Dr Hoesung Lee is the 6th Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2015–2023 which provided the scientific basis for advancing climate actions in line with the Paris Agreement of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. The assessments include the 2018 Special Report on 1.5˚C Global Warming which led to global consensus for mid-century net-zero carbon neutrality, and the 2023 IPCC Synthesis Report which served as a basis for the first Global Stocktake implemented for the Paris Agreement in 2023 at the 28th UN Climate Conference.
Dr Lee is the President of Carbon Free Alliance and the Republic of Korea’s Special Ambassador for Carbon-Free Energy. The Caron Free Alliance was launched in October 2023 by the Korean Government as a public- and private-sector platform to promote carbon-free energy globally to support climate solutions and economic growth.
He is an economist specializing in energy and climate change. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the Institute of Energy Economics Japan, chair of the Asian Development Bank President’s Advisory Board on Climate Change and Sustainable Development, and member of the Steering Committee for the Innovation for the Cool Earth Forum Japan, He served as the president of the International Association for Energy Economics (IAEE), the founding president of the Korea Energy Economics Institute — a government agency for national energy policy research and development, president of the Korea Resources Economics Association, distinguished research fellow at the Korea Environment Institute, member of the International Advisory Board of the Battelle-Pacific Northwest National Lab, USA, Board of Directors of Hyundai Corporation and the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, Japan, and council member of the Global Green Growth Institute, senior adviser to the Minister of Energy and Resources and the Minister of Environment, senior fellow at the Korea Development Institute, and economist at Exxon Company USA.
Dr Lee was Co-Chair of the IPCC Working Group III (the economic and social dimensions of climate change) for the Second Assessment which provided a scientific basis for the UNFCCC’s Kyoto. He served as Vice-Chair of the IPCC from 2008 to 2015, and lead author and review editor for the various IPCC assessments.
Dr Lee received his BA from Seoul National University and a PhD in Economics from Rutgers University, USA. He was named to the 2019 TIME 100 Most Influential People in the World. He was named to the 2021 Bloomberg 50 List. The IAEE gave Dr. Lee its 2021 Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Profession of Energy Economics and its Literature.
