About Us

We operate at the intersection of economics, financial markets, and environmental protection by promoting market-based solutions to ensure green economic growth. We produce leading analysis and intellectual products to decode global political and economic challenges. We support market-based solutions to climate change and environmental conservation. We work with financial markets and international financial institutions to implement green lending standards and champion innovative approaches to finance low-carbon growth. We convene leading experts to inspire bold thinking and help build a new framework for US-global relations.

Who We Are

Founded in 2011 by former Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson, Jr., the non-partisan Paulson Institute is based in Chicago with offices in Washington and Beijing. The Institute’s diverse, multicultural staff brings deep experience to its work from the highest levels of business, government, conservation, policy, and research. The Paulson Institute is a non-partisan, independent, privately funded “think and do tank” not supported by or connected to any government.

We bring differentiated insights, trusted advisory, and pragmatic solutions to businesses, policymakers, and nonprofits on today’s defining questions, issues, and trends.

Originally established with an emphasis on the US-China relationship, the Paulson Institute’s work in more recent years has expanded its aperture to reflect the changing global order and its vast implications.

We do this through our research and analytical offerings, thought leadership, demonstration of best practices on the ground, capacity building, and joint efforts with partners to devise and implement appropriate courses of action. We offer the perspectives, instincts, and field-tested experience to put these changes into context through our people, our products, and our programming.

As a privately funded organization not connected to any government, we place a premium on our independence and credibility in everything we do. We believe that clarity and impartiality go a long way toward helping various stakeholders decipher rising uncertainty and increasing politicization while addressing the global challenges affecting us all.

Our People

Our strength lies in our people. We are a diverse team of experts working across several key verticals: our MacroPolo think tank, Green Finance Center, and Conservation Program. We are multicultural, multilingual, and multigenerational, and we hail from the public, private, and non-profit sectors.

Some of our people have worked at the highest levels of business and government, while others are thought leaders and leading practitioners in their respective fields. We are also believers in cultivating the next generation of talent, which is reflected in the composition of our people.

Not only do our people bring their depth and richness of knowledge and experience, but they also bring energy and dynamism to our nimble organization. We may be spread across different geographies, but we are united by the sense of purpose, collegiality, collaboration, and professionalism that extends well beyond time zones.

Our Products

Our work spans a wide gamut—from decoding the global economy to financing the energy transition to safeguarding globally important biodiversity—but collectively, we are guided by the north star of navigating our audience and stakeholders through tumultuous and uncertain times so that they can make the right diagnoses and decisions, as well as galvanizing actions that support an economically and environmentally sustainable future.

That’s because it is now evident that the prevailing global order of the last 75 years can no longer be taken for granted. Powerful secular forces such as deglobalization, decarbonization, deleveraging, and demographics (“the 4Ds”) will affect all G20 countries or roughly 80% of the global economy. In addition, global environmental challenges, from increasing extreme weather events and natural disasters to loss of life-sustaining biodiversity, aggravate such uncertainties and risks.

These macro themes will manifest in both intensifying geopolitical tensions and the realignment of national politics and increasing the demand for pragmatic solutions. As such, PI’s work is dictated by the reality that these are some of the most consequential trends that will affect human well-being and global economic prosperity, not just today but also in 10 or even 15 years. From technology and energy to the political economy and the green transition, virtually all of our work falls under these themes. 

Our Programming

We convene with purpose through both public and private efforts, aiming to move important debates forward, generate good and workable ideas, and catalyze action on addressing key issues facing the global economy and the green transition.

But no one monopolizes the best ideas or comes ready with a silver bullet solution. Therefore, we host private roundtables that bring together experts and practitioners from diverse fields (business, government, academia, and markets) to have candid and open discussions on tackling thorny challenges. Moreover, we coordinate high-impact research, carry out proof-of-concept projects to demonstrate best practices and build partners’ capacity to “finance the green” and protect the limited natural capital that all humanity shares.

Our public programming encompasses both live, in-person events and virtual conferences. All of our public programs are free to access.