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Michael Zammit
Cutajar
Michael Zammit Cutajar
Ambassador on Climate Change, Malta
Biographical note
A citizen of Malta, born in 1940, Michael Zammit
Cutajar devoted most of his career to work in and around the United Nations on
international cooperation for development and environment. Between 1967 and 1990, based in Geneva,
Switzerland, he worked on the staffs of the United Nations Conference on Trade
and Development and the United Nations Environment Programme. In 1991,
he was assigned to set up the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention
on Climate Change and headed it until his retirement early in 2002, holding the
rank of Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations. He led the move
of that secretariat from Geneva to Bonn, Germany, in 1996.
Since retiring from the service of the United
Nations, Mr. Zammit Cutajar has continued to participate in the international
dialogue among governments - and between them and the business community - on
climate change and the “carbon
market”. As Chairperson of its independent advisory group, he helped
launch the World Bank’s Community Development Carbon Fund, which promotes
investment in emission-saving development projects in poor communities in developing
countries (2003-2007). He is currently a member of the High-Level Advisory
Group on Energy and Climate Change convened by the President of the European
Commission (2007- ).
Mr. Zammit Cutajar advises the Government of Malta
pro bono on international environmental issues, representing it as ambassador
in international negotiations on climate change. In this capacity, he chaired the Ad Hoc Working Group
on further commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol (2006). He
is now part of the leadership team for the negotiation of a new multilateral
accord on climate change, which was mandated in December 2007 under the “Bali
Action Plan” and should be completed in 2009. The negotiation will
be conducted by the Ad Hoc Working Group on Long-term Cooperative Action under
the UNFCCC, of which Mr. Zammit Cutajar has been elected as Vice-Chair for 2008
on the understanding that he will be the Chair in 2009.
In the 2007 Republic Day honours list, Mr. Zammit Cutajar was appointed Member
of the National Order of Merit of Malta.
In his early and middle career, Mr. Zammit Cutajar
worked with non-governmental organizations: Overseas Development Institute, London,
UK (1965-67) and International Foundation for Development Alternatives, Nyon,
Switzerland (1978-81). His
first job was with the Uganda Development Corporation in Kampala (1963-65). He
was schooled in Malta at St. Edward’s College and obtained a degree in
economics from the University of London (1962).
Contacts:
28 April 2008 ^
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