Susanne PEDERSEN

Susanne Pedersen has 30 years of experience as a board member, director, and strategic advisor from international organizations, a science-based advisory centre, an innovation community, industry associations and consulting engineering firms. She has held board positions and honorary posts in Korea, Switzerland, Belgium and Denmark within sustainability, climate, environment, and innovation. Prior to joining IUCN, she worked as the Assistant Director-General of the Global Green Growth Institute and Managing Director of Climate-KIC Nordic. She also spent 2 years as the Director of the UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre (UNEP-CCC) engaged in implementing UNEP’s Climate & Energy Program including curating the UN Emissions and Adaptation Gap Reports. 

Susanne Pedersen joined IUCN as the Director of the Centre for Science and Knowledge (CSK) in June 2023. Together with 7 IUCN scientific commissions, CSK advances IUCN’s critical work as a leading global authority on conservation and knowledge.  The Centre is responsible for: assessing the state of the global natural resources and biodiversity, develop the necessary knowhow, methodologies, and standards, as well as share knowledge and advice on conservation issues based on the global standards developed by IUCN, including the Red List of Threatened Species & Ecosystems, Green List of Protected and Conserved Areas & Nature-based Solutions. 

The Centre for Science and Knowledge (CSK) also has a strong series of engagements with the private sector to catalyse business action to reverse nature loss, achieved through transformational engagements that help deliver conservation and societal benefits at scale. We work to accelerate sector-wide adoption of IUCN’s tools, metrics, and approaches, such as the IUCN Rapid High-Integrity Nature-positive Outcomes as well as on-the-ground testing of estimated & calibrated STAR applications to measure the potential conservation gain through actions to reduce species extinction risk via threat abatement and habitat restoration. The Centre also seeks to influence the global regulatory, disclosure and policy frameworks to act on nature-related dependencies, impacts, risks and provide state-of-nature data for market participants.