Ambassador Hyoeun Jenny Kim is the CEO of the Global Industry Decarbonization Hub, which is a new global collaboration of philanthropies addressing industrial decarbonization. The GIDH, supported by ClimateWorks Foundation, aims to accelerate climate action in the industrial sector which includes cement, steel, and chemicals production. From 2021, She was the Deputy Minister and Ambassador for Climate Change of the Republic of Korea, representing the country as the head of delegation and chief negotiator as well as leading bilateral and multilateral cooperations on climate and environment. From 2018 to 2021, she served as the Deputy Director-General of the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), supporting developing countries and emerging economies to achieve economic growth and environmental sustainability together through following a new pathway of green growth.
She was the Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Senegal and five neighboring countries from 2016. She contributed to build strategic development cooperation relationship between Korean and West Africa. During 2013 to 2016, as the Director for Strategy, Policy, and Communication at the GGGI, she led the development of GGGI Strategic Plan 2015-2020, governance structural reform, and outreach.
As a career diplomat in South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, she served as Director for Climate Change and Environment and Director for World Trade Organization (WTO). She also took the role of the Vice-Chair of Trade and Environment Joint Committee of the OECD and the Chair of Budget and Management Committee of the APEC.
She earned her Bachelor’s in political science and diplomacy from Yonsei University in Seoul and the Master’s degree from the Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington in Seattle. She is married with one son. Her first book, A Diplomat Must Be a Multiplayer published in 2008, became a bestseller of the month and her second book, titled Audacious Challenge to International Organizations, was published in 2013. In 2019, She co-published Korean translation of However Long the Night, an American NGO leader’s story on promoting African women’s human rights.