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Section submenu: International Climate Change Taskforceenvironments.retallack@ippr.orgThe International Climate Change Taskforce founded by ippr with the Center for American Progress and the Australia Institute and co-chaired by Labour MP Stephen Byers and US Republican Senator Olympia Snowe was set up to advise progress on international climate change policy, especially in the context of the UK’s presidencies of the G8 and EU. The Taskforce reported in January 2005, and its findings were disseminated and promoted at a seminar with Elliot Morley MP, UK Minister for Climate Change and Environment, in Brussels, and at an event at the UN climate change summit in Montreal, December 2005.A report on progress made at the international level on climate change in 2005 will be produced in spring 2006, after which the Taskforce will formally disband. Co-Chairs Rt Hon. Stephen Byers MP (UK)Stephen Byers is a Labour Member of Parliament for North Tyneside and a former Cabinet Minister in the Blair Government.  In 1997 he was made Minister of State for School Standards. In July 1998 he entered the Cabinet as Chief Secretary to the Treasury and in December 1998 he was appointed as Secretary of State for Trade and Industry. He held this post until the 2001 General Election after which he was made Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions. He resigned from the government in May 2002. Senator Olympia J Snowe (USA)Olympia J. Snowe is a two-term Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Maine. Olympia chairs the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee and is on the Senate Finance Committee; the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee; and the Select Committee on Intelligence.  She has co-sponsored the Collins-Snowe-Jeffords Abrupt Climate Change Research Act which would establish a scientific research program on abrupt climate change. Olympia was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1978 to 1994. Taskforce Members Hon. Bob Carr MP (Australia)Bob Carr is the Premier of New South Wales. During his premiership he has introduced strict greenhouse emission benchmark laws in NSW and a new state Greenhouse Office. He has created 345 new national parks, receiving the 1998 World Conservation Union International Parks Merit Award. Professor John P Holdren (USA)Dr John Holdren is Teresa and John Heinz Professor of Environmental Policy at Harvard University and Director of the Program on Science, Technology, and Public Policy at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.  He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in the USA, the President-Elect of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and Co-Chair of the foundation-funded, bipartisan National Commission on Energy Policy. Martin Khor Kok-Peng (Malaysia)Martin Khor is director of Third World Network. He has been a Member of the Board of the South Centre, and Vice Chairman of the Expert Group on the Right to Development of the UN Commission on Human Rights.  He has conducted studies and written papers for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, United Nations Development Programme and United Nations Environment Programme, including Intellectual Property, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development (2002).   Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet MP (France)Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet is a Member of the French National Assembly for the governing party, the Union pour un Mouvement Populiare (UMP). She is President of the Committee on health and environment for the UMP and Executive Secretary of the Council on sustainable development of the UMP. Her published books include: Pourquoi une charte de l’environnement? Une charte pour quoi faire? La révolution tranquille de l’écologie (2001). Dr Claude Martin (Switzerland)Dr Claude Martin is Director General of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) International. As Director General of WWF International, Claude has initiated new approaches, including partnerships with the World Bank and business and industry groups. He is a member of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED), a high level advisory body to the Chinese Government. Professor Tony McMichael (Australia)Tony McMichael is Director of the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, at The Australian National University, Canberra.  Previously he had been Professor of Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He has chaired the working-group assessment of health risks for the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and is now undertaking the international Millennium Ecosystem Assessment project. Jonathon Porritt (UK)Jonathon Porritt is Programme Director and co-founder of Forum for the Future and Chairman of the UK Sustainable Development Commission. In addition he is Co-Director of The Prince of Wales’s Business and Environment Programme, Trustee of WWF UK and Vice-President of the Socialist Environment Resources Association. He was formerly Director of Friends of the Earth. Jonathon received a CBE in January 2000 for services to environmental protection. Adair Turner (UK)Adair Turner is Vice Chairman of Merrill Lynch Europe. From 1995 to 1999 he was Director General of the Confederation of British Industry. He is currently a director of United Business Media plc, Chair of the UK Low Pay Commission and Chair of the UK Pensions Commission. He is also a Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics and a trustee of WWF UK. Dr Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker (Germany)Dr Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker is a member of the German Bundestag for the Social Democratic Party (SPD). Since 2002, he has been the Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety.  He was Director of the Institute for European Environmental Policy in Bonn, London and Paris from 1984-1991, and President of the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment, Energy from 1991-2000.  Professor Ni Weidou (China)Professor Ni Weidou is Director of the Clean Energy Centre at Tsinghua University. As the member of the Consultant Group of State Fundamental Research and Planning and the Co-chairman of Energy Group of CCICED, he gives advice on state energy policies.  He is in close cooperation with the University Committee of Environment of Harvard University and the Centre for Energy and Environment Studies of Princeton University. Hon. Timothy E Wirth (USA)Timothy Wirth is the President of the United Nations Foundation and Better World Fund. He has been a member of the US House of Representatives and US Senate where he focussed on environmental issues, especially global climate change and populationstabilisation. He served in the US Department of State as the first Undersecretary for Global Affairs from 1993 to 1997.  Cathy Zoi (Australia)Cathy Zoi is Group Executive Director of Bayard Capital, an environment and sustainable energy company. She co-chairs the New South Wales (NSW) Government’s Sustainability Advisory Council.  Previously, Cathy was Assistant Director General of the NSW Environmental Protection Agency, the founding CEO of the Sustainable Energy Development Authority, and Chief of Staff of Environmental Policy in the Clinton White House. She has been a company director for a number of start-up renewable energy enterprises. Scientific Adviser to the Taskforce Dr Rajendra K Pachauri (India)Dr R K Pachauri supported the taskforce in the capacity of Scientific Adviser. Dr Pachauri is Director General of The Energy and Resources Institute, and chair of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.   His wide ranging expertise has resulted in his membership of various international and national committees and boards, including chairing the Committee on Developing Countries from 1989 to 1990. He has also authored 21 books and many papers and articles. 

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International Climate Change Taskforceenvironments.retallack@ippr.orgThe International Climate Change Taskforce founded by ippr with the Center for American Progress and the Australia Institute and co-chaired by Labour MP Stephen Byers and US Republican Senator Olympia Snowe was set up to advise progress on international climate change policy, especially in the context of the UK’s presidencies of the G8 and EU. The Taskforce reported in January 2005, and its findings were disseminated and promoted at a seminar with Elliot Morley MP, UK Minister for Climate Change and Environment, in Brussels, and at an event at the UN climate change summit in Montreal, December 2005.A report on progress made at the international level on climate change in 2005 will be produced in spring 2006, after which the Taskforce will formally disband. Co-Chairs Rt Hon. Stephen Byers MP (UK)Stephen Byers is a Labour Member of Parliament for North Tyneside and a former Cabinet Minister in the Blair Government.  In 1997 he was made Minister of State for School Standards. In July 1998 he entered the Cabinet as Chief Secretary to the Treasury and in December 1998 he was appointed as Secretary of State for Trade and Industry. He held this post until the 2001 General Election after which he was made Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions. He resigned from the government in May 2002. Senator Olympia J Snowe (USA)Olympia J. Snowe is a two-term Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Maine. Olympia chairs the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee and is on the Senate Finance Committee; the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee; and the Select Committee on Intelligence.  She has co-sponsored the Collins-Snowe-Jeffords Abrupt Climate Change Research Act which would establish a scientific research program on abrupt climate change. Olympia was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1978 to 1994. Taskforce Members Hon. Bob Carr MP (Australia)Bob Carr is the Premier of New South Wales. During his premiership he has introduced strict greenhouse emission benchmark laws in NSW and a new state Greenhouse Office. He has created 345 new national parks, receiving the 1998 World Conservation Union International Parks Merit Award. Professor John P Holdren (USA)Dr John Holdren is Teresa and John Heinz Professor of Environmental Policy at Harvard University and Director of the Program on Science, Technology, and Public Policy at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.  He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering in the USA, the President-Elect of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and Co-Chair of the foundation-funded, bipartisan National Commission on Energy Policy. Martin Khor Kok-Peng (Malaysia)Martin Khor is director of Third World Network. He has been a Member of the Board of the South Centre, and Vice Chairman of the Expert Group on the Right to Development of the UN Commission on Human Rights.  He has conducted studies and written papers for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, United Nations Development Programme and United Nations Environment Programme, including Intellectual Property, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development (2002).   Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet MP (France)Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet is a Member of the French National Assembly for the governing party, the Union pour un Mouvement Populiare (UMP). She is President of the Committee on health and environment for the UMP and Executive Secretary of the Council on sustainable development of the UMP. Her published books include: Pourquoi une charte de l’environnement? Une charte pour quoi faire? La révolution tranquille de l’écologie (2001). Dr Claude Martin (Switzerland)Dr Claude Martin is Director General of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) International. As Director General of WWF International, Claude has initiated new approaches, including partnerships with the World Bank and business and industry groups. He is a member of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED), a high level advisory body to the Chinese Government. Professor Tony McMichael (Australia)Tony McMichael is Director of the National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health, at The Australian National University, Canberra.  Previously he had been Professor of Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He has chaired the working-group assessment of health risks for the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and is now undertaking the international Millennium Ecosystem Assessment project. Jonathon Porritt (UK)Jonathon Porritt is Programme Director and co-founder of Forum for the Future and Chairman of the UK Sustainable Development Commission. In addition he is Co-Director of The Prince of Wales’s Business and Environment Programme, Trustee of WWF UK and Vice-President of the Socialist Environment Resources Association. He was formerly Director of Friends of the Earth. Jonathon received a CBE in January 2000 for services to environmental protection. Adair Turner (UK)Adair Turner is Vice Chairman of Merrill Lynch Europe. From 1995 to 1999 he was Director General of the Confederation of British Industry. He is currently a director of United Business Media plc, Chair of the UK Low Pay Commission and Chair of the UK Pensions Commission. He is also a Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics and a trustee of WWF UK. Dr Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker (Germany)Dr Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker is a member of the German Bundestag for the Social Democratic Party (SPD). Since 2002, he has been the Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety.  He was Director of the Institute for European Environmental Policy in Bonn, London and Paris from 1984-1991, and President of the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment, Energy from 1991-2000.  Professor Ni Weidou (China)Professor Ni Weidou is Director of the Clean Energy Centre at Tsinghua University. As the member of the Consultant Group of State Fundamental Research and Planning and the Co-chairman of Energy Group of CCICED, he gives advice on state energy policies.  He is in close cooperation with the University Committee of Environment of Harvard University and the Centre for Energy and Environment Studies of Princeton University. Hon. Timothy E Wirth (USA)Timothy Wirth is the President of the United Nations Foundation and Better World Fund. He has been a member of the US House of Representatives and US Senate where he focussed on environmental issues, especially global climate change and populationstabilisation. He served in the US Department of State as the first Undersecretary for Global Affairs from 1993 to 1997.  Cathy Zoi (Australia)Cathy Zoi is Group Executive Director of Bayard Capital, an environment and sustainable energy company. She co-chairs the New South Wales (NSW) Government’s Sustainability Advisory Council.  Previously, Cathy was Assistant Director General of the NSW Environmental Protection Agency, the founding CEO of the Sustainable Energy Development Authority, and Chief of Staff of Environmental Policy in the Clinton White House. She has been a company director for a number of start-up renewable energy enterprises. Scientific Adviser to the Taskforce Dr Rajendra K Pachauri (India)Dr R K Pachauri supported the taskforce in the capacity of Scientific Adviser. Dr Pachauri is Director General of The Energy and Resources Institute, and chair of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.   His wide ranging expertise has resulted in his membership of various international and national committees and boards, including chairing the Committee on Developing Countries from 1989 to 1990. He has also authored 21 books and many papers and articles.