lei for his vision and generosity.
“The significance and promise of GSoS have enabled us to attract a truly exceptional global leader to be its inaugural Dean and to help shape its development and amplify its impact. We are delighted that Jonathan will be joining us, and I greatly look forward to working alongside him.”
Professor Larry Kramer, LSE President and Vice Chancellor, said: “Jonathan brings deep expertise and extensive experience to the critical mission of GSoS. He has worked on the issues from multiple angles and been impressively effective in all of them. We are thrilled to welcome him to join us in this important work.”
Jonathan Pershing will take up his post in January 2026.