Sir Jonathon Espie Porritt, 2nd Baronet,[1] CBE (born 6 July 1950)[2] is a British environmentalist and writer.

[5] Lord Porritt, who served as a senior officer in the Royal Army Medical Corps during World War II,[6] was also the bronze medalist in the 1924 Summer Olympics "Chariots of Fire" 100 metres race.

[18] Reviewed nearly 30 years after its publication, it stands up as "prophetic in many respects",[19] although somewhat off in the timing of its predictions, perhaps in part because Porritt did not anticipate the rise of indebtedness.

Porritt, 2009[27]Prior to the 2015 general election, he was one of several public figures who endorsed the parliamentary candidacy of the Green Party's Caroline Lucas.

"[29]: ix However, his affection for the organization has not stopped him from harshly criticizing it, as he did in 2015, when the group's top ten priority issues list did not include nuclear power.

[32] Porritt attended United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, eventually writing an introduction for The way forward : beyond Agenda 21 (1997).

[34] With Sara Parkin and Paul Ekins, Porritt founded Forum for the Future in 1996, a sustainable development charity.

[37] In 2000 Porritt was appointed the inaugural Chair of the incoming Labour government's Sustainable Development Commission (SDC), set up by prime minister Tony Blair.

[40] Since retiring from the SDC in September 2009, Porritt has publicly supported the report's analysis of economic growth as it relates to environmental and human well-being, and the potential for a sustainable economy.

[44][45][46] Porritt has asserted that "promotion of reproductive health is one of the most progressive forms of intervention" that could be used to reduce carbon emissions.

[47] Porritt's views are based in part on a 2009 report by Thomas Wire at the London School of Economics, commissioned by Optimum Population Trust.

[43] Porritt was also criticized for praising China for its 'one child family' policy,[47] which has reduced birth rates but is described as coercive, cruel and causing "immeasurable suffering".

"I am unapologetic about asking people to connect up their own responsibility for their total environmental footprint and how they decide to procreate and how many children they think are appropriate...

"[45] Porritt is also an advisor to Project Drawdown,[55] which "maps, measures, models, and describes the 100 most substantive solutions to global warming".

[60] Porritt is on the advisory board of BBC Wildlife magazine[37] and actively supports the efforts of experts promoting renewable energy and sustainable development such as Walt Patterson.

[61] Porritt is an endorser of the Forests Now Declaration, presented at the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meeting, held in Bali in December 2007.

The Declaration calls for new market based carbon policies and reforms to prioritize the protection of tropical forests.

[68][69] His best-selling book Capitalism: As if the World Matters was originally published in 2005, and revised and republished by Earthscan in September 2007.