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
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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.
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 ...
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.