Patrick V. Verkooijen

Patrick V. Verkooijen (born May 21, 1969) is the CEO of Global Center on Adaptation which manages the Global Commission on Adaptation chaired by Ban Ki-moon And Co-led by Kristalina Georgieva and Bill Gates. He was the World Bank Special Representative for Climate Change.

Education

Verkooijen holds a PhD in Sustainable Development Diplomacy from Wageningen University, in close collaboration with the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. He also achieved an MPA from Harvard University and a master's degree in Social and Political Philosophy from the University of Amsterdam. He has written academic papers focusing on sustainability and governance.

Career

Since July 2012, Verkooijen has been the World Bank Special Representative for Climate Change. He represented the World Bank in UN meeting on climate change and led the global effort to put a price on carbon ahead of the Paris Summit in 2015. As such, he mobilized support from leaders across the globe, including Chancellor Merkel of Germany and Prime Minister Trudeau of Canada, to commit to global goals to expand carbon pricing to cover 25 percent of global emissions by 2020, and achieve 50 percent coverage within the next decade.

In the lead up to the Rio+20 conference in June 2012, Verkooijen led a massive global mobilization effort successfully encouraging public and private sectors to join forces, taking collective action in support of natural capital accounting.

As head of the World Bank's efforts on climate-smart agriculture, Verkooijen spearheaded, in close collaboration with Kofi Annan, the global effort to enhance the triple win of food security, adaptation and mitigation culminating in the adoption of agriculture as part of the UNFCCC and for the first time transforming agriculture from being part of the problem to being part of the solution to climate change.

Prior to his work on climate-smart agriculture, Verkooijen was the key architect behind the development of the Forest Investment Program, entrusted with approximately US$600 million in donor commitments, empowering developing countries to manage natural resources in a way that it is good for forests, good for development and good for the climate. As part of this global effort, Verkooijen has also developed the largest grant mechanism to date for indigenous peoples and local communities to enhance their role in forest management and climate action.

Verkooijen has been the Professor of Practice of Sustainable Development Diplomacy at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University since January 2010. In this capacity he is also a Lead Author of the Global Forest Expert Group (GFEP) on the International Forest Regime, as established within the United Nations framework of the Collaborative Partnership on Forests. He is a visiting Professor in Global Forest Diplomacy at the Forest and Nature Conservation Policy Group at Wageningen University and Research Centre in the Netherlands. He regularly speaks in the global media AbOUT Climate change and Global warming.

Media coverage

Verkooijen co-authored an op-ed with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for The Boston Globe entitled Climate proofing our communities. This called for United States to implement a climate-resilient infrastructure plan. The op-ed followed Verkooijen's visit to Miami with Ban Ki-moon to meet Mayor Francis X. Suarez to learn more about Miami's efforts to cope with rising sea levels.

Verkooijen also co-authored an op-ed with President Heine for The Washington Post which explored the impact of climate change on low lying countries like the Marshall Islands and the Netherlands.

See also

• Center for International Environment and Resource Policy
• United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development
• United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change