Yvo de Boer
, the United Nations diplomat who led talks aimed at curbing global
warming, is quitting his post after failing to achieve a binding agreement at
Copenhagen
’s
climate summit in December.
De Boer, 55, is resigning as
executive secretary effective July 1 to join KPMG International, the UN
Framework Convention on Climate Change said today in an e-mailed statement. Some
190 nations aim to craft a pact to fight warming temperatures at a two-week
meeting in
Cancun
,
Mexico
, in November after gaps among negotiators in
Denmark
resulted in no legal treaty.
“The important thing is his
successor is bedded in quickly and can reinvigorate the UN process,”
Ben Caldecott, head of European
Union policy at London-based carbon fund manager
Climate Change Capital, said
today in a telephone interview. No successor was named in today’s UNFCCC
statement.
Leaders in
Copenhagen
reached a non-binding political accord supported by the world’s biggest
emitters while failing to gain the acceptance of all nations. That leaves the
$127 billion carbon market awaiting mandatory international targets that could
boost prices and provide companies with greater incentives to cut greenhouse
gases.
“The market would be better with a
more robust international agreement,”
Trevor Sikorski, an emissions
analyst for Barclays Capital, said today in an interview. He said while de
Boer’s resignation is a “sad day” for carbon markets, the impetus of climate
negotiations had waned since
Copenhagen
and participants in the talks were “exhausted.”
“In some ways there’s a silver
lining to the cloud of de Boer’s resignation for the markets,” Sikorski said. “This
provides an opportunity to regain that momentum.”
Role of Business
De Boer’s successor will be chosen
by UN Secretary-General
Ban Ki-Moon
in consultation with the UNFCCC,
spokesman
Eric Hall said today in a phone interview from
Bonn
. A timeline for
the appointment hasn’t been set, he said.
De Boer said in the statement that
the decision to resign was difficult and that the commitment of nations to
fight climate change is underlined by pledges to act by nations responsible for
four-fifths of the greenhouse gases mostly blamed for global warming.
“
Copenhagen
did not provide us with a clear agreement in legal terms but the political
commitment and sense of direction toward a low-emissions world are
overwhelming,” de Boer said. “This calls for new partnerships with the business
sector and I now have the chance to help make this happen.”