Climate Governance Commission

The second meeting of the Climate Governance Commission (CGC), convened by IEF member Maja Groff, was held at Villars-sur-Ollon in the Swiss Alps on 27-28 June 2023, alongside the Villars Symposium for intergenerational exchanges with 120 teenagers from all over the world.

The co-chairs of the Climate Governance Commission are H.E. Mary Robinson, Chair of the Elders, Former President of Ireland and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; H.E. Maria Fernanda Espinosa, President of the 73rd United Nations General Assembly and former Foreign Minister of Ecuador; and Professor (Dr.) Johan Rockström, Director, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. Other participants included Sandrine Dixson-Declève, Co-President of the Club of Rome and lead author of their new report Earth for All, Thilmeeza Hussain, Permanent Representative of The Maldives to the United Nations; Wanjira Mathai, Managing Director, Africa and Global Partnerships, World Resources Institute (Kenya); and Nobuo Tanaka, Chair of the Steering Committee, Innovation for Cool Earth Forum and former Executive Director, International Energy Agency (Japan).

The Commission also has youth members: Xiye Bastida, Re-Earth Initiative, Co-Founder, Climate Activist (Mexico/U.S.); Chido Mpemba, Youth Envoy for the African Union Commission and Youngest Diplomat in the African Union Chairperson's Cabinet (South Africa); and Sophia Kianni, Founder and Executive Director of Climate Cardinals; Member UN Youth Advisory Group on Climate Change.

IEF President Arthur Dahl, a member of the CGC Steering Committee, participated actively in the Commission meeting. The meeting reviewed an initial draft of its final report, to be issued in October before COP28, and a shorter declaration for before the high level UN General Assembly meetings in September when the IEF will also hold its annual conference.

IEF members have long supported the work of the Commission and contributed to its Interim Report Governing Our Climate Future (2021). IEF Board Members Sylvia Karlsson-Vinkhuyzen and Arthur Dahl wrote a CGC paper on Towards a Global Environment Agency: Effective Governance for Shared Ecological Risks (2021). This paper was recently cited by the UN High Level Advisory Board on Effective Multilateralism in its April 2023 report as the source of its proposals for a global environmental governance organisation. IEF Board Member Halldor Thorgeirsson prepared a CGC paper on Climate Policy Councils: Success Factors and Lessons Learned (2021). Joachim Monkelbaan is also an expert adviser to the CGC.

We shall report more on the Climate Governance Commission as its final results are released.