Personalities
New head of the GGGI Global Green Growth Institute
The current KPMG Global Chairman of the CC&S Climate Change & Sustainability Services and former Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC United Nations Framework Convention in Climate Change has been appointed as head of the GGGI
Yvo de Boer will be succeeding Howard Bamsey. He will lead the Seoul, Korea, based international organisation as Director General, serving a four year term starting on April 15, 2014. The appointment became effective with unanimous agreement by the GGGI Assembly, GGGI’s supreme governing body.
At KPMG’s CC&S, de Boer has been leading a team of some 600 professionals from 60 countries. He also advises corporate leaders on the impacts of rapid environmental, social and political change, and how their businesses should respond to grasp opportunities and manage risks.
Yvo de Boer commented: “GGGI’s work can add value to creating prosperity at a time when humans are experiencing challenges such as climate change, energy, water, population growth, and an increase in urbanisation. Multiple challenges faced by humanity can only be effectively addressed through the shift toward economic growth in mare sustainable manner.”
Prior to his post at KPMG, he served as Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC for nearly four years, where he led the international process to respond to climate change. During his term in office, he played a vital role in raising the importance of climate change to the highest levels of political and media attention. He also brought over 100 world leaders to Copenhagen to the 2009 UN Climate Change Conference and secured commitments from more than 90 countries to reduce greenhouse emissions.
Yvo de Boer comes to a young organisation that has transformed from a Korean NGO Non Government Organisation to an international organisation with 20 Member States, ODA eligibility, and UN observer status in a short time span.