Interview: New Head of Climate and Sustainability, Eva Mineur

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  Eva Mineur

  Head of Climate and Sustainability

Lewis Day: Congratulations on your new role and welcome to GCF, Eva. How have your first few weeks been?

Eva Mineur: Thanks! My first few weeks have been great. I have described it to people as being in a tumble dryer, with so many new things, people, and an entirely new organisation. It has been a lot of fun and I feel extremely welcome here.

When and why did you start working with climate and sustainability?

It started in university when I was studying political science and chose to focus on climate and the environment. This was then solidified when I wrote my dissertation on policy measures and sustainability indicators at different governance levels

Where and in what capacity have you been working with climate and sustainability since completing your PhD?

Most recently, I worked at the Swedish Climate Policy Council, an interdisciplinary expert body tasked with evaluating how well the Swedish Government’s overall policy is aligned with the climate goal of no net greenhouse gas emissions by 2045.

Before that, I worked in the Expert Group for Aid Studies, which is a government committee mandated to independently evaluate and analyse Sweden’s international development assistance. During my time there, I worked a lot with climate aid, and that gave me insight into how big multinational organisations work, how the big global climate funds work, and how civil society engages in these areas. Coming back to working with climate in an international context is something I am really looking forward to in my new role at the foundation.

Lastly, I just want to mention my time spent as an expert advisor to The Swedish National Commission for UNESCO. It gave me great insight into how a UN organisation is run, getting to experience both how incredible it is when so many countries come together on equal footing, but I also felt worn down by internal politics and the inefficiency that sometimes took over decision-making processes.

Aside from working on an international level again, what are you most looking forward to working with in your new role at GCF? 

I’ve spent my whole career working at the science–policy interface, so I’m really excited to continue with that in this role. What I especially look forward to is collaborating with researchers and policy experts, and finding new ways to connect science and policy in this context.
I am also looking forward to learning more about all the different areas the foundation works with, trying to identify new synergies between the different areas, coalitions, and organisations that we work with.

On another note, within climate work there is an advantage in having built-in regulations and frameworks with things like the Paris agreement, climate targets, limits and the IPCC. But, on the other hand, the world is not delivering on these agreements and meeting the targets.
And more broadly, I think it is extremely important to stand up for the international system – especially with the current low legitimacy of multilateralism – and this is a big reason why I want to work at GCF.

Thanks Eva. I know that you have another academic interest outside of climate and sustainability as you are the chair of the Swedish Evaluation Society (SVUF). Could you explain a little bit about your interest in evaluation?

Outside of my subject area of policy, climate and sustainability, I am also a trained evaluator and analyst. I have worked a lot with evaluation in my different roles, and it is something I really enjoy. Even if it is something that sounds boring to some people, I think it is an exciting field, and if an organisation wants to learn and keep developing and improving, then evaluation and different forms of monitoring are crucial.

One last question from me: what are your favourite interests or hobbies?

I love spending time with my family and our dog, who is rather spoiled and has a lot of say in the household. When it comes to hobbies, I do ceramics. It’s something I’ve been interested in my entire adult life and right now I rent a spot at a local studio once a week where I get to sit down and make sculptures.