We’re thrilled that Dr. Phil Duffy has joined Spark as our first Chief Scientist. Phil is a climate scientist and decades-long champion for—and leader in—climate action, which he’s done most recently as the Climate Science Advisor to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy under the Biden Administration, and the President and Executive Director of Woodwell Climate Research Center. Phil’s leadership and expertise will help to propel more climate action and progress at Spark, particularly in under-resourced but high-potential climate risk mitigation areas.

Phil shares more below on joining Spark.

The Biden-Harris administration has undoubtedly done more than any other to marshall our nation’s vast resources against the threat of climate change. Over the course of three years in the White House, I was deeply impressed to see up close the level of effort and dedication put forth every day to advance the President’s ambitious climate goals. (Naturally, I am also proud to have been part of that effort.) Governing is difficult; driving change is really difficult, and the work is often grinding and unglamorous. This is especially true in a challenging political environment. Furthermore, the Administration’s “all of government” effort to address climate change is much more than a slogan, and the thousands of people in federal agencies who do the day-to-day work—mostly in obscurity-–of putting policies into practice deserve our enduring gratitude and support. They certainly have mine. 

Notwithstanding these valiant and ongoing efforts, my experience in the White House also allowed me to recognize areas in the research and solution spaces that are critically important yet particularly under-resourced (“particularly” because everything related to climate change is under-resourced). Animal agriculture, for example, produces 34% of US methane emissions—more than the oil and gas sector—yet relatively little has been done to mitigate or even measure those emissions. It is fitting and proper, therefore, that Spark identified this as an early area of emphasis.

About a year ago, I made a list of under-resourced areas, put it in a desk drawer, and vowed that when I left government, my goal would be to move the needle on as many of them as possible. In my rare moments of contemplation, I even imagined forming an organization for that purpose.

Then along came Spark. In my first conversation with Erika, I thought, ‘Holy cats, these people are doing exactly what I want to, and they’re way ahead of me in doing it!’ This was entirely unexpected. Furthermore, Spark’s core values mesh perfectly with mine: Our work is founded in science (and we follow science wherever it may lead), yet we recognize that science alone doesn’t move the needle; the constituency we aim to serve is the public; and the ethos is to put each field’s advancement ahead of that of the organization or individual.

On top of all this, the Spark team is characterized by humility, collaboration, curiosity, mutual respect, and a huge passion for the mission. Those are qualities I admire in colleagues, and folks like that are fun to work with.

In less than three years, Spark has made impressive progress, launching strong programs in agricultural methane mitigation and methane removal, and exploring possible programs in agricultural nitrogen management and “natural systems response”—a particularly terrifying scenario in which warming-induced greenhouse gas emissions from natural sources like permafrost and wetlands lead to further warming in a potentially self-reinforcing cycle.

I am excited to work with the team at Spark to advance our ongoing work in these areas, and to investigate other possible areas of focus. 

A starting point for those discussions is a recognition, shared across the Spark team, that humanity’s current climate trajectory leads to calamitous and unacceptable impacts and that to avoid this, we need to not only scale implementation of proven solutions, but also investigate possible new ones as well (including, for example, Spark’s current areas of focus). It’s essential that this work start now (twenty years ago would have been better), given the timelines needed to move ideas to implementation. Philanthropy plays a central role in kickstarting this work in ways that center public benefit.

I am excited to work with Spark leadership and the entire team to support the fields Spark is now advancing and to further increase the organization’s scope and impact. There is no shortage of unmet needs, and Spark has the expertise, ties to the research, policy, and philanthropic communities, and “get stuff done” attitude necessary to make a dent. My experience in leadership roles is that I learn at least as much as I teach, and I expect that to be true at Spark as well. As I step into this new role, I am eager not only to contribute but to grow, to learn, and to make a lasting impact.