Former Swedish Prime Minister Göran Persson Joins WRI Board

March 14, 2010 by timbercommunity

Former Prime Minister of Sweden socialdemocrat Göran Persson has been elected to the Board of Directors of the think tank - World Resources Institute (WRI).

 “Prime Minister Persson’s record of building long-term and ambitious environmental policies is exceptional,” said Jonathan Lash, WRI president. “Facing the most important challenge of our time – climate change – he has led by example and helped Sweden go further than required by the Kyoto Protocol.” Persson served as prime minister from 1996 to 2006. He led the reduction in Sweden’s greenhouse gas emissions by 13.5 percent between 1996 and 2005, and set a national target to reduce emissions to 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2020. In 2007, he was awarded the Sophie Prize for his leadership on climate policy. Prior to serving as Prime Minister, he served as finance and education minister, as a member of parliament, and was a local politician.
Persson serves as chairman of three other boards: Scandinavian Air Ambulance Holding, Scandinavian Biogas, and Sveaskog, which is Sweden’s largest forest owner and leading supplier of timber, pulpwood, and biofuel. Sveaskog is also one of the largest forest owners in all of Europe. 
 
In the WRI board Göran Persson will be colleague with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, former Unilever chairman Antony Burgmans and Brazil's former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso. WRI has 200 employees in Washington and is actively working with governments, businesses and environmental organizations around the world to turn knowledge into action. WRI has recently been appointed  one of the world's best environmental policy think tanks of the University of Pennsylvania. Among well-known corporate partners include IKEA, General Electric, General Motors and Apple.