United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced today the appointment of Janos Pasztor of Hungary as Assistant Secretary-General on Climate Change.

In this capacity, Mr. Pasztor will serve as the Senior Advisor of the Secretary-General on climate change until the twenty-first United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP 21), to be held in December 2015 in Paris.  Mr. Pasztor’s tenure will focus on supporting efforts towards a universal climate agreement in 2015 and mobilizing global climate action on the ground, including through a coherent United Nations system-wide action.

Read the full article on the UN website.

The newly-appointed Assistant Secretary-General's father, Prof. Rev. János Pásztor senior served in a parish of the Reformed Church of Hungary for many years before he began teaching at the Reformed Theological Academy at Debrecen and at the Theological Faculty of the Károli Gáspár Reformed University in Budapest where he was elected as a dean. He was professor for practical theology, missiology and ecumenical studies, was visiting lecturer at US seminaries, like Columbia and served as a missionary to Kenya. He was well known in ecumenical circles, participated in the Reformed-Orthodox dialogue and worked also in WCC programs. He died in 2007.