SEI climbs to eighth place among top global environment think tanks

In tough competition with 6,545 think tanks around the world SEI placed number eight out of the world’s top thirty environment think tanks. The list is published in the 2011 Global Go To Think Tank Report, compiled by the University of Pennsylvania’s Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program. Organisations are ranked on a detailed set of criteria, including quality and level of output, impact, and resource use.

“To be among the most acknowledged international scientific centres is a real honour,” says Johan Rockström, SEI Executive Director. “At the same time it means that we have a big responsibility to continue bridging the knowledge gaps between science, society, decision makers and business.’

The more the world faces dynamic change and complex challenges the more policymakers will need to rely on think tanks for research and analysis. According to the report the value of the ranking process is to recognize some of the world’s leading think tanks and to ‘highlight the important contribution that think tanks make to governments and civil societies around the world’.

“We have many skilled researchers doing interdisciplinary work at the forefront of the environment and development field,” says Johan Kuylenstierna, Centre Director at SEI, highlighting SEI’s expertise. “This ranking is a recognition of the successful impact of our work and how we communicate it, and we will continue to be fully dedicated to finding solutions to present and future environmental challenges.”

This is the fifth edition of the Global Go To Think Tanks Report, which is described as ‘the insiders guide to the global marketplace of ideas’. The report was launched on 18 January 2012 at the United Nations University in New York.

Further reading

The 2011 Global Go To Think Tanks Report»

See news item on last year’s ranking of SEI»