Hoesung Lee (born December 31, 1945) is a South Korean economist and current chair of the

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an intergovernmental body of the United Nations. Its job is to advance scientific knowledge about climate change caused by human activities. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) ...

. He is professor in the economics of climate change, energy and sustainable development in th
Graduate School of Energy, Environment, Policy & Technology
at

Korea University Korea University (KU, ) is a private research university in Seoul, South Korea, established in 1905. The university is included as one of the SKY universities, a popular acronym referring to Korea's three most prestigious universities. Th ...

in the Republic of Korea. Lee received his B.A. in economics from

Seoul National University Seoul National University (SNU; ) is a national public research university located in Seoul, South Korea. Founded in 1946, Seoul National University is largely considered the most prestigious university in South Korea; it is one of the three " ...

and a Ph.D. in economics from

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was ...

. Lee began his career as an economist working for

ExxonMobil ExxonMobil Corporation (commonly shortened to Exxon) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November 3 ...

. Lee was elected as the chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on October 6, 2015. One of his elder brothers is

Lee Hoi-chang Lee Hoi-chang (; born June 2, 1935) is a South Korean politician and lawyer who served as the List of Prime Ministers of South Korea, 26th Prime Minister of South Korea from 1993 to 1994. He was a 1997 South Korean presidential election, presi ...

, former Prime Minister of South Korea and three-time presidential candidate. In his opening statement as Chair of the

(IPCC) at the 48th Session held in

Incheon Incheon (; ; or Inch'ŏn; literally "kind river"), formerly Jemulpo or Chemulp'o (제물포) until the period after 1910, officially the Incheon Metropolitan City (인천광역시, 仁川廣域市), is a city located in northwestern South Kore ...

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic ...

in October 2018, he described this IPCC meeting as "one of the most important" in its history. The landmark Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 °C (SR15) was released at the meeting on October 8, 2018. Lee was named one of ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and event (philosophy), events that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various me ...

'' magazine's ''100 Most Influential People of 2019''.

References

Living people Seoul National University alumni Rutgers University alumni Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change lead authors Korea University faculty People from Yesan County 1945 births {{economist-stub