Janos Pasztor (diplomat)

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Janos Pasztor (born 1955) is a retired Hungarian diplomat. Before retirement, his last role was Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs and Executive Director of the Carnegie Climate Geoengineering Governance Initiative^[1] until the initiative's planned closure at the end of 2023.^[2] He was Assistant Secretary-General in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General of the United Nations in New York City and Senior Adviser to the Secretary-General on Climate Change between January 2015 and December 2016.^[3][4] Previously he has held positions at the World Wide Fund for Nature International where he was Policy and Science Director and acting Director for Conservation.^[5]

Pasztor has extensive experience of working in the United Nations with previous roles including (2010-2012) Executive Secretary of the UN Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on Global Sustainability (GSP);^[6] (2008-2010) Director of UN Secretary-General’s Climate Change Support Team; (2007) Director, UN Environment Management Group (EMG),^[7] United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); (1993-2006) Various positions at the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), initially in Geneva, and later in Bonn. The last position was Coordinator, Project-based Mechanisms Programme; (1990-1992) Senior Programme Officer, Atmosphere and Energy, Secretariat of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED, or the “Earth Summit ‘92”); and (1986-1989) Energy Programme Officer, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

From 2012-2015 he was Policy and Science Director, and from May 2015 Acting Executive Director for Conservation at WWF International; (1989-1990) he was a Research Associate, Stockholm Environment Institute; (1985-1986) Senior Programme Officer, Energy at the World Commission on Environment and Development (the “Brundtland Commission”);^[8] (1984) Research Associate, The Beijer Institute;^[9] (1979 – 1983) Director, Energy for my Neighbour Programme, World Council of Churches (WCC).

A national of Hungary (and later also of Switzerland), he holds a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Nuclear Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He is married and has two children.^[10]