Our People
Scott Vaughan
President and Chief Executive Officer
Scott Vaughan is IISD President and CEO, and Chair of the IISD Experimental Lakes Area Board. Previously, Scott was Canada’s Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development. As Director of the Department of Sustainable Development, Organization of American States (OAS), his group supported the world’s largest portfolio of transboundary freshwater basin cooperation initiatives, including the eight-country Amazon Treaty Cooperation Organization. He has held positons as Visiting Scholar, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; Head of Economics, NAFTA Environment Commission; and Counsellor, World Trade Organization (WTO).
While at UN Environment, Scott initiated the UNEP Finance Initiative (FI), as well as the environment–trade program, and worked in the office of the UNEP Executive Director. He worked in Economic and Corporate Affairs of the Royal Bank of Canada head office and was a policy advisor to the federal Minister of the Environment (Hon. Charles Caccia). He holds post-graduate degrees from the London School of Economics, University of Edinburgh and Dalhousie University, and an undergraduate degree from Mount Allison University.
Current board and related affiliations include the Mare Nostrum Global Initiative; the Environmental Leadership Council of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce; the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED); the China Eco-Forum Global International Advisory Council; the World Economic Forum (WEF) Stewardship Board for International Trade and Investment; and Smart Prosperity Leaders Initiative. He is Associate Editor of the Chinese Journal of Urban and Environment Studies.
- Indigenous Protected Areas, a Way to Meet Human and Environmental Challenges?This commentary examines Indigenous Protected Areas (IPAs) and their growing importance in recognizing the rights of indigenous societies and safeguarding biological diversity.
- Response to the United States Trade Representative’s Stated Objectives on NAFTA Negotiations: An environmental perspectiveOn July 17, 2017, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) published its Summary of Objectives for the NAFTA renegotiation. Taking a sustainable development perspective, this response examines the USTR objectives and how they directly or indirectly relate to sustainable growth through international trade and investment.
- NAFTA’s Environmental Record: History, outcomes, impacts and optionsIISD has asked various experts from across Canada, the United States and Mexico to give their perspectives on NAFTA and the pending negotiations. This commentary, written by IISD President and CEO Scott Vaughan, is the introductary piece in this series.
- A New Generation of Trade and Industrial PolicyIISD President-CEO Scott Vaughan presents ideas for a new generation of trade and industrial policy.
- Jobs and the Low-Carbon Energy Transition: Perspectives from Cumberland CountyThis commentary begins in Cumberland County, in Northwestern Nova Scotia, Canada, where new jobs are emerging in the renewable energy sector. It argues that the shifts underway in Cumberland County are representative of a larger transition, as job losses in the fossil fuel industry are replaced by growth in renewable energy.
- Building Transboundary Water SecurityThis article highlights a new generation of transboundary agreements that aim to integrate wider freshwater benefits, notably ecosystem functions. It also points to the need for holistic approaches to freshwater management moving forward, as countries turn towards implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.
- Costing, Mapping, Financing and Mobilizing Knowledge: IISD and the Sustainable Development GoalsUltimately, the only measure of success of the Sustainable Development Goals will be their implementation within countries. IISD is thus focusing on the architecture of SDG implementation across four key areas: costing, mapping, financing and mobilizing knowledge. This article briefly highlights work that relates to each of these areas.
- Seven Priorities for the New Canadian Federal Government: The Environmental and Sustainability AgendaA long list of priorities awaits the new Canadian government, topped by federal climate...
- Chapter: Trade and Sustainable Development from Redesigning Canadian Trade Policies for New Global RealitiesSustainable development is one of the most difficult policy challenges of our time. It is also closely linked to the global trading system. In this chapter from IRPP's Redesigning Canadian Trade Policies for New Global Realities, IISD President Scott Vaughan describes how environmental concerns have become part of international trade policy over the past two decades, and discusses some of the implications for Canada.
- Inclusivity and Integration: The new Sustainable Development Goals and a second chance for Bretton WoodsThe Sustainable Development Goals have been dubbed “the Bretton Woods moment for our generation.” This paper explores some of the ideas and actors that shaped the earlier vision of the first Bretton Woods system, which laid the economic foundation and institutions of the post-Second World War period.
- Climate Investment, Low-Carbon Innovation and Green Industrial PolicyIISD President-CEO Scott Vaughan offers up a timely commentary on climate investment, low-carbon innovation and green industrial policy, ahead of COP21 in Paris.
- The State and Fate of Tropical RainforestsIISD President-CEO pens a commentary review of Claude Martin’s latest book On the Edge: The State and Fate of the World’s Tropical Rainforests and discusses what the future may hold for our tropical rainforests.
- Safeguarding the ArcticIISD President Scott Vaughan comments on the relationship between sustainable development and...
- A New Era for the Experimental LakesIn this op-ed published in the Ottawa Citizen, IISD President Scott Vaughan discussed the history...
- Promise by U.S. and China to phase-out HFCs a welcome step to reduce climate pollutantsOn June 8, 2013, United States President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to...