Dr. Zachary A. Wendling is the Research Director for the 2026 Environmental Performance Index at the Yale Center for Environmental Law & Policy, where he did his post-doctoral training. Before returning to Yale, he was a Senior Research Associate at the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University and the project manager for the Global Commons Stewardship Index at the Sustainable Development Solutions Network.
Dr. Wendling holds a Ph.D. in Public Affairs from the Paul H. O’Neill School of Public & Environmental Affairs at Indiana University Bloomington, with major fields in policy analysis and environmental policy. He earned a joint Master of Public Affairs – Master of Science in Environmental Science and a B.S. in Biology, also from Indiana University.