UN selects ex-Grenada minister as climate chief

WASHINGTON • Grenada's former climate resilience minister Simon Stiell will become the new United Nations climate chief, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced on Monday.

Mr Stiell will take over as executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change with under three months to go before the next round of climate negotiations at COP27 in Egypt. He will replace Mexican diplomat Patricia Espinosa.

Until June, Mr Stiell had served for five years as Grenada's minister for climate resilience and the environment, and was previously minister for education and human resource development.

The UN called Mr Stiell a "true champion for formulating creative approaches for our collective global response to the climate crisis" in a statement.

Mr Stiell has been a prominent figure at UN climate negotiations, often calling for the world's largest polluters to set more ambitious climate goals and to deliver the funds promised to vulnerable countries, including small island nations.

That funding is key to preparing for future climate impacts including extreme temperatures, rising sea levels, more frequent storms and drought.

Mr Stiell told Reuters in an interview last year that the Group of 20 of the world's most powerful countries "generate 80 per cent of global emissions and constitute 85 per cent of global GDP. They have the wealth and technology to act".

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE