Secretary-General Appoints Janos Pasztor of Hungary as Assistant Secretary-General on Climate Change

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced today the appointment of Janos Pasztor of Hungary as Assistant Secretary-General on Climate Change.

In this capacity, Mr. Pasztor will serve as the Senior Adviser of the Secretary-General on climate change until the twenty-first United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP 21), to be held in December 2015 in Paris.  Mr. Pasztor’s tenure will focus on supporting efforts towards a universal climate agreement in 2015 and mobilizing global climate action on the ground, including through a coherent United Nations system-wide action.

Mr. Pasztor comes from his position as Acting Executive Director, Conservation, and Director of Policy and Science, at World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) International.  From 2011 to 2012, he served as the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Secretary-General's High-level Panel on Global Sustainability, and from 2008 to 2010 as the Director of the Secretary-General’s Climate Change Support Team.  In 2007, Mr. Pasztor served as Director of the Environment Management Group in the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).  Prior to that, he held various senior positions in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) from 1993 to 2006.

Mr. Pasztor holds a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Nuclear Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.