John Holmberg is a professor of physical resource theory at Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden. He also holds Sweden’s first UNESCO chair in education for sustainable development. His background is in physics and he developed principles for a sustainable future in his doctoral dissertation, which received international dissemination through the Natural Step Foundation. His current research focuses on navigating sustainability transformations.  

He founded the world’s first master’s programme in industrial ecology and has also founded the Challenge Lab, where students lead and leaders learn. He has devoted much time to university development towards co-creation for a sustainable future; for example, in the role of vice president of Chalmers, 2007–2016.

He has been active as an advisor and expert at the international level, for example: to the United Nations headquarters in New York in the preparation of Agenda 2030, with its 17 sustainable development goals; to UNESCO in Paris in the expert group for the decade of education for sustainable development; and to UN Environment in Nairobi in its steering group for the Global University Partnership for Environment and Sustainable Development.