Paul Raskin, Ph.D.

Paul Raskin is founding President of the Tellus Institute. In addition, Dr. Raskin established the Global Scenario Group (GSG), the Great Transition Initiative, the U.S Center of the Stockholm Environment Institute, and The Widening Circle Initiative – Campaign for a Global Citizens Movement. The overarching theme of his work has been developing visions and strategies for a transition to a sustainable and just future. Toward this larger aim, his research has spanned issues (energy, water, climate change, ecosystems, and development) and spatial scales (local, national, and global). He has pioneered integrated methods for long-range social and environmental assessment, including conceiving and developing such widely-used models as the Long-range Energy Alternatives Planning (LEAP) system, the Water Evaluation and Planning (WEAP) system and the PoleStar System, a framework for exploring integrated long-range scenarios. Dr. Raskin has published widely, serving as a lead author on the U.S. National Academy of Science’s Board on Sustainability, the International Panel on Climate Change, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, the Earth Charter, UNEP’s Global Environment Outlook and numerous other international efforts. His path-breaking work with the GSG culminated in the influential essay Great Transition: The Promise and Lure of the Times Ahead, offering a rigorously-grounded case for an alternative paradigm for global development in the 21st century.

He taught at the university level until founding the Tellus Institute in 1976.

Dr. Raskin received a Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics from Columbia University in 1970.

Tellus Staff

Paul Raskin, Ph.D.