The Breakthrough Institute has scientists on the staff. Zeke Hausfather, Director of Climate and Energy, is a climate scientist and energy systems analyst whose research focuses on observational temperature records, climate models, and mitigation technologies. He spent 10 years working as a data scientist and entrepreneur in the cleantech sector. He has master's degrees in environmental science from Yale University and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and a PhD in climate science from the University of California, Berkeley. Seaver Wang is a Breakthrough Institute Energy Analyst. He holds a PhD in Earth and Ocean Sciences from Duke University. He has published in major peer reviewed journals like ISME Journal and Nature Communications. He has published research on the links between marine plankton ecology and oceanic cycling of carbon and nitrogen.

Michael worked for Global Exchange in 1993. Global Exchange is a far-left organization on human rights and environmentalism. He consulted to the Sierra Club and other environmental groups. Time magazine awarded him the Heroes of the Environment award in 2008. In his early 20s, he lived in the semi-Amazon doing research with small farmers fighting land invasions. At 26 I helped expose poor conditions at Nike factories in Asia. He became an environmentalist at 16 when I threw a fundraiser for Rainforest Action Network. At 27, he helped save the last unprotected ancient redwoods in California. In his 30s, he advocated renewables and successfully helped persuade the Obama administration to invest $90 billion into them. Over the last few years, Michael helped save enough nuclear plants from being replaced by fossil fuels to prevent a sharp increase in emissions. He was afraid to speak out against the climate scare until last year.