Venture capitalist donates $1.1 billion to Stanford for climate change and sustainability school

Venture capitalist John Doerr is donating $1.1 billion dollars to Stanford University to help build a school focused on climate change and sustainability. 

In a statement on Wednesday, the school said the commitment from Doerr and his wife, Ann Doerr, will extend its scholarship program and will have an impact on tackling the issue of climate change and sustainability through the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability.

“These gifts will help Stanford bring its full effort to bear on solving the most complex problems in climate and sustainability, and on training the next generation of students who are eager and driven to address these challenges,” Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne said in a statement. 

Arun Majumdar, the Jay Precourt provostial chair professor at the university, has been named the inaugural dean of the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. Majumdar is currently the chair of the advisory board to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.

“We believe the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability will be a model for the interdisciplinary collaboration required to solve this existential challenge — and set a new standard for scholarship in the 21st century,” John and Ann Doerr said in a statement. “Today’s real and pressing challenges — not least, solving our climate crisis — require that knowledge be channeled toward the building of practical, implementable solutions.”