Hélène van Rossum is senior research fellow on climate diplomacy and policies at IDDRI since 2025. Her work focuses in particular on new approaches to international cooperation that can accelerate a global transition away from fossil fuels, while taking into account countries’ cross-cutting priorities (energy security, development needs, economic competitiveness, etc.). She also works to strengthen climate cooperation between the European Union and China by organizing dialogues involving European and Chinese stakeholders from different sectors (government, think tanks, research and the private sector).
Before joining IDDRI, Hélène van Rossum was a negotiator for the French government within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) from 2016 to 2019. In particular, she contributed to the development of the rules for implementing the Global Stocktake and to the adoption of the IPCC report on 1.5°C of global warming. She subsequently worked for the United Nations in New York and Nairobi from 2019 to 2024, focusing on the implementation of the environmental dimension of the Sustainable Development Goals, first in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General and then at the United Nations Environment Programme.
Hélène van Rossum holds a dual master’s degree in Environmental Sciences and Policy from Sciences Po Paris and Pierre and Marie Curie University.
IDDRI is an international think tank based in Paris. It aims to contribute to a society that ensures decent living conditions for all, in an equitable manner, within the planet’s environmental limits. Since 2001, IDDRI has been working to develop solutions for ecological transitions, particularly in the fields of climate, biodiversity, the oceans, energy, transport, agriculture and food. It focuses on the economic, political and social transformations required to achieve environmental objectives, as well as on forms of international cooperation that can facilitate them. Drawing on science-based research and foresight work, IDDRI produces analyses and proposals aimed at governments, international organizations and economic decision-makers, particularly at European level and in international negotiations. It also contributes to dialogue between public and economic actors and civil society to facilitate the implementation of these transformations. IDDRI brings together a multidisciplinary team of around 50 staff members and works with an extensive network of partners across Europe and around the world. All its work is publicly available.
