Commissioners

Gunilla Carlsson

Position: Swedish Minister for International Development Cooperation, Chairperson for the Commission on Climate Change and Development.
Nationality: Sweden

Mohamed El-Ashry

Position: Senior Fellow at the United Nations Foundation
Background/profile: El-Ashry is the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), which he led from 1991 to 2003. El-Ashry came to the GEF from the World Bank, where he was the Chief Environmental Advisor to the President and Director of the Environment Department. Prior to joining the World Bank, he served as Senior Vice President of the World Resources Institute (WRI) and as Director of Environmental Quality with the Tennessee Valley Authority. El-Ashry received his B.S. degree from Cairo University and PhD in Geology in 1966 from the University of Illinois.
Nationality: Egypt

Sun Honglie

Position: Professor and Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Director of the China Climate Change Expert Committee.
Background/profile: Sun's academic career has focused on the surveying of and research into agricultural natural resources and regional comprehensive development. His academic contributions include highlighting that natural resources should be comprehensively studied as part of an integrated system.
Nationality: China

Nanna Hvidt

Position: Director of the Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS)
Background/profile: Hvidt has worked at the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs as Director of the Department for the UN and the World Bank, and before that as Director of the Department for East, West and Central Africa. Hvidt earlier served as Embassy Counsellor at the Danish Permanent Representation in Brussels. Hvidt has also served at the European Commission, at the Directorate General for Development.
Nationality: Denmark

Ian Johnson

Position: Chairman of IDEAcarbon (a market research and consultancy group)
Background/profile: Johnson joined IDEAcarbon following a distinguished career at the World Bank. For eight years he was the Bank's Vice President for Sustainable Development, overseeing its work on climate change and carbon finance. He was also the chairman of the Consultative Group on Internationalal Agricultural Research (CGIAR). Prior to that he played a major role in the establishment of the Global Environment Facility (GEF).
Nationality: United Kingdom

Jonathan Lash

Position: President of the World Resources Institute (WRI)
Background/profile: Before joining WRI, Lash directed the environmental law and policy programme of the Vermont Law School. Lash also served as co-chair of the US President's Council on Sustainable Development, a group of US government, business, labour, civil rights, and environmental leaders who developed visionary recommendations for strategies to promote sustainable development. He has served in a broad range of national and international groups, including the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's Round Table on Sustainable Development.
Nationality: USA

Sunita Narain

Position: Director, Centre for Science and Environment, CSE, New Delhi.
Background/profile: Narain is a researcher, journalist and campaigner on environmental issues. She has co-edited publications on the state of India's environment, conducted in-depth research on the governance and management of the country's environment as well as co-authored reports on climate change. She has been publisher of the fortnightly news magazine ‘Down To Earth' since 1992. In 2005 she received the Stockholm Water Prize.
Nationality: India

Bernard Petit

Position: Deputy Director General at Directorate General for Development at the European Commission
Background/profile: Petit holds a degree from a Business school and a PhD from Paris University in European Economy. Petit joined the European Commission in 1971 and has always worked on development issues. Before becoming Deputy Director General, he was Director of Development Policies, and he has led several divisions, in particular financing, programming, macroeconomic support and forward planning.
Nationality: France

Youba Sokona

Position: Executive Secretary of the Sahara and Sahel Observatory (OSS), Tunis
Background/profile: Before joining the OSS, Sokona was coordinator and Executive Secretary for International Relations of ENDA-TM in Dakar, Senegal. He has also been teaching at Ecole Nationale d'Ingenieurs of Bamako in Mali.
Nationality: Mali

Margareta Wahlström

Position: Former Assistant Secretary-General of the UN-Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
Background/ profile: Wahlström has previously served as the Secretary-General's Deputy Special Representative for the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). There she was in charge of relief, reconstruction and development. Prior to that, she held numerous senior positions with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Geneva.
Nationality: Sweden

Jacques Aigrain

Position: Chief Executive Officer for Swiss Re
Background/profile: Aigrain has a PhD in Economics (Sorbonne), a Masters in Economics (Dauphine University) and a degree in Law. Aigrain started his career with JP Morgan in 1981 and has had various functions in investment banking in London, Paris and New York, including co-head of investment banking client coverage. Jacques Aigrain joined Swiss Re in June 2001 as head of the Financial Services Business Group and Member of the Executive Board Committee. He is currently Chief Executive Officer.
Nationality: Switzerland - France

Angela Cropper

Position: Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director of UNEP.
Background/profile: Cropper is co-founder and currently President of The Cropper Foundation, a not-for-profit organisation that contributes, among other things, to public policy for sustainable development. She has been based in Trinidad and Tobago where she served as Independent Senator in the country's parliament. Cropper co-chairs the Assessment Panel of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. Other positions she has held include Senior Advisor in Environment and Development at UNDP and inaugural Executive Secretary of the UN Biodiversity Convention.
Nationality: Trinidad and Tobago

Wangari Maathai

Position: Professor, founder of the Green Belt Movement
Background/profile: Professor at the University of Nairobi, Veterinary Anatomy. Former Assistant Minister for Environment in Kenya. In 1977 Mathaai launched the Green Belt Movement. Its main activity involves women's groups planting trees to conserve the environment and empower themselves by improving their quality of life. Maathai is internationally recognised for her persistent struggle for democracy, human rights and environmental conservation. Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2004.
Nationality: Kenya