14 DAY TRIAL // Yvo de Boer, the acting leader of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, announced that he would be stepping down from his position starting July 1, 2010. The officials explained in a news conference that the decision has nothing to do with the failure of the world's nations to come to a conclusive agreement in Copenhagen last December, and underlines that he has been looking for a new job since last year. He adds that the July deadline will leave the UN sufficient time to select a new FCCC leader, before the November 29 – December 10 UN Climate Conference, which will take place in Cancun, Mexico, the BBC News reports.
De Boer has been the leader of the UN group since 2006, and many believe that the official was instrumental in raising awareness on climate change and global warming. He made a lot of efforts to bring nations together in this fight against a common enemy, and almost succeeded last year. However, political interests, and selfishness from developed and developing nations alike, hampered a meaningful deal, and led to the adoption of weak and unsubstantial agreement, designed by US President Barack Obama in the last day of the summit.
“We were about an inch away from a formal agreement. It was basically in our grasp, but it didn't happen […] so that was a pity,” the FCCC chief said. He added that he personally had felt a great deal of frustration seeing everything falling apart, especially after the disastrous 2008 meeting, in Potsdam, Poland, where absolutely nothing of value was decided. However, de Boer again mentioned the fact that deciding to leave the UN organization had nothing to do with the way things turned out in Copenhagen. After the summit was over, analysts didn't even know what to make of the decision, which didn't bind any nation to do anything. And still officials called this progress.
According to de Boer himself, he will take on a private consulting position, most likely at the global accounting firm KPMG. The expert will be working on a position where he will deal with issues related to sustainable development and climate change. This falls in tune nicely with one of his previous jobs, which was being the vice-chair of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development. The expert also worked as a representative of the Dutch Environment Ministry in developing environmental policies in the European Union.