Billionaire George Soros has picked a Stanford professor to head a $100 million project to address global climate change. Soros, ranked in Forbes magazine as the world’s 29th most wealthy individual, pledged $1.1 billion in total to climate change policy in mid-October. Law Prof. Thomas Heller, who will head the Climate Policy Initiative (CPI), said the goal of the CPI in particular will be to improve the effectiveness of governments worldwide in implementing crucial measures. ‘The simple purpose [of the CPI] is to assess what is working and not working in the policy portfolios, and try to understand why you get the gap that exists between intention of policy and performance,’ Heller said. ‘And then work with governments to try and help them to improve the kind of policies they are adapting in key countries around the world.’ According to Heller, who has worked with Soros on other environmental-related issues, the idea of forming the CPI began circulating about a year ago, but really materialized in the last six months. Heller has been doing climate work for almost 20 years. ‘Tom has exceptional experience in the international arena and has been working on climate change issues […]