John Ashton was the Special Representative for Climate Change to - TopicsExpress



          

John Ashton was the Special Representative for Climate Change to the UK Foreign Secretary from 2006 to 2012. He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2012 Birthday Honours for services to international climate change. He is Founding Director of E3G, Change Agents for Sustainable Development, a leading environmental NGO. John had a distinguished career in the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office, including founding and leading its Environment Policy Department. A major theme of his career has been China. He speaks Chinese and served as adviser to Governor Chris Patten in Hong Kong from 1993-7. His first diplomatic assignment, from 1981-4, was as Science Attaché in the British Embassy in Beijing. He also has experience at high level on a wide range of European and global issues, including as a political officer in the British Embassy in Rome from 1988-93. John was the first Chief Executive of E3G in 2005-06, before returning to the UK Foreign Office as the Foreign Secretary’s Special Representative for Climate Change. His role supported Ministers in building a stronger foundation for an effective response to climate change. He had the personal title of Ambassador with direct access to the Foreign Secretary. John played a key role in designing the FCO’s climate change network and strategy, with its focus onclimate stability as a precondition for security, prosperity and equity, and on strategic political engagement with the emerging and other major economies. John has been continuously active in climate diplomacy in various capacities since 1997. He was involved in negotiating the EU 2020 package on climate change in spring 2007 and the decision in December 2008 on funding for CCS across Europe. He helped negotiate the agreement in 2005 between the EU and China to demonstrate zero emission coal technology in China, and was closely involved in the EU’s engagement with Russia over the Kyoto Protocol. He played a key role in the first UN security debate on climate change in April 2007. He was a senior member of the UK negotiating team in the UN climate negotiations from 1998-2002, and again at Copenhagen, Cancun and Durban. In addition to his role as Professorial Associate at CISD, John serves in a number of other capacities, including as Distinguished Policy Fellow at the Grantham Institute for Climate Change at Imperial College.
Posted on: Mon, 30 Jun 2014 17:50:15 +0000

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