So, Yvo de Boer, the outspoken top UN official who led the international climate change negotiations for over four years has resigned, frustrated and disappointed that the December meeting in Copenhagen failed to produce a legally binding agreement to reduce carbon emissions. He is leaving to join KPMG as global adviser on climate change and sustainability just months before the next UN meeting in Cancun, Mexico, where nations will try again to move towards an enforceable treaty to replace Kyoto.
Not to overlook the concrete achievements of the Copenhagen meeting - a statement by the parties that global temperatures should rise no more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and pledges by nearly 100 nations to take steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 - it is understandable why Mr de Boers has become disillusioned and worn out by the negotiation process. Getting 192 governments to agree on something as complex and emotive as climate change is an incredibly difficult task, especially given the growing distrust between emerging and industrialised economies and the resurgence of large-scale climate change scepticism.
Mr de Boers' successor must be someone who can both keep climate change at the top of the global agenda, and tread the delicate path between rich and poor countries. A successor from a developing country might be a good place to start.
The stakes are high. This person will be responsible for guiding the world to a solution to climate change - or not.
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