Friday 24 June 2022

Ibrahim Thiaw appointed as interim UN climate change head

Ibrahim Thiaw has been announced as the Acting Executive Secretary for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

He will take on the new role from Patricia Espinosa on 17th July 2022, until the selection process for the new climate chief is completed.

Mr Thiaw is the current head of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), leading the global effort on land restoration, building drought resilience and improving food security, gender equality and land rights for vulnerable populations.

In a statement to “parties, observer states and observer organisations”, Ms Espinosa said: “I trust that you will lend your full support and co-operation to Mr Thiaw and the secretariat during this transition and you may rest assured of the secretariat's continued commitment to provide high quality support to you as we prepare for COP27 in Sharm el-Sheikh in November.”

https://twitter.com/PEspinosaC/status/1539277207180288001

Mr Thiaw added he is looking forward to working towards facilitating a “smooth transition” to the next UNFCCC leadership.

https://twitter.com/ibrahimthiaw/status/1539317442648092672

The UNFCCC aims to help stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level "that will prevent dangerous human interference with the climate system", in a time frame which allows ecosystems to adapt naturally and enables sustainable development.