Tom Burke (environmentalist)


Tom Burke CBE is a co-founder of E3G, Third Generation Environmentalism and former chair of its board. He is also a visiting honorary professor of Imperial and University Colleges, London, and a senior associate of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL). He has a long track record of experience with international environmental organisations working with and for both non-governmental and official bodies. Burke has been a professional environmentalist for 50 years and was formerly Executive Director of Friends of the Earth and of The Green Alliance. He was a Special Advisor to three Secretaries of State for the Environment from 1991–97.
He has been a senior advisor for a number of major companies including Rio Tinto, BP and Standard Chartered Bank. He has also served as an advisor in the Deputy Prime Minister's Office and the Foreign Office. He was a member of the Council of English Nature, Britain's biodiversity regulator, from 1999 to 2005.
He has written and broadcast extensively and coined the term green growth in 1987. In 1993, Burke was appointed to the United Nations Environment Programme's Global 500 Roll of Honour.
He played a leading part in establishing the European Environmental Bureau for nearly two decades and was the Secretary-General of the European and North American NGO preparations for the Rio Earth Summit.
In 1997, Burke was appointed CBE for services to the environment.
He is a frequent media commentator on broadcast and print media, speaker at events and active writer of blogs and on social media.

Career

Burke is co-founder of E3G, Third Generation Environmentalism founded in 2004 and is currently a non-executive director, having previously been chairman of its board. He is responsible for supervising the overall fitness of the organisation to fulfil its mission.
He is visiting professor at Imperial and University Colleges, London, and is chairman of the China Dialogue Trust which produces a number of online publications covering China and the environment. He is also a trustee of Climate Advisors UK, Black-E Community Arts Trust and Rising Tides Theatre Company.
He was an environmental policy adviser to Rio Tinto for 20 years and was Chairman of the Editorial Board of ENDS Magazine and he used to write a regular column in BusinessGreen magazine. From 2015 to 2022 he was on the advisory board for Glennmont Partners.
Burke has been an environmentalist since first joining a Friends of the Earth local group in 1971. He joined the FoE staff in 1973 as its local groups coordinator and became its executive director in 1975. He was the Director of the Green Alliance from 1982 until 1991 when he became Michael Heseltine's special advisor. While at the Green Alliance, he ran for Parliament twice for the Social Democratic Party and the Liberal Democrats.
He played a leading part in establishing the European Environmental Bureau for nearly two decades and was the Secretary-General of the European and North American NGO preparations for the Rio Earth Summit. As a special advisor to three Secretaries of State for the Environment, Burke was intimately involved in a wide range of international negotiations as well as all aspects of domestic environment policy.
In 1997, Burke was appointed CBE for services to the environment. In 1993, Burke was appointed to the United Nations Environment Programme's Global 500 Roll of Honour.
Having begun developing dialogues with business while at the Green Alliance, he went to work for Rio Tinto and BP on leaving government in 1997. At Rio Tinto he created the Global Mining Initiative, which engaged the industry globally with sustainable development and drafted Rio Tinto's first climate policy in 1998. He also joined the Council of English Nature and was the government's statutory advisor on biodiversity as part of the Central Policy Group, Office of The Deputy Prime Minister where he served two terms until 2003.
Burke has co-authored several books including The Fragile City, Europe In the World, The Green Capitalists, Green Pages, and Ethics, Environment and the Company.
He has written and broadcast extensively and coined the term green growth in 1987. He remains actively involved on a wide range of environmental issues, working with NGOs, government and business. He is particularly active on energy and climate issues and is a prominent critic of the government's policy on nuclear power and has previously campaigned against nuclear power.
He endorsed the parliamentary candidacy of the Green Party's Caroline Lucas at the 2015 general election.

Awards

Publications

Author

The Fragile City Commedia, 2014Europe In the World E3G, 2006Ethics, Environment and the Company, IBE, 1990Green Pages RKP, 1988The Green Capitalists Gollancz, 1987Gaia Atlas of Planetary Management Pan, 1984Ecology 200 M Joseph, 1984Environment and the Future, Environment Liaison Centre, 1983Pressure Groups in the Global System F Pinter, 1982Europe Environment, Ecobooks, 1981Whale Manual II FoE, 1974The Great Paperchase, FoE, 1974Waste and Recycling, Diana Wylie, 1974
  • Articles in The Times, The Guardian, The Independent and New Statesman, ''Propect''

Editor

Wheels within Wheels Whale Manual I & II Food Co-ops Many Happy Returns Ecological Paper Buying Nuclear Prospects Bicycle Planning Book The Declining Otter What Choice Windscale? Polluters Pay Is Nuclear Power Necessary? Torness
  • ''Economic Growth''