Heather Thompson

Heather Thompson has been with ITDP – Institute for Transportation and Development Policy – for more than a dozen years, first serving on its Board of Directors and now as CEO. She has two decades of experience in the environmental non-profit sector, designing and carrying out strategies with large-scale impact.

In the next 10 years we’ll have to halve emissions and limit the global temperature rise to 1.5°C and transport is currently responsible for a quarter of CO2 emissions from burning fossil fuels.

“The Compact City Scenario—Electrified”, the fourth and latest joint research study in a series by ITDP and UC Davis, reveals that only the combination of both electric vehicles with the development of compact, transit-oriented cities could get us to our climate goals on the urgent timeline needed, allowing us to reduce emissions by 80% in just 30 years. Ms. Thompson believes bold progress needs to be made toward more sustainable and resilient transport systems.