History and Mission

Established in December 1995 in honor of Senator H. John Heinz III, The Heinz Center is a nonprofit, nonpartisan institution dedicated to improving the scientific and economic foundation for environmental policy through multisectoral collaboration. Focusing on issues that are likely to confront policymakers, the Center creates and fosters collaboration among industry, environmental organizations, academia, and government in each of its program areas and projects.  In this, the Center is carrying out the legacy of Senator Heinz.

The active involvement of these four sectors in all aspects of environmental policymaking—from identification of a problem through the crafting of recommendations to implementation of a policy—produces robust and practical solutions to the environmental challenges that face the Nation. This philosophy, and its implementation in the Center’s everyday operations, means that leading policymakers and practitioners from government, industry, environmental organizations, and universities are able to work together to identify pressing environmental challenges and to agree upon ways of meeting those challenges.

The membership of the Center’s Board of Trustees, its steering committees, and all its committees and working groups reflect its guiding philosophy: that all relevant parties must be involved if the complex issues surrounding environmental policymaking are to be resolved.