COMMISSIONERS

Gunilla Carlsson

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

 

 

Ivo Menzinger

Position: Managing Director of Corporate Strategy at Swiss Reinsurance Company
Background/profile: Prior to heading the Strategy department, Menzinger was responsible for
Swiss Re's Sustainability & Emerging Risk Management operations. In this
capacity he oversaw the firm's climate change activities. He holds a Master
of Science degree in Environmental Sciences from the Federal Institute of
Technology in Switzerland.
Nationality: Germany and Switzerland

 

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. Her previous positions include Senior Advisor in Environment and Development at UNDP and inaugural Executive Secretary of the UN Biodiversity Convention.
Nationality: Trinidad and Tobago

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. Prior to joining GEF El-Ashry was the Chief Environmental Advisor to the President and Director of the Environment Department of the World Bank. He moved to the World Bank after serving 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 BS degree with honours from Cairo University and PhD degree in geology, 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 advovating 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 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 Directorate General for Development of the European Commission.
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 International 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 at 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

Wangari Maathai

Position: Professor, founder of the Green Belt Movement
Background/profile: Professor at the University of Nairobi, Department of Veterinary Anatomy and Former Assistant Minister for Environment, Kenya. In 1977 Mathaai founded the Green Belt Movement whose main focus involves tree planting by women's groups as a way to conserve the environment and empower women by improving the quality of their lives. Maathai is internationally recognised for her persistent struggle for democracy, human rights and environmental conservation. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004.
Nationality: Kenya

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 and 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 of the Directorate General for Development of the European Commission
Background/profile: Petit holds a PhD in European Economy  from the University of Paris and a degree from the School of Business Management. Petit joined the European Commission in 1971 and has always worked on development issues ever since. Before becoming Deputy Director General, he was Director of Development Policies, prior to which he had led several divisions including 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 OSS, Sokona was Coordinator of the Energy Programme and the Executive Secretary for international relations of ENDA-TM in Dakar, Senegal. He has also taught at the Ecole Nationale d'Ingenieurs in Bamako, Mali.
Nationality: Mali

Margareta Wahlström

Position: Assistant Secretary General for Disaster Risk Reduction and the Secretary General's Special Representative. 
Background/ profile: Wahlström has previously served as the Secretary-General's Deputy Special Representative for the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) where 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 

 

CHAIR OF EXPERT GROUP

 

Anders Wijkman

Position: Member of the European Parliament since 1999. He sits as a full member in the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, and a substitute for the Committee on Development.
Background/profile: University degree in political science at University of Stockholm in 1967. Member of the Swedish parliament (1970-1978), Secretary General of the Swedish Red Cross (1979-1988), Secretary general of the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation 1989-91, Director General of the Swedish Agency for Research Cooperation with Developing Countries (SAREC) 1992-94, Assistant Administrator of UNDP 1995-97 and Ambassador at the Swedish Foreign Ministry 1998. Since 1999 Anders Wijkman is a Member of the European Parliament.