Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen
Prime Minister of Denmark & Host of Copenhagen COP
Prime Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, born May 15th 1964 in Vejle, son of chief accountant Jeppe Løkke Rasmussen and housewife Lise Løkke Rasmussen.
Lars Løkke Rasmussen has been Prime Minister from April 5th 2009. Before that he was the Minister of Finance from November 23rd 2007 - April 7th 2009 and Minister for the Interior and Health, November
27th 2001 - November 23rd 2007. He has been the Member of the Folketing for The Liberal Party in North Zealand greater constituency since November 13th 2007, and in Frederiksborg County constituency, September 21st 1994 - November 13th 2007.
Minister Connie Hedegaard MP
Chair of UNFCCC Copenhagen COP &
Danish Climate and Energy Minister
Connie Hedegaard was born in 1960 and is Denmark’s first Minister for Climate and Energy. Ever since August 2004, when she was appointed as Danish Minister for the Environment, Ms. Hedegaard has been striving to raise national and international focus on climate issues. These endeavours are now culminating in the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in 2009; the goal of which is to agree on an ambitious global climate agreement.
Besides her political career, Ms. Hedegaard is also a renowned journalist. She started in 1990, working on the Danish national newspaper Berlingske Tidende. In 1994 she became head of radio news at the Danish Broadcasting Corporation, staying here until 1998, when she accepted the job as presenter for the news programme “Deadline” on the national DR2 television channel. She has also contributed to a number of books and has received numerous awards for her commitment and contribution to the social debate.
Ms. Hedegaard’s political career goes back to her student days at the University of Copenhagen. Her literature and history studies took place in parallel with a meteoric political career in both Danish and international politics. In 1984 she was elected as the hitherto youngest ever member of the Danish Parliament (Folketinget), for the Conservative Party, and in 1985 she was appointed President of the Atlantic Association of Young Political Leaders. In 1989 Ms. Hedegaard became political spokeswoman for the Conservative Party, but in 1990 she decided to leave politics and concentrate on her work as a journalist.
Besides her political and journalist activities, Ms. Hedegaard has sat on a number of boards, including the board of the Democracy Foundation (Demokratifonden) and as the chairwoman of the Centre for Cultural Cooperation with Developing Countries (Center for Kultursamarbejde med Udviklingslande). In 1991 she graduated with a Masters degree in literature and history from the University of Copenhagen. Ms. Hedegaard lives in Hellerup, north of Copenhagen, with her husband and their two boys.
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Mr Yvo de Boer
Executive Secretary
UNFCCC
Yvo de Boer was appointed by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan as the new Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC on 10 August. The appointment had been endorsed by the Bureau of the Convention.
Before joining the UNFCCC, Mr. de Boer was Director for International Affairs of the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and Environment of the Netherlands, responsible for international policy, both in the context of the European Union, as well as broader international cooperation.
He has also served as Deputy Director-General for Environmental Protection in the same Ministry, as Head of the Climate Change Department and has worked in the fields of housing and public information. Early in his career, Mr. de Boer worked for the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (UN-HABITAT).
Mr. de Boer has been involved in climate change policies since 1994. He has helped to prepare the position of the European Union in the lead-up to the negotiations on the Kyoto Protocol, assisted in the design of the internal burden sharing of the European Union and has since led delegations to the UNFCCC negotiations. He has actively sought broad stakeholder involvement on the issue of climate change. To that end, he launched an international dialogue on the clean development mechanism and has partnered international discussions with the World Business Council on Sustainable Development, aimed at increasing private sector involvement.
Mr. de Boer has served as Vice-President of the Conference of Parties to UNFCCC and as Vice-Chair of the Commission on Sustainable Development. At the time of appointment, he was a member of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development, the Bureau of the Environment Policy Committee of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the Advisory Group of the Community Development Carbon Fund of the World Bank and the Board of Directors of the Centre for Clean Air Policy.
Born in Vienna, Yvo de Boer is married and has 3 children. As the son of a Dutch diplomat, he travelled the world extensively before entering boarding school in the United Kingdom and obtaining a technical degree in social work in the Netherlands.
Mr. de Boer succeeds the late Joke Waller-Hunter, also from the Netherlands. She was appointed to the position in 2002 and died in October 2005 at the age of 58. A special web memorial has been made available. Between October 2005 and September 2006, Richard Kinley led the Climate Change Secretariat as Officer-in-charge.
Rt Hon Ed Miliband MP
Secretary of State for Energy & Climate Change
UK
Ed Miliband is Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change. He was previously Minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, where he was responsible for helping to coordinate work across government, and leading the government's efforts to tackle social exclusion, support the Third Sector and coordinate the improvement of public services. From 2006 to 2007 he was Minister for the Third Sector, supporting charities, social enterprises and community organisations. He was elected Labour MP for Doncaster North in May 2005.
Previously he was Chair of HM Treasury's Council of Economic Advisers, advising the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, on long–term policy development. Before that, as a special adviser to the Chancellor of the Exchequer after May 1997, he worked across a range of economic and social policy areas, including taxation, public spending, and labour market issues. In 2003, he was a Visiting Lecturer in the Department of Government at Harvard University and a Visiting Scholar at the Center for European Studies. He holds an MSc in Economics from the London School of Economics and a BA from Oxford University.
Congressman Wang Guangtao
Chairman of Environment Protection and Resources Conservation Committee of NPC and Former Construction Minister
China
Congressman Wang Guangtao was born in Shanghai in 1943. He studied Urban Construction and Road Bridge Building at Tongji University. He was the Deputy Director of urban and rural construction commission of Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province.
Then from 1984-1989 he was the Vice-mayor of Xuzhou, Jiangsu. Between 1989-1995 he was the Department Chief, chief engineer of the urban construction of the Ministry of Construction. From 1995-1998 he was the Deputy Secretary of CPC Harbin Committee; Acting Mayor, Mayor of Harbin, Heilongjiang Province. Between 1998-2001 he was the Vice-Mayor of Beijing. In 2001 Wang Guangtao became the Minister of Construction and was re-appointed Minister of Construction in 2003. In 2008 Congressman Wang became Chairman of Environment Protection and Resources Conservation Committee of the NPC.
US Congressman Ed Markey
Co-Chair, International Commission on Climate and Energy Security
House of Representatives
USA
Representative Edward J. Markey, chairs the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming and the Energy and Environment Subcommittee of the Energy and Commerce Committee. Since Speaker Pelosi appointed Rep. Markey chairman in 2007, the Select Committee has held more than 50 hearings and contributed to the advancement of smarter energy and climate policies, including the first increase in fuel economy standards in three decades, which Rep. Markey authored. The newly created Energy and Environment Subcommittee will have unprecedented jurisdiction over national energy policy and play a central role in drafting energy and climate legislation in a new era of change.
In 2008, Rep. Markey introduced the Investing in Climate Action and Protection Act (iCAP), legislation that would slash global warming emissions and make America the leader in clean technology solutions. Introducing the first "Cap and Invest" system, iCAP would cut emissions 85% by the year 2050 and invest money generated from polluters back to consumers and clean energy technology solutions.
Rep. Markey's career of activism and effectiveness spans three decades, since he was first elected to represent Massachusetts' seventh Congressional district in 1976. In addition to chairing key energy and environment panels, Rep. Markey is a senior member of the Natural Resources Committee. He also served for 20 years as Chair or Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet and was a senior Democratic member of the House Homeland Security Committee. In addition, he is the co chair of bipartisan Caucuses on Nonproliferation, on Privacy, on Alzheimer's disease, and on Cystic Fibrosis. He is a fighter for the welfare of his constituents in the blue-collar and high-tech communities of his district north and west of downtown Boston and, as the dean of the Massachusetts delegation in the House, he also works to harness the energy and influence of his colleagues on behalf of the entire Commonwealth.
Competition remains Chairman Markey's economic mantra-in his words, "ruthless Darwinian competition that would bring a smile to Adam Smith." Accordingly, he has been instrumental in breaking up anti-consumer, anti-innovative monopolies in electricity, long-distance and local telephone service, cable television, and international satellite services. He was one of the only members of the Commerce Committee to fight AT&T's monopoly in the early 80s and is a principal author of the requirement that the Bell Operating companies accept local telephone service in the 90s. His pro-competition policies have directly benefited job creation in Eastern Massachusetts and throughout the country. Rep. Markey is a champion for Net Neutrality and nondiscrimination on the Internet and for new sources of effective competition to cable TV franchises, local telephone operators, and satellite and other wireless services.
Dr Sam Fankhauser
Chief Economist, GLOBE International, Principal Research Fellow at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment, LSE
Dr. Samuel Fankhauser is a Principal Research Fellow at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics. He is also a member of the Committee on Climate Change, an independent public body that advises the UK government on climate change policy, and a Fellow of the Energy Institute.
Previously, Sam worked for many years at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, where he rose to Deputy Chief Economist and was responsible for the Bank’s policy studies programme. He gained hands-on experience in the design of emission reduction projects in five years at the Global Environment Facility and the World Bank. In 2007/08 he was Managing Director (Strategic Advice) at IDEAcarbon.
Sam’s research interests include carbon markets, the economics of adaptation and the social costs of climate change. He served on the 1995, 2001 and 2007 assessments of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. A UK and Swiss national, Sam studied economics at the University of Berne and the London School of Economics and holds a PhD from University College London.
Rear Admiral Nils Wang
Rear Admiral of the Danish Fleet
Rear Admiral Nils Wang was born in 1958 in Svendborg. He attended the Navel Academy from 1978-1982 and entered the Navy as the rank of Lieutenant. In 1985 he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Commander, where he was the Commanding Officer on Patrol Vessels in Greenland and the Baltic. He was promoted again to Commander in 1992 where he was a instructor at the Danish Warfare College and the Commanding Officer on a number of Vessels. He was promoted again to Commander Senior Grade in 2000 where he was the Chief of Staff for the Danish Task Group. In 2002 Nils Wang was promoted to Captain and moved to Denmark Defence Command. In 2005 he was promoted the Rear Admiral and is the Admiral of the Danish Fleet.
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Dr Ashok Koshla
President IUCN (World Conservative Union)
Club of Rome
Dr Koshla has been the Chairman of Development Alternatives, a social enterprise headquartered in New Delhi since 1983, dedicated to global, national and local sustainable development. Subsequently was Director, INFOTERRA, the global information system of the UN Environment Programme. President of the Club of Rome, President of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Member of the National Security Advisory Board, the Science Advisory Council to the Cabinet and the National Environment Council of the Government of India. Also Board member of several government, industry and NGO Boards in India. Ashok Khosla graduated from Cambridge University and received his doctorate in experimental physics from Harvard University.
Hon Bryon wilfert MP
House of Commons
Canada
He earned Bachelor's degrees in Arts and Education, and a Master's degree in Political Economy, from the University of Toronto and earned the professional designation Accredited Municipal / Clerk Treasurer (AMCT) from the St-Laurence College. He and his wife Elizabeth reside in Richmond Hill.
A respected educator and municipal councillor, Bryon Wilfert was first elected Member of Parliament in the newly created riding of Oak Ridges in 1997. From February 2002 to December 2003, Mr. Wilfert was Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance and sat on the Finance Committee. On July 19, 2004 he was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of the Environment by the Honourable Prime Minister Paul Martin and was therefore a member of the Environment Committee. During the last session of the parliament, he was a member of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade (FAIT). In 2003, he was a member of the Prime Minister's Task Force on Urban Issues and is currently co-chair of the Canada-Japan Inter-Parliamentary Group. In opposition Mr Wilfert has recently been appointed Shadow Foreign Secretary.
Mr. Wilfert is President of GLOBE Canada and a member of the Board of Directors of GLOBE International.
Hon Bob W Mills
House of Commons
Canada
Bob graduated from the University of Saskatchewan with a BA in Science and an Education diploma. Bob majored in History and Biology. He moved to Red Deer in 1965 and taught biology at Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High School until 1979. In 1979, Bob established Mills Travel Ltd. and in 1986 became affiliated with American Express.
Mr Mills was elected to the House of Commons in October 1993 and is the Member of Parliament for Red Deer, Alberta. He has been an active member of the Reform Party of Canada since 1990, the Canadian Alliance Party, and now the Conservative Party of Canada. Since May 2006, Mr Mills has been Chair of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Environment. In opposition, Mr Mills was opposition ‘critic’ for the environment.
Ms Sirpa Pietikäinen MEP
European Parliament
Finland
Ms Sirpa Pietikäinen has a Master in Economics. She joined Hameenlinna City Council from 1981-1992. She was the Vice President of the Coalition Party, 1989-1995. She became a Member of the Finish Parliament, 1993-2003 and Minister of the Environment, 1993-95 and Member of Foreign Affairs Committee, 1995- 2003.
Ms Sirpa Pietikäinen was the Chair of European Democratic Unions Environmental Committee 1990-1995; President of the Finnish Club of Rome, 1996-2001; President of the Finnish Fair Trade Association, 1999-2005; President of the Finnish UN Association, 1996-; President of the Citizens Security Council, 1997-; Member of the Board of Parliamentarians for Global Action, 1996- 2000; Member of the Board of Earth Action, 1997-; Member of the European Platform for Conflict Prevention, Steering Group, 1998-2002; Chairperson of the WFUNA, World Federation of United Nations Associations 2000-2004; OWI, One World International trustee 2003-; Teaching and consulting the art and science of negotiations since 1996 in Helsinki School of Economics, Helsinki University, Joensuu University, corporations, trade unions, NGOs; -Member of the board of Kone Oyj (inc) 2006-.
Ms Sirpa Pietikäinen was appointed Member of the European Parliament in April 2008, after the nomination of Alexander Stubb as Minister for Foreign Affairs. She is a full member of the Committee of Economic and Monetary Affairs, the Subcommittee for Human rights and a substitute member of the Committee of International trade and the Committee of Constitutional Affairs.
Mr Graham Stuart MP
Vice President GLOBE International, Member of House of Commons
UK
Mr Stuart has held various positions within the Conservative Party from constituency treasurer to Area Chairman for two counties. He was elected as Member of Parliament in May 2005 for Beverley & Holderness. Mr Stuart was recently elected to the Board of the UK Conservative Party and is a Member of the Environmental Audit Select Committee and Vice President of GLOBE International.
Lord Oxburgh of Liverpool
Vice-Chair GLOBE UK
House of Lords
UK
Lord Oxburgh is a graduate of the University College, Oxford and Princeton University (PhD) where he worked for the famous geologist Harry Hess.
Lord Oxburgh taught geology and geophysics at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge. Former head of the Department of Earth Sciences and President of Queens' College, Cambridge. He has been a visiting professor at Stanford, Caltech, and Cornell. From 1988 to 1993, Lord Oxburgh was chief scientific adviser to the Ministry of Defence, and rector of Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine from 1993-2000. He was the Chairman of Shell from 2004-2005.
Lord Oxburgh was knighted (KBE) in 1992 and made a Life Peer (crossbench) as Baron Oxburgh, of Liverpool in the County of Merseyside in 1999, where he sits on the House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology.
Lord Hunt of Chesterton
CB, MA, PhD, FIMA, FRS
Vice-Chair GLOBE UK, House of Lords
UK
Lord Julian Hunt is an emeritus Professor of Climate Modelling in the Department of Space & Climate Physics, and Earth Sciences, and Honorary Professor of Mathematics at University College London, since 1999. Formerly he was at the University of Cambridge where he was Professor of Fluid Mechanics and is a Fellow of the Royal Society. He was Director-General and Chief Executive of the Meteorological Office from 1992-1997. In the House of Lords, he sits at the EU Sub-committee D (Climate Change Study). He is chairman of Cambridge Environmental Research Consultants Ltd., which is working world wide on air pollution modeling and forecasting; he helped found it in 1986. (crossbench) as Baron Oxburgh, of Liverpool in the County of Merseyside in 1999, where he sits on the House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology.
Deputy Serge Poignant
President of GLOBE France
Deputy Poignant is the Deputy Chair of the Commission for Economic Affairs, Environment and Land use and Vice-President of the delegation of the French National Assembly responsible for Sustainable Development. Expert on nuclear magnetic resonance, Deputy Poignant was responsible for research at the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) of France prior to taking up public office.
Deputy Philippe Tourtelier
National Assembly
France
Deputy Tourtelier is a Member of the Commission of Economic Affairs.
Hon Piet Mathebe MP
National Assembly
South Africa
Piet Mathebe is the Whip and Member of the Portfolio Committee on Water and Environmental Affairs. He completed a B.Admin.
He was elected as a MP for the ANC and has worked in Parliament on the portfolio committees for Water and Environmental Affairs - May 2009 to date; Home Affairs - 1999 – 2004; and Land Affairs - 1994 – 1999.
Hon Zukile Luyenge MP
National Assembly
South Africa
Zukile Luyenge is a Member of Parliament, Republic of South Africa.
He studied at the University of Fort Hare and obtained a Honours Degree in Public Administration.
He is a Member of the African National Congress and serves on the portfolio committees for Water and Environmental Affairs – 2009; Sport and Recreation – 2009; and Finance - 2009.
Hon Hilda Ndude MP
National Assembly
South Africa
Hilda is a Member of Parliament, Republic of South Africa. She belongs to the political party, Congress of the People.
She has a Diploma in OFC Admininstration, a Diploma in Local Government; Para-legal and Business Administration.
She is a Member of the portfolio committee for Water and Environmental Affairs - May 2009 to date.
Hon Gareth Richard Morgan MP
National Assembly
South Africa
He studied at the University of Natal on the Pietermaritzburg campus, completing a Bachelor of Commerce degree and a Honours degree in Political Science. He went on to win the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford, where he read for a BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics and a MSc in Environmental Change and Management. His Masters thesis was on the “Prescriptive Potential of the Virtual Water Thesis: A case study of South Africa”.
Upon his return to South Africa, he ran for office in the 2004 national elections. He was subsequently elected as a MP for the DA. During his first year of office he worked as the Parliamentary Counsellor to the Leader of the Opposition, and began his association with the environmental affairs and tourism. He has also served on the committee of minerals and energy, and health.
Gareth Morgan is currently the Official Opposition Spokesperson on Environmental Affairs in the South African parliament, and the Vice-Chairperson of the Democratic Alliance (DA) in KZN
Senator Antonio D’Ali
Senate of the Republic
Italy
Senator Antonio d’Alì was born in Trapani in 1951. He has a Degree in Law with first-class honours from La Sapienza University in Rome. He was a banker until 1994, the last position he held was President of Banca Sicula S.p.A..
Since 1994 he has been a Senator in the 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 16th Parliaments. From 1995-2001 he was the President of the Fondazione Banca Sicula. Between 1996-2001 he was the Deputy Chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on the Budget. From 2001-2006 he was the Undersecretary of State for the Interior responsible for local authorities’ policies. Between 2006-08 he was the President of the Trapani Regional Province.
Senator Antonio d’Alì is currently Chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on the Environment, Resources and Land Use. He is the Deputy Chairman of the Senate Standing Committee on the Budget and Undersecretary of State for the Interior responsible for local authorities’ policies.
Hon Steen Gade MP
President of GLOBE Europe and Chair of the Danish Environment and Planning Committee
Born April 9th 1945 in Troldhede, Mr Steen Gade is a son of senior teacher Ejnar Steensgaard Gade and housewife Astrid Gade. Before entering politics Steen was a primary school teacher at Herning Teacher Training College and a consultant at the Socialist Educational Association (SFOF), from 1979-1981.
Since 1981 Mr Gade has worked tirelessly on environmental issues, in the Danish parliament, in international organisations and as a government officer. He has been strongly engaged in the debate about European development, both as a Danish parliament member and as one of the founders of the centre-left think tank, “Nyt Europa” (New Europe).
Mr Gade is a member of the Danish parliament for the Socialist People’s Party. He is Chairman of the parliament’s Environment Committee and spokesman for the party on the issues of globalization and developing countries.
His first period as parliamentarian was from 1981 to 1999, and was re-elected in 2005. Between 1999 and 2003 he was Director General of the Danish Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a part of the Danish Environment Ministry.
In addition chairman of the parliamentary group of the Socialist People’s Party from 1991 to 1997. He was then chairman of the parliament’s Environment Committee from 1994 to 1999, and chairman of the parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee from 2005 to 2007.
Mr Gade was elected President of GLOBE Europe, and has been active in the organization since the nineties.
He is chairman of “Elfors Energisparepulje” (Elfors Save Energy Pool), and has published extensively on environment and foreign policy issues.