Chris Skidmore
Chris Skidmore OBE, an internationally recognized authority on the energy transition, is a Salata Climate Action Fellow.
Skidmore served as a Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2024 and served in the UK government between 2015-2020. As Minister for Energy and Clean Growth, he signed the UK’s net zero target into law in 2019, making the UK the first G7 country to adopt such a goal.
In 2022, Skidmore was commissioned by the UK government to lead the Independent Net Zero Review. The resulting “Mission Zero” report provided a comprehensive blueprint with 129 recommendations to implement net zero while enhancing economic opportunity and energy security. His work continues to be widely cited by governments, NGOs, and industry leaders around the world. Earlier this year, Skidmore was appointed to Chair the Working Group on Policy for the UK Transition Finance Council, launched by the Chancellor.
At Harvard, Skidmore examines the energy, cooling, and grid-integration challenges posed by the rapidly growing digital economy, and works on how to deliver new narratives around the energy transition and sustainability. He collaborates with faculty on sector decarbonization roadmaps for transition finance that can be applied internationally.
The Salata Institute
The Salata Institute supports interdisciplinary research that leads to real-world action, including high-risk/high-reward projects by researchers already working in the climate area and new endeavors that make it easier for Harvard scholars, who have not worked on climate problems, to do so. Faculty interested in the Climate Research Clusters program should note an upcoming deadline for concepts on April 1, 2024.