Bio
Based in Hong Kong, John Haffner is a lawyer, advisor and entrepreneur with extensive experience in the cleantech, energy and infrastructure sectors in Canada, China, and Southeast Asia. He is a Yale World Fellow (2008) and an Asia Society Asia 21 Young Leader (2011).
Featured Work
![Zhang on a local mining road in Boké, Guinea, together with Mamady Koivogui, executive director of a local NGO, Association Mines Sans Pauvreté (far left) and local residents.](https://cdn.carnegiecouncil.org/media/cceia/_1000x650_crop_center-center_none_ns/Zhang-in-Guinea_2023-04-10-045306_dhlm.jpg?v=1719361779)
FEB 20, 2019 • Article
Jingjing Zhang: Greening China's Globalization
Born in China, environmental lawyer Jingjing Zhang is working to hold China accountable for the negative impacts of its overseas investment and construction projects, the ...
![Sze Ping Lo](https://cdn.carnegiecouncil.org/media/cceia/_1000x650_crop_center-center_none_ns/Sze-Ping-Lo_2023-04-10-045857_lssa.jpg?v=1719361780)
SEP 8, 2016 • Article
Sze Ping Lo: Towards a New Environmental Imagination
Sze Ping Lo, CEO of WWF-China, is equal parts activist and intellectual. Now in his early 40s, in a recent conversation Lo looked back on ...
![CREDIT: <a href="https://unsplash.com/aindraus" target="_blank">Anthony Indraus</a>.](https://cdn.carnegiecouncil.org/media/cceia/_1000x650_crop_center-center_none_ns/CarsAnthonyIndraus_2023-04-10-050501_berc.jpg?v=1719361782)
MAY 28, 2015 • Article
Policy Innovations Digital Magazine (2006-2016): Commentary: It's Time for a U.S.-Canada Electric Auto Pact
The Canada-U.S. auto pact of 1965 was a major milestone, but it is time for a renewed vision for Canada-U.S. automotive cooperation and for ...
![Chayuan, Gansu Province. Credit: Green Camel Bell](https://cdn.carnegiecouncil.org/media/cceia/_1000x650_crop_center-center_none_ns/Gansu-Province_2023-04-10-050822_cqwr.jpg?v=1719361783)
SEP 2, 2014 • Article
Policy Innovations Digital Magazine (2006-2016): Commentary: Zhao Zhong: Lessons from the Bottom Up
After an accident where nature nearly took his life, Zhao Zhong has been on a mission to protect the environment in his homeland of China.
![CREDIT: <a href"http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-102914237/stock-photo-fisherman-throwing-net-and-hot-steam-from-big-chimney-background.html?src=pp-same_artist-102914210-srQOfL2zUersYKwfA7uODw-6"> Shutterstock </a>](https://cdn.carnegiecouncil.org/media/cceia/_1000x650_crop_center-center_none_ns/water-pollution_2023-04-10-050834_kqjo.jpg?v=1719361784)
AUG 15, 2014 • Article
Policy Innovations Digital Magazine (2006-2016): Commentary: Rose Niu: Conservation on the Tipping Point
Conservation in China is a long-term struggle that has only intensified with rapid economic growth. To bring degraded ecosystems back, the country needs ambitious plans ...
![CREDIT: One Earth Designs.](https://cdn.carnegiecouncil.org/media/cceia/_1000x650_crop_center-center_none_ns/bbq_2023-04-10-050915_hapm.jpg?v=1719361785)
JUN 16, 2014 • Article
Policy Innovations Digital Magazine (2006-2016): Innovations: Now They're Cooking: SolSource Harnesses the Himalayan Sun
With a solar cooker designed through community consultation, two young innovators are delivering clean energy to remote mountain villages, as well as your backyard BBQ.
![CREDIT: © <a href="http://www.ipe.org.cn/en/">Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs</a>.](https://cdn.carnegiecouncil.org/media/cceia/_1000x650_crop_center-center_none_ns/filming_hell_2023-04-10-051729_puaw.jpg?v=1719361786)
FEB 11, 2013 • Article
Policy Innovations Digital Magazine (2006-2016): Innovations: Ma Jun: Information Empowers
Chinese environmentalist Ma Jun walks the line between transparency and activism in his quest to clean China's air, land, and water.
![CREDIT: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/horasis/5223479577/">Richter Frank-Jurgen</a> (<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en">CC</a>).](https://cdn.carnegiecouncil.org/media/cceia/_1000x650_crop_center-center_none_ns/zhang_2023-04-10-052437_cbfw.jpg?v=1719361788)
MAR 28, 2011 • Article
Policy Innovations Digital Magazine (2006-2016): Innovations: Zhang Yue: A Call for Discipline in a World Out of Control
Air conditioning pioneer Zhang Yue has bold ideas for energy efficiency, sustainable buildings, and corporate culture: discipline today to preserve life in the future.
![](https://cdn.carnegiecouncil.org/media/cceia/_1000x650_crop_center-center_none_ns/kongjian2x3_2023-04-10-052606_jvco.jpg?v=1719361789)
NOV 22, 2010 • Article
Policy Innovations Digital Magazine (2006-2016): Innovations: Kongjian Yu: The Art of Survival
Landscape architect Kongjian Yu is pioneering energy efficient and spiritually enriching designs to reconnect China's rapid urbanization to the land.
![CREDIT: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/mafleen/466511076/">Mafleen</a> (<a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/deed.en">CC</a>).](https://cdn.carnegiecouncil.org/media/cceia/_1000x650_crop_center-center_none_ns/migration_crime_2023-04-10-053018_jiwl.jpg?v=1719361790)
JAN 22, 2010 • Article
Policy Innovations Digital Magazine (2006-2016): Briefings: The Right to Move
A collection of essays from our joint Sophia University-Carnegie Council conference exploring the ethics of an international right to migration.