Larry Kramer, outgoing CEO of mega climate funder the Hewlett Foundation, looks back on his tenure - KVIA
Larry Kramer, outgoing CEO of mega climate funder the Hewlett Foundation, looks back on his tenure - KVIA
Larry Kramer, outgoing CEO of mega climate funder the Hewlett Foundation, looks back on his tenure
By THALIA BEATY
Associated Press
The longtime president of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Larry Kramer, will step down from his role at the end of 2023. In an interview with The Associated Press, Kramer talks about how Hewlett became the largest climate funder in the world for a decade starting in 2007. He also led new bodies of work at the foundation around cybersecurity, political polarization in the context of democracy and reimagining capitalism. An expert in constitutional law, Kramer will go on to be the president and vice chancellor of the London School of Economics and Political Science. The Hewlett Foundation has launched a search to hire a replacement.
Related Knowledge Center: Climate economics
Climate change is now a driver of the world’s economy. The impact is profound:
- Catastrophic weather events — hurricanes, floods, droughts, high temperatures — are more frequent and more extreme. The cost can be measured in both the initial damage caused and the longer-term impact on the economy.
- Vulnerable communities are increasing climate-related investments, hardening infrastructure and taking other protective measures.
- Investment in carbon capture and storage technologies is increasingly rapidly.
- Governments are making investments and crafting regulations to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
On top of all of this is the cost of uncertainty. As the Fourth National Climate Assessment, released in 2018 by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, says, “The assumption that current and future climate conditions will resemble the recent past is no longer valid.”