SEOUL, April 15 (Yonhap) — A former head of the United Nations’ climate change agency began his term on Tuesday as the new director-general of the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), the Seoul-initiated international green growth entity said.

Yvo de Boer, who served as the executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the deputy director general of the Dutch environment ministry, succeeds Howard Bamsey for a four-year term, the institute said in a statement.

“Multiple challenges faced by humanity can only be effectively addressed through the shift toward economic growth in a more sustainable manner,” Boer said, vowing utmost efforts to help developing countries in particular shift their growth paradigms into environmentally friendly ones.

The GGGI was officially launched in 2012 as an international entity, upgrading the Seoul-based think tank set up in 2010 to promote strategies for environment-friendly economic growth drivers.

The 21-member entity has been pushing for 34 projects in 18 countries, conducting macroeconomic assessments of how countries can move to a greener economy, and financing projects that forward these aims.

graceoh@yna.co.kr

(END)

View the original article.