Yvo de Boer has announced today, February 18th, that he will resign his position as Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change  (UNFCCC) on 1 July 2010.

Mr. de Boer will be joining the consultancy group KPMG as Global Adviser on Climate and Sustainability, as well as working with a number of universities.   I personally don’t think it’s important who the executive secretary of the UNFCCC talks is, but maybe someone younger would be a good idea, given what they have to physically endure during the climate talks (going for several days without sleep during the last talks).  Yvo de Boer worked very hard during the climate change talks but often appeared overwhelmed and exhausted and he was unable to pull a binding agreement together.   According to the press release today:

“Working with my colleagues at the UNFCCC Secretariat in support of the climate change negotiations has been a tremendous experience”, said Mr. de Boer who has led the organisation since September 2006. “It was a difficult decision to make, but I believe the time is ripe for me to take on a new challenge, working on climate and sustainability with the private sector and academia,” he explained.

“I have always maintained that while governments provide the necessary policy framework, the real solutions must come from business” said Yvo de Boer. “Copenhagen did not provide us with a clear agreement in legal terms, but the political commitment and sense of direction toward a low-emissions world are overwhelming. This calls for new partnerships with the business sector and I now have the chance to help make this happen”, he added.

Mr. de Boer will remain in his current position until 1st July and help negotiations move forward ahead of the Climate Change Conference in Mexico in November this year. “Countries responsible for 80% of energy related CO2 emissions have submitted national plans and targets to address the climate change. This underlines their commitment to meet the challenge of climate change and work towards an agreed outcome in Cancun”, he said.

[I thought the conference would be in Mexico City, but Cancun is even better, if you plan on going down there].

Mr. de Boer (1954) was appointed Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC in [...]