John Ashton (diplomat)

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John Ashton is the Special Representative for Climate Change, UK Foreign Commonwealth Office (FCO) Director for Strategic Partnerships, LEAD International Founder and CEO, E3G (Third Generation Environmentalism). He is commonly referred to as the "climate ambassador". .

John Ashton was born in London on 7 November 1956, and educated at the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle Upon Tyne and at Cambridge University, where he read Natural Sciences specialising in theoretical physics. On graduation in 1977, he spent a year as a research astronomer at the New Cavendish Laboratory.

[edit] Foreign Office career

A science graduate, Mr Ashton has spent most of his career in the Briitsh Diplomatic Service and the British Foreign Office (FCO). He joined the Diplomatic Service in 1978. From 1981-4, he served as science officer at the British Embassy in Beijing. He was head of the China desk at the FCO from 1984-86. He then spent two years seconded to the UK Cabinet Office before learning Italian and serving in the British Embassy in Rome from 1988-93. Here he carried out the first ever study for the British Government of the Mafia and the dangers it posed to British interests.

From 1993-7, he was seconded to the Hong Kong Government as Deputy Political Adviser to Governor Chris Patten, dealing with matters relating to Hong Kong's transition to Chinese sovereignty. He was closely involved in all major dealings between the UK and China concerning Hong Kong. During this period, his interest in the environment drew him towards the diplomacy of global change.

John Ashton left the Foreign Service in 2002 to found E3G, an independent not-for-profit organisation, that works in the public interest to accelerate the global transition to sustainable development.

[edit] "Climate ambassador" for the UK

In June 2006 he rejoined the FCO as the UK's 'climate ambassador' for the UK Foreign Secretary, Margaret Beckett. John Ashton was appionted as a Special Representative for Climate Change. He will support Ministers in delivering a step-change in the international response to climate change – a new strategic priority for the FCO.

He has outlined a key plank of his argument in an online article for www.chinadialogue.net. In it he says:

"One of the propositions that I’m working on in my current role is to challenge our colleagues in Europe to say to China that we have very similar interests when it comes to energy. We are all increasingly dependent on imported oil and gas from potentially unstable sources. We both have some of the world’s most aggressive policies on energy efficiency and renewable energy, driven not only by climate change but also by a more old-fashioned desire for energy security. So why don’t we get together and see whether we can build a single market in low carbon technologies between the world’s largest single market and the world’s fastest growing economy? Let’s just look across and see whether we can remove all of the tariff barriers in order to grow the market, and to bring down the price of technologies that we say we want to promote.

John Ashton is a Member of the Green College Centre for Environmental Policy and Understanding. He also serves on the Advisory Boards of the Climate Institute, Washington DC, and of the UK Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research. He is married, to Judy; he has one son, John, and one stepson, Graham. He has a passion for cricket.