Background
De Boer was born in Vienna on June 12, 1954.
De Boer was born in Vienna on June 12, 1954.
In 2011, Boer was appointed to chair the World Economic Forum"s Global Agenda Council on Climate Change. Since April 2014, he is Director General of the Global Green Growth Institute. He holds a technical degree in social work from the Netherlands.
De Boer is married and has three children.
De Boer has been involved in climate change policies since 1994, most notably helping to prepare the position of the European Union in the lead-up to the negotiations on the Kyoto Protocol, assisting in the design of the internal burden sharing of the European Union and has since led delegations to the UNFCCC negotiations. He has 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. Prior to joining the UNFCCC, he was Director for International Affairs of the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and Environment of the Netherlands.
De Boer"s work in climate change policy began in 1994, and took part in the Kyoto Protocol negotiations.
De Boer has also worked for the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (United Nations-HABITAT) earlier in his career. Boer was the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change from 4 September 2006 to 1 July 2010 the body responsible for a multi-lateral response to the climate change challenge. He had been appointed by then Secretary-General Kofi Annan on 10 August 2006.
De Boer announced on February 18, 2010 that he would resign from the position effective July 1, 2010 to join accountancy firm Klynveld Peat Marwick Goerdeler as its Special Global Advisor, Climate Change and Sustainability and global ambassador.
Boer dismissed speculation that the events of the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference were a factor in the resignation. De Boer was succeeded as Executive Director of the UNFCC by Christiana Figueres on July 1, 2010.
De Boer became as Fellow for the "International Centre for Integrated assessment and Sustainable development" at the University of Maastricht on July 1, 2010. De Boer has served on numerous climate change policies related commissions including the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development and on the Board of Directors of the Centre for Clean Air Policy.
De Boer"s has been the subject of both praise and criticism for his policies.
Sometimes resulting in criticism for being not ambitious enough and, conversely, being too ambitious, surrounding global climate change. De Boer was criticized for lacking sufficient ambition for a global climate change deal and for praising the commitments of the United States despite what some see as its spoiler role in international climate negotiations. He was later criticized by several Parties as being too ambitious in pushing for such a deal.
De Boer, is a popular adviser and source of commentary on climate change, including the Warsaw talks.
De Boer"s commentary on the 2015 Paris talks has been the subject of international interest.