Government Chief Climate Finance negotiator resigns

The Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Ms Barbara Creecy, has wished South Africa’s chief climate finance negotiator, Mr Zaheer Fakir all the best for his future, and thanked him for his commitment to the country’s climate change agenda.

Mr Fakir has resigned from the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment after accepting a position a senior advisor to the team preparing for the international climate talks in the United Arab Emirates later this year.

The 28th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP28) will be held in Dubai in early December.

Mr Fakir, who is also a member of the Presidential Climate Finance Task Team, had facilitated the development of the Climate Investment Fund Accelerated Coal Transition Investment Plan approved in 2022, and the Green Climate Fund. He is also the chair of the UNFCCC Standing Committee on Finance.

“He leaves behind a significant team of people that he has trained over many years. It can only benefit the cause of climate justice in Africa when persons of Mr Fakir’s caliber are appointed to assist the UNFCCC,” said the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Ms Barbara Creecy.

The Minister thanked Mr Fakir for his decades of service to the South African Government and the Department, saying it was a privilege to have worked with him in the climate finance space. She wished him all the best in his new role in the UAE adding that he would continue to make the country proud.

His resignation is effective 28 February 2023.

Source: Government of South Africa