Emeritus members

Mrs Jane Lubchenco

Deputy Director for Climate and Environment at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy

Member of the Board of Directors of the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation from 2016 to 2021

Mrs. Jane Lubchenco served as Director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) under President Barack Obama. She then returned to academia as Professor of Marine Biology at Oregon State University, a position she held for 30 years.

Mrs. Lubchenco has served as President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the International Council for Science, and the Ecological Society of America. She has served on numerous commissions: the Pew Oceans Commission, the Joint Oceans Commission Initiative, the Aspen Institute's Arctic Commission, the Google Advisory Board for Google Ocean, and the Independent Panel for the World Bank's Global Oceans Partnership. She is also co-founder of three organizations that promote the communication of scientific knowledge: The Leopold Leadership Program, the Communication Partnership for Science and the Sea (COMPASS), and Climate Central.


Since April 2021, Mrs. Lubchenco is Deputy Director for Climate and Environment at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy

Mr Rubens Ricupero

Former Minister of the Environment and Amazonian Affairs

Member of the Board of Directors of the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation from 2007 to 2019
 

He was the fifth Secretary General of UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) from September 1995 to September 2004.

His nomination was the culmination of a long career within the Brazilian Government: firstly as Deputy Chief of the Presidential Staff in 1985, then Special Adviser to the President in 1986. From 1987 to 1997, he was appointed as Ambassador to the United Nations, then from 1991 to 1993 Ambassador to the United States of America, before being nominated as Minister of the Environment and Amazonian Affairs by President Franco in 1993.
He became the Minister of Finance in 1994 where he supervised the launching of the current Brazilian economic stabilisation programme. His convictions are characterised by rhetoric that places the blame on globalisation for all the planet's problems, but also suggest seeing "reasons for hope" in this new "cultural revolution".
Rubens Ricupero believes it is possible to reconcile stability and economic growth, labour market flexibility and job security. He counts on international organisations to balance competition and to correct injustices due to social inequality.
He has represented Brazil in many international organisations and presided over the developing countries group during the negotiations which gave rise to the World Trade Organisation.
He also headed the Brazilian Delegation to the Commission on Human Rights (Geneva) and the Conference on Disarmament, and served as Chairman of the Finance Committee at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 and as Governor for Brazil at the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the African Development Bank.
He was a Professor of Theory of International Relations at the University of Brasília from 1979 to 1995 and Professor of History of Brazilian Diplomatic Relations at the Rio Branco Institute from 1980 to 1995.

Mr Ricupero is the author of several books and essays on international relations, economic development problems, international trade and diplomatic history.

 

Mrs Samantha Smith

Director of Just Transition Centre

Member of the Scientific and Technical Committee from 2006 to 2021

Mrs. Samantha Smith is responsible for the international labor movement’s Just Transition Centre, which is a global resource on climate change and jobs. She has also been a member of several expert committees and think tanks on climate change. In particular, she was Director of the WWF's Global Climate and Energy Initiative and Global Arctic Programme. In the New Energy department of Statoil, Norway, she has led several project financing and government relations for large-scale renewable energy and greenhouse gas emission reduction projects.

As a private lawyer, she is dedicated to social justice issues. Among other things, she co-led a think tank on equal access to justice in California, helped launch a training program for the California Court on responding to domestic violence, and conducted pro bono activities to defend the rights of all people, including children's rights and poor's rights.

Mr Otto Steinmetz

Former Member of the Dresdner Bank Executive Board

Member of the Board of Directors of the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation from 2007 to 2021

After an international career in Banking and Finance spanning over 40 years – a. o.  in Executive Positions at Deutsche Bank and in the Allianz Group - Mr. Steinmetz completed a Master Degree Program in Gastrosophy at the University of Salzburg/Austria. He served on the Board of Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation for almost 15 years and left at his own request at the end of 2021.

Pr Klaus Töpfer

Former German Federal Minister for the Environment and Nature Conservation


Member of the Board of Directors of the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation from 2007 to 2019
 

Professor Dr. Klaus Töpfer has served as Founding and Executive Director of the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies in Potsdam. Before this he was the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Nairobi and Under Secretary General of the United Nations.


In the national political field he held the positions of German Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (1987 to 1994) and of Federal Minister for Regional Planning, Civil Engineering and Urban Development (1994 to 1998). He was a member of the Bundestag.


Professor Töpfer was also engaged in several unsalaried/voluntary institutions, so i. e. as Vice President of the German Hunger Organization and as Senator of the Helmholtz Association for Earth and Environment. After the Fukushima nuclear disaster he co-chaired the Ethics Commission on Safe Energy Supply in 2011.


Professor Töpfer holds a doctorate degree in economics from the Münster University and has received numerous honors and awards including the Federal Cross of Merit with Star and Sash of the Federal Republic of Germany in 1990 and the German Sustainability Award in 2008.

 

Mrs Paula Kahumbu

Executive director of WildlifeDirect

Member of the Board of Directors of the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation from 2018 to 2022

Ms. Paula Kahumbu is the Executive Director "KenyanConservation NGO WildlifeDirect" and since 2014 has spearheaded the "Hands Off Our Elephants" campaign. She is an award-winning Kenyan conservationist with a PhD from Princeton University where she studied ecology and evolutionary biology and conducted her field research on elephants in Kenya. Dr. Kahumbu's career in wildlife and conservation spans 24 years and during that time she has worked for governmental and non-governmental organizations, the private sector, established a conservation trust, and currently serves on the board of the Lewa Conservancy. From 2004 to 2007, she worked for the multinational company Lafarge East Africa as the General Manager of Lafarge Ecosystems at Haller Park in Mombasa, Kenya. Most recently, Dr. Kahumbu served as Executive Director of the Kenya Land Conservation Trust (2010-2012), Member of the National Task Force on the Impact of Pesticides on the Environment and Minister of Agriculture of Kenya (2010-2014).

Mr Bedrich Moldan

Director of the Environment Center of the Charles Darwin University in Prague

Professor Bedrich Moldan is a Czech ecologist, publicist and politician. He has been Director of the Environment Department at Charles University in Prague since 1992 and he is also a Member of the Scientific Council of the Czech Technical University in Prague. He is also a Professor of environmental sciences, Founder and director of the Charles University Environment Center. From 1990 to 1991, Bedrich Moldan was the Prime Minister of the Environment of the Czech Republic.

He is a founding member of the Civic Democratic Party. In 2004 he was elected to the Senate of the Czech Republic. In 2010, he received the SCOPE-Zhongyu Environmental Award for lifetime achievement.

Mrs Julia Marton-Lefevre

Membre du bureau exécutif de la Fondation Prince Albert II de Monaco - Ancienne Directrice Générale de l'Union Internationale pour la Conservation de la Nature (UICN)

Mme Julia Marton-Lefèvre a été Directrice Générale de l'UICN jusqu'en janvier 2015. Elle a débuté sa carrière internationale en travaillant au PNUE et à l'Unesco à Paris, en tant que spécialiste de programme sur l'éducation environnementale internationale. Au cours de sa carrière, elle a occupé différentes fonctions : Rectrice de l'Université pour la Paix (UPEACE) mandatée par les Nations Unies,

Directrice Générale de LEAD (Leadership for Environment and Development International), Directrice Exécutive du Conseil International pour la Science (CIUS). Elle préside aujourd’hui les Conseils d'Administration de plusieurs organisations : du Prix Tyler pour la réalisation dans le domaine de l'environnement, le Fonds de partenariat pour les écosystèmes critiques et l’Alliance de la Biodiversity International et du Centre International d’Agriculture Tropicale (CIAT). En 2019, elle a été élue par les gouvernements pour représenter la région européenne au sein du Bureau de l'IPBES. Elle est également Membre de plusieurs Conseils d'Administration : de la James Martin School del'Université d'Oxford, du Global Institute of Sustainability (Arizona StateUniversity), du Turkana Basin Institute et de l'Institut du Développement Durable et des Relations Internationales (IDDRI).

Mr Björn Stigson

Membre du bureau exécutif de la Fondation Prince Albert II de Monaco - Ancien Président du "World Business Council for Sustainable Development"

M. Björn Stigson a travaillé pendant 25 ans dans un grand nombre d'entreprises mondiales, notamment en tant que Président et Directeur Général du groupe Fläkt, un leader mondial de la protection de l'environnement, mais également en tant que Vice-Président Exécutif de la société d'ingénierie électrique ABB. Björn Stigson est l'Ancien Président du "World Business Council for Sustainable Development" (WBCSD).

Il a siégé au sein de Conseils d'Administration et de Conseils Consultatifs de diverses sociétés, organisations et gouvernements internationaux tels que le Congrès américain, le Gouvernement chinois et le Gouvernement allemand en tant que Président de l'examen par les pairs sur les politiques de développement durable en Allemagne. Il a également été Membre du Conseil des doyens de la Kennedy School à l'Université Harvard. Il a par ailleurs été Conseiller Principal auprès des directeurs de l'IIASA (International Institute for Applied systems Analysis) à Vienne et de l'Académie Royale des Sciences de l'Ingénieur (IVA) en Suède. M. Björn Stigson est aujourd'hui Président de sa propre société de conseil « Stigson & Partners AB ». Il est également Président du Conseil d'Administration de MISUM, le centre d'excellence pour le Développement Durable de l'École d'Économie de Stockholm.