Days ahead of a key report from the United Nations-convened Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon appointed three Special Envoys For Climate Change. The Special Envoys will be tasked with soliciting the views of national leaders on the issue.
The IPCC report out this Friday — the third this year from that group — will suggest ways the world’s governments can reduce or slow global warming and how much it is likely to cost.
The three Special Envoys are:
- Norwegian ex-Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland is the former Chair of the World Commission of Environment and Development, which is best known for developing the broad political concept of sustainable development and two decades ago published a landmark report, “Our Common Future.”
- President Ricardo Lagos Escobar of Chile founded the Foundation for Democracy and Development, which works for sustainable development. Since April 2006, he has been serving as president of the Club de Madrid where he led the organization to increase its involvement in environmental issues.
- Han Seung-soo, the former General Assembly President, currently heads the Korea Water Forum, which works towards sustainable water management in Asia. He served previously in numerous high-level government posts, including Minister of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Minister of Trade and Industry, Chief of Staff to the President and Korean Ambassador to the United States.