Jean Pascale van Ypersele

Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, former IPCC Vice-Chair, is emeritus full professor of climatology and sustainable development sciences at Université catholique de Louvain (UCLouvain) and invited professor at the Université de Liège (Belgium), member of the Académie royale de Belgique and of the Federal Council for Sustainable Development. He has been a supporter of gender equality since he was a student. Following his criticism and warnings, which were initially discreet but became public in 2022, about how UCLouvain handled cases of moral and sexual harassment, a wide-ranging judicial investigation was launched against the university, and the culture of harassment slowly began to change. He founded the Plateforme wallonne pour le GIEC (Walloon Platform for IPCC), with the Walloon Government support. A physicist and climate modeller, he has been extensively involved in the IPCC since 1995, and was IPCC Vice-Chair from 2008 to 2015. He has participated to most UN conferences on climate issues since 1979, including 28 COPs (Conferences of Parties).