Janos Pasztor (a Hungarian and a Swiss citizen) is Senior Fellow of the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, and is Executive Director of the Carnegie Climate Governance Initiative (C2G).
He has four decades of work experience in the areas of energy, environment, climate change, and sustainable development. Before taking up his current assignment he was UN Assistant Secretary-General for Climate Change in New York under Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Earlier, he was Acting Executive Director for Conservation (2014), and Policy and Science Director (2012-2014), at WWF International. He directed the UNSG’s Climate Change Support Team (2008-2010) and later was Executive Secretary of the UNSG’s High-level Panel on Global Sustainability (2010-2012). In 2007 he directed the Geneva-based UN Environment Management Group (EMG). During 1993-2006 he worked and over time held many responsibilities at the Climate Change Secretariat (UNFCCC), initially in Geneva and later in Bonn.
His other assignments included: the Secretariat of the UN Conference on Environment and Development (Earth Summit ’92); Stockholm Environment Institute; United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); Secretariat of the World Commission on Environment and Development (Brundtland Commission); the Beijer Institute; and the World Council of Churches.
He has BSc and MSc degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Featured Work
SEP 27, 2021 • Podcast
C2GTalk: An Introduction to the Series, with C2G Executive Director Janos Pasztor
Carnegie Climate Governance Initiative's "C2GTalk" is a series of one-on-one interviews with influential practitioners and thought leaders, exploring the governance challenges raised by emerging ...
FEB 13, 2020 • Podcast
Who Controls the Global Thermostat? with C2G's Janos Pasztor
With record-breaking winter warmth in Europe, catastrophic fires in Australia, and deadly flooding in Indonesia, we are deep into a climate crisis. In this wide-ranging ...
OCT 1, 2019 • Podcast
C2G Update: Nature-based Solutions, the UN, & the IPCC Reports, with Janos Pasztor
Janos Pasztor, executive director of the Carnegie Climate Governance Initiative (C2G), gives an update on his team's work after a busy week in New ...
NOV 1, 2018 • Podcast
Global Ethics Weekly: Climate Change Mitigation & Governance, with C2G2's Janos Pasztor
As activists, politicians, and environmentalists come to terms with a dire report on global warming from the UN's IPCC, Janos Pasztor, executive director of the ...
MAY 17, 2018 • Podcast
Climate Change and the Power to Act: An Ethical Approach for Practical Progress
We are already living with climate change; and although countries have pledged to limit global warming to 2 °C, success seems highly unlikely. This panel explores ...
MAY 24, 2017 • Transcript
A Briefing and Discussion on Solar Geoengineering: Science, Ethics, and Governance
In response to stakeholder requests, the Forum on Climate Engineering Assessment (FCEA) and the Carnegie Climate Geoengineering Governance Initiative (C2G2) jointly convened this webinar ...
FEB 22, 2017 • Podcast
Launch of Carnegie Climate Geoengineering Governance Initiative
C2G2 serves a vital purpose: connecting and mobilizing actors from many sectors of society to look at the very real possibilities of engineering the ...
DEC 12, 2016 • Podcast
The Ethics and Governance of Geoengineering
The definition of geoengineering is "large-scale human intervention with the Earth in order to change the climate," says Janos Pasztor, and to manage the world's ...
DEC 8, 2016 • Podcast
Global Ethics Forum Preview: The Ethics and Governance of Geoengineering with Janos Pasztor
Next time on Global Ethics Forum, Janos Pasztor, director of the Carnegie Climate Geoengineering Governance Project, discusses new technology and our changing climate. In this ...
OCT 28, 2016 • Article
Briefing Paper on Climate Engineering
Climate engineering is defined as large-scale, deliberate intervention in the Earth system to counteract climate change. Two major sets of techniques are usually included: those ...