About John Topping, Jr.

John Topping Jr., served as President of the Climate Institute from its founding in 1986 until his death on March 9, 2021. 

From 1989-1990 Topping served as editor of portions of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) First Assessment Report. He received a Certificate from the IPCC for contributing to the award of the Nobel Peace Prize of 2007 to the IPCC. 

Topping was the former Staff Director of the Office of Air and Radiation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Reagan administration. He earned a B.A. from Dartmouth College and a J.D. from Yale University. In 2002 he received Dartmouth’s first Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Social Justice Award for Lifetime Achievement. Topping is the editor of two volumes on climate change: Preparing for Climate Change (1988) and Coping with Climate Change (1989) and co-editor of Sudden and Disruptive Climate Change: Exploring the Real Risks and How We Can Avoid Them (2008).

More information on John Topping’s remarkable life and work can be found in his obituary in the New York Times here.