Laurence Tubiana will take the helm of the European Climate Foundation (ECF) in March, the philanthropic fund announced on Tuesday.
As climate envoy for France, Tubiana built coalitions of business and civil society groups to support the Paris Agreement and promoted long term carbon-cutting plans.
She is replacing Johannes Meier as chief executive of ECF. The fund promotes effective ways of tackling climate change.
Meier is leaving after six years for family reasons, according to the press release.
Delighted to join European Climate Foundation as CEO from March 2017. Fantastic team for fantastic challenges both in Europe and globally.
— Laurence Tubiana (@LaurenceTubiana) December 20, 2016
ECF has offices in London, Brussels, Berlin, the Hague and Warsaw. It issued €25.6 million worth of grants in 2015, the latest annual report shows, supporting an ecosystem of think-tanks, NGOs and communications initiatives addressing various aspects of a low carbon economy. The fund contributed £5,000 towards Climate Home’s coverage of the latest UN climate talks in Marrakech.
Tubiana steps into the top job from the advisory board, which also counts former Ireland president Mary Robinson and former EU climate commissioner Connie Hedegaard among its members.
Praising Meier’s work, Tubiana said: “In these turbulent political times, and given the urgency with which we need to decarbonize our economies, it is with determination and great excitement that I am taking on this new challenge.”
Then on historic stairs of Foreign Affairs Ministry, hitting the road running for new challenges pic.twitter.com/sswOhBCG61
— Laurence Tubiana (@LaurenceTubiana) December 16, 2016
Caio Koch-Weser, chairman of the board, said the economist was taking on the job at an important time.
“[The Paris agreement] has set a new context and level of ambition for our work to promote a prosperous low-carbon future for Europe. Laurence is a leading thinker globally on the necessary transformation to mitigate dangerous climate change,” he said.