Sir Crispin Tickell GCMG KCVO

Summary (July 2011)

Sir Crispin Tickell has long been a pioneer in linking environmental and in particular climate change to the worlds of politics and business. For many years he was an informal adviser on such issues to successive British Prime Ministers. Until recently he was Director of the Policy Foresight Programme at the James Martin 21st Century School at Oxford University. He is associated with several other British universities as well as universities in the United States.

Most of his career was in the Diplomatic Service. He was Chef de Cabinet to the President of the European Commission (1977-80); Ambassador to Mexico (1981-83); Permanent Secretary of the Overseas Development Administration (now DFID) (1984-87); and British Permanent Representative to the United Nations (1987-90).

He then became Warden of Green College, Oxford (1990-97), and set up the Green College Centre for Environmental Policy and Understanding, which later became the Policy Foresight Programme at the James Martin School. Among other things he was President of the Royal Geographical Society (1990-93); Chairman of the Board of the Climate Institute of Washington DC (1990-2002); Convenor of the Government Panel on Sustainable Development (1994-2000); a Trustee of the Baring Foundation (1992-2002); Chairman of the Advisory Committee on the Darwin Initiative for the Survival of Species (1992-99); a member of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (1992-2006); Chancellor of the University of Kent (1996-2006); Inaugural Senior Visiting Fellow at the Harvard University Center for the Environment (2002-03); and Adviser At Large to the President of Arizona State University from 2002. Since 2007 he has been President of Tree Aid. He also has business interests, including being Director (Non Executive) of IBM (UK) (1990-95).

He is author of Climate Change and World Affairs (1977 and 1986) and Mary Anning of Lyme Regis (1996). He has contributed to many books on environmental issues (including human population problems, resource depletion and conservation of biodiversity). He was a member of two Government Task Forces: one on Urban Regeneration, the other on Potentially Hazardous Near Earth Objects (a minor planet no. 5971 has been named after him). He has received many honours and distinctions. His interests go wide: they range from international governance and economics to climate, pre-Columbian and African art, and the early history and future of the Earth.

Detail (July 2010)

Main Current Appointments

• Director of the Policy Foresight Programme associated with James Martin 21st School, Oxford University since 2009.
• Chairman of the Trustees of the St Andrew's Prize for the Environment since 1998
• Advisor at Large to the President of Arizona State University since 2004
• President of the South East Climate Change Partnership since 2005
• Member of the Council of the ASU Global Institute of Sustainability since 2007.

Career

• Born: 25 August 1930
• Educated at Westminster School (King's Scholar); and Christ Church, Oxford (Hinchliffe & Hon Scholar); 1st Class Honours Modern History 1952; Gladstone Memorial Exhibitioner 1952.
• Married:
  1. Chloe Gunn 1954. Marriage dissolved 1976. Two sons, one daughter.
  2. Penelope Thorne Thorne 1977.
• Served with Coldstream Guards (2nd Lieutenant) 1952 - 1954
• Joined British Diplomatic Service 1954 and served at:
  • Foreign Office, 1954 - 1955
  • British Embassy The Hague, 1955 - 1958
  • British Embassy Mexico, 1958 - 1961
  • Foreign Office (Planning Staff), 1961 - 1964
  • British Embassy Paris, 1964 - 1970
  • Private Secretary to successive Chancellors of the Duchy of Lancaster as Ministers responsible for the negotiations for British entry into the European Community, 1970 - 1972.
  • Head of Western Organizations Department, FCO 1972 - 1975 (hence responsible for NATO matters, European security problems including the CSCE, and politico-military affairs generally)
  • Fellow at the Center for International Affairs, Harvard University, 1975 - 1976
  • Chef de Cabinet to the President of the European Commission, 1977 - 1981
  • Visiting Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, 1981
  • British Ambassador to Mexico, 1981 - 1983
  • Deputy Under-Secretary of State (Economic), Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 1983 - 1984
  • Permanent Secretary, Overseas Development Administration, 1984 - 1987
  • British Permanent Representative to the United Nations and Permanent Representative on the Security Council, 1987 - 1990.
• Warden of Green College, Oxford, 1990 - 1997
• President of the Royal Geographical Society 1990 - 1993, Vice-President 1993 - 2002, Hon Vice President 2002
• President of the National Society for Clean Air and Environmental Protection 1997 - 1999
• President of the Marine Biological Association 1990-2001, and Vice President since 2001
• President of the South East England Climate Change Partnership since 2005
• Chairman of the Board of the Climate Institute of Washington DC 1990 - 2002, and Chairman Emeritus since 2002
• Convenor of the Government Panel on Sustainable Development 1994 - 2000
• Chairman of the Gaia Society 1998 - 2001
• Chairman of the Gaia Special Interest Group of the Geological Society of London since 2000
• Chairman of the International Institute for Environment and Development 1990 - 1994
• Chairman of Earthwatch Europe 1991-1997
• Chairman of the Advisory Committee on the Darwin Initiative for the Survival of Species 1992 - 1999
• Chairman of the Advisory Committee on the Environment (ACE) of the International Council for Science 1999 - 2004
• Senior Inaugural Visiting Fellow at Harvard University Center for the Environment 2002 - 2003.
• Fellow of the Geological Society of London 2000 - and Chairman of the Gaia Special Interest Group 2000 -
• Fellow of the Linnean Society of London 2008 -
• Fellow of the James Martin 21st Century School, Oxford University and member of its Advisory Council 2009 -

Publications:

• Climatic Change and World Affairs, Harvard University 1977; Pergamon Press 1978. Revised edition Harvard University and University Press of America 1986.
• Mary Anning of Lyme Regis, Lyme Regis Museum 1996, 1998 & 2003
• Also contributor to many books & papers, including:
  • The Evacuees, edited by B.S. Johnson, 1968
  • Life After Death, edited by Robin Denniston, 1976
  • The United Kingdom -The United Nations, edited by Erik Jensen and Thomas Fisher, 1990
  • Sustaining Earth: Response to the Environmental Threats, edited by David J.R. Angell, Justyn D. Comer, Matthew L.N. Wilkinson, 1990
  • Greenhouse Glasnost: edited by Robert Redford, 1990
  • Sir Francis Galton: edited by Milo Keynes, 1991
  • Monitoring the Environment: edited by Bryan Cartledge, 1992
  • Threats Without Enemies: edited by Gwyn Prins, 1993
  • Sustainable Development and the Energy Industries: edited by Nicola Steen 1994
  • Science for the Earth: edited by Tom Wakeford & Martin Walters 1995
  • The Changing World: edited by Patricia Fara, Peter Gathercole and Ronald Laskey 1996
  • Remaking the Landscape: edited by Jennifer Jenkins 2002
  • Managing the Earth: edited by James C. Briden & Thomas E. Downing 2002
  • Johannesburg Summit 2002: Challenges and Partnerships: edited by Diana Fortescue 2002
  • A Parliament of Science: edited by Michael Tobias, Teun Timmers and Gill Wright: 2003
  • Scientists Debate Gaia: edited by Stephen H. Schneider, James R. Miller, Eileen Crist, & Penelope J. Boston: 2004
  • Roy Jenkins: A Retrospective: edited by Andrew Adonis and Keith Thomas: OUP: 2004
  • Great Natural Historians: edited by Robert Huxley, Thames & Hudson 2007
  • Sudden and Disruptive Climate Change: edited by Michael MacCracken et al, Earthscan 2008 Book reviews for the Financial Times, Nature, The Literary Review, The Times Higher Education Supplement, and others
  • Book reviews for the Financial Times, Nature, The Literary Review, The Times Higher Education Supplement and others.

Radio and Television

Wide experience of radio and television, in particular:

• BBC Radio 4 Desert Island Discs (1990)
• The Doomsday Letters (1996)
• BBC Breakfast with Frost (2000 and 2002)
• BBC Radio Webcast at the Thames Barrier (2000/2001)
• ITV Jonathan Dimbleby Show (2000)
• Radio 4 programme The Commission (2002)
• ITN & ITV News & Current Affairs interviews (on going)
• BBC & BBC World Service interviews (on going)
• Radio 4 Today programme interviews (2002/3)
• BBC 2 documentary film UK Confidential New Year's Day (2002).

Business, University and other Interests

• Director (non executive) Govett Enhanced Income Investment Trust 1999 - 2004
• Director BOC Foundation for the Environment 1990 - 2003
• Member of Environment Committee of Friends Provident 1995 - 99
• Stewardship Committee of Reference of ISIS Asset Management, now F&C Asset Management 1999 - 2007
• Director (non executive) IBM (UK) 1990-95: Member of IBM Advisory Board 1995 - 2000
• Director (non executive) Govett Mexican Horizons 1991-1996
• Director (non executive) Govett American Smaller Companies Trust 1996-1998
• Director of the Green College Centre for Environmental Policy and Understanding 1992 -2006
• Chairman of the Trustees of Leadership for Environment and Development UK 2001-2005
• Trustee of the Baring Foundation 1992 - 2002
• Trustee of the British Museum of Natural History 1992 - 2001
• Trustee of World Wide Fund for Nature (UK) 1993-1999
• Trustee of the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh 1997 - 2001
• Chairman of the Advisory Committee on the Global Future of Civil Nuclear Energy (within the Sustainable Energy Programme of the Royal Institute of International Affairs) 2000-2002
• President, Education Section of the British Association for the Advancement of Science 2002-2003
• Senior Advisor to the Global Environment Facility in Washington DC USA 1994 - 2003
• Chairman of Advisory Group of the Centre for Climate Impacts Forecasting (C-CLIF) 1999 -2003
• Associate Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Ethics, Environment & Society (OCEES) 1996 - 2003
• Member of the Copenhagen Climate Council 2008 - 2009
• Vice President of Interact Worldwide (previously Population Concern) 1990 -
• Vice President of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine 1994 -
• Associate Fellow of the Environmental Change Institute, Oxford 1997 -
• Governor of the Ditchley Foundation 1991, and member of the Council of Management 2002 -
• Advisor to British Antarctic Survey 1998 -
• Vice President of United Nations Association of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
• Trustee of the Reuters Foundation, now Thomson-Reuters Foundation 2000-
• Trustee of TERI Europe 2003 -
• Trustee of the Foundation for the Future 2007 -
• Director of the Policy Foresight Programme and Associate Fellow of the James Martin Institute for Science and Civilization, Oxford University 2006 - 2008
• Chairman of Sustainability Assessment of Nuclear Power (SPRIng) 2008-
• Honorary President of the Good Earth Trust 2008 -
• Patron of the Optimum Population Trust
• Patron on the Bay Trust (Pines Calyx) 2010 -
• Member, the Oxford Commission on Sustainable Consumption 1999 - 2004
• Member, China Council for International Co-operation on Environment and Development 1992-2006
• Member, Environmental Advisory Council of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development 1991-4 and again 1999-2005
• Member, Government Task Force on Urban Regeneration 1998 - 99
• Member, Government Task Force on Potentially Hazardous Near Earth Objects 2000
• Member, Board of Overseers of the Thomas J. Watson Jr. Institute for International Studies at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA 1996-2010: Emeritus Member 2010
• Member, Board of Overseers of the International Research Institute for Climate and Society at the Earth Institute Columbia University, New York 2002 -
• Member, Government Round Table on Sustainable Development 1994 -2000
• Member, Council of St. George's House, Windsor 1992-99
• Member, Committee for the Public Understanding of Science (COPUS) 1991- 4
• Member, Working Group on the Use of Non-Human Primates in Research 2005-2006.

Personal Interests

Climatology, the early history of the earth, art (especially pre Colombiana), and mountains.

Honours

• GCMG 1988; KCVO 1983 (MVO 1958)
• Officer Order of Orange Nassau (Netherlands) 1958
• Chevalier in the National Order of Mali 1979
• Order of the Aztec Eagle with sash (Mexico) 1994
• Doctor (honoris causa), Academia Mexicana de Derecho Internacional 1983. Orden Academica del Derecho, de la Cultura, y de la Paz 1989
• Doctor of Laws (honoris causa) University of Massachusetts, USA, 1990
• Doctor (honoris causa) University of Stirling 1990
• Doctor of Science (honoris causa) University of East Anglia 1990
• Doctor of Letters (honoris causa) Polytechnic of Central London 1990 (now the University of Westminster)
• Doctor of Science (honoris causa) University of Sussex 1991
• Doctor of Laws (honoris causa) University of Birmingham 1991
• Doctor of Laws (honoris causa) University of Bristol 1991
• Doctor of Science (honoris causa) Cranfield University 1992
• Doctor of Science (honoris causa) Loughborough University of Technology 1995
• Doctor of Civil Law (honoris causa) University of Kent at Canterbury 1996
• Doctor (honoris causa) Sheffield Hallam University 1996
• Doctor (honoris causa) University of East London 1998
• Doctor of Science (honoris causa) University of Exeter 1999
• Doctor of Science (honoris causa) University of Hull 2001
• Doctor of Science (honoris causa) University of Plymouth 2001
• Doctor of Science (honoris causa) University of St. Andrews 2002
• Doctor of Science (honoris causa) University of Southampton 2002
• Doctor of Science (honoris causa) Oxford Brookes University 2002
• Doctor of Science (honoris causa) Universite du Littoral Cote d'Opale 2002
• Doctor of Humane Letters (honoris causa) American University of Paris 2003
• Doctor of Law (honoris causa) University of Nottingham 2003
• Doctor of The Open University (honoris causa) 2006
• Doctor of Sciences (honoris causa) University of Brighton 2006
• Honorary Fellow of the Anglo American School, New York City 1990
• Honorary Fellow of St. Edmund's College, Cambridge 1995
• Honorary Fellow of Green College, Oxford 1997
• Honorary Fellow of Westminster School 1993
• Honorary Fellow of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society 1992
• Honorary Fellow of The Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management 1996
• Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects 2000
• Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institution of Great Britain 2002
• Honorary Senior Member of Darwin College, Cambridge 1997
• Member of The Global 500: Roll of Honour for Environmental Achievement of the United Nations Environment Programme 1991
• Global Environmental Leadership Award of the Climate Institute of Washington DC 1996
• Distinguished Lecturer British Geological Survey 1994
• Centennial Lecturer at Arizona State University 1995
• Melchett Medallist of the Institute of Energy 1996
• Kelvin Medallist of the Royal Philosophical Society of Glasgow 1996
• First Happold Medallist of the National Construction Industry Council 1998
• Patron's Medal of the Royal Geographical Society 2000
• Distinguished Environmental Lecturer at Harvard University 2001
• Award for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development) 1996
• Award for International Cooperation on Environmental Protection (Chinese State Environmental Protection Agency SEPA) 2003
• CAB International Bioscience Fellow 2004
• Chinese Government Friendship Award 2004
• Minor Planet named No. 5971 Tickell 2006.
• The Sir Crispin Tickell High Altitude Climate Observatory in Mexico and Associated Tickell Interaction Network in Mexico and beyond 2010 -