Richard Kinley is the President of the Foundation for Global Governance and Sustainability (FOGGS). Richard was a senior official at the UN Climate Change Secretariat (UNFCCC) from 1993 to 2017. He served as Deputy Executive Secretary from 2006 to 2017 and was intimately involved in the development of UNFCCC as an organization from its establishment and in its management and operations. He also led or oversaw the secretariat’s support to the climate change negotiations, including the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement, and to the intergovernmental institutions. Prior to joining UNFCCC, Richard was an official of the Government of Canada working on international environmental policy issues. He holds a B.A. in political studies and an M.A. in international relations.
In a few days’ time, high up in the Swiss mountains, where the glaciers are melting faster than ever before, there will be a “peace conference” of the most ambitious kind. It won’t be about climate change in the literal sense of the term but drastic climate change it is supposed to achieve. A conflict…
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UCNFCC), the world’s first climate change treaty, is 30 years old. It was adopted on 9 May 1992 and opened for signature at the Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro on 4 June 1992. Should the world be celebrating? Looking back Personally, I take…
This is a brief abstract of an article with the same title authored by Richard Kinley and published in IPPR Progressive Review, Institute of Public Policy Research, 2022 – link to the full article here. The UN Climate Conference held last November in Glasgow, known as COP 26, delivered a useful pact to accelerate action towards…
The Glasgow Climate Pact, taken together with other decisions adopted at the close of COP 26, constitute an impressive step forward in multilateral climate policy. The true measure of success of “Glasgow”, however, will lie not in the words uttered or committed to paper but in the lasting impact of the full array of Glasgow’s…
The following keynote speech was delivered by Richard Kinley on 17th June 2021 at the Coalition for the UN We Need‘s online event – ‘Europe and North America Regional Consultation: working together for the world we deserve’. I was asked to give a keynote on UN multilateralism, for which I’d like to thank the…
The world’s governments will come together in Glasgow in November to re-energize international cooperation on climate change. The gathering, “COP 26” in its climate negotiations nomenclature, comes at a critical time. Humanity’s response to the climate problem, manifestly now a “crisis”, has fallen far short of what is required, a fact that is increasingly recognized…
UN’s accomplishments aren’t yet sufficient for the challenge of climate change. The time for lip service and negotiations is over – full mobilization is needed.
