18 Feb 2010New Scientist
Yvo de Boer has announced he will be stepping down from his post as executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) on 1 July.
De Boer, who broke down in tears at the climate conference in Bali in 2007 and has led the organisation for the past four years, will be moving on to a climate and sustainability consultancy role at accountancy firm KPMG.
Whilst admitting that last year's Copenhagen summit "wasn't what I had hoped it to be", de Boer told Associated Press that the outcome was unrelated to his decision to resign.
Mark Lynas, a climate change consultant, told British newspaper The Daily Telegraph that de Boer's resignation is "bad news". "I think he is very likely to be going because he has had enough. Because the whole process is unravelling at this point," he said."I have always maintained that while governments provide the necessary policy framework, the real solutions must come from business," de Boer said in a statement released by the UNFCCC (PDF).
"Copenhagen did not provide us with a clear agreement in legal terms, but the political commitment and sense of direction towards a low-emissions world are overwhelming," de Boer adds in the statement. "This calls for new partnerships with the business sectors, and I now have the chance to help make this happen."
De Boer's successor is expected to be named by UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon within the next few months, before the next UN Climate Conference in Mexico in November.
