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David Runnalls
Distinguished Fellow
David Runnalls is a Distinguished Fellow with IISD. He is a member of the Board of the Institute of Advanced Studies of the United Nations University. He is a member of the Advisory Council for Export Development Canada; a member of the Council for Sustainable Development Technology Canada; and a member of the Ivey Business School Leadership Council. He also serves on the Inquiry Team for Tomorrow’s Global Company, the SAM/SPG Leadership award, the International Sustainability Innovation Council of Switzerland (ISIS), and the Shell Report External Review Committee.
He has served as Co-Chair of the China Council Task Force on WTO and Environment. Runnalls was the Leopold Fellow at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and a member of the federal External Advisory Committee on Smart Regulation (EACSR). He served as Chair of the Adjudication Panel for the ALCAN Prize for Sustainability.
Runnalls has served as Senior Advisor to the President of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) in Ottawa, Canada, and to the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme. He was Director of the Environment and Sustainable Development Programme at the Institute for Research on Public Policy in Ottawa. He worked with Barbara Ward to found the International Institute for Environment and Development and directed both its London and Washington offices.
Runnalls was the Canadian Board member of IUCN-the World Conservation Union for six years and the Chair of the Committee for the World Conservation Congress in 1996. He served as a member of the Boards of the World Environment Center (New York), IIED (London) and Pollution Probe (Toronto).
An occasional writer and broadcaster, he has served as environment columnist for the CBC radio program, As it Happens and for CTV's Canada am. He was a member of the Discovery Channel's regular environment panel and political columnist for the Earth Times, the paper of record for the United Nations Earth Summit in 1992.
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The IISD Innovator Special 20th Anniversary Edition (June 2010)A historical retrospective celebrating IISD's first 20 years of operation in 20 pages; featuring an in-depth interview with retiring President... -
Achieving the G-20 Call to Phase Out Subsidies to Fossil FuelsIn order to reform fossil fuel subsidies, G-20 governments must first identify the scope, value and impacts of the subsidies they provide to both... -
Biofuels are not the answerIn this commentary, which originally appeared in the Winnipeg Free Press, IISD's President and CEO David Runnalls argues that not only do biofuels... -
Sustainable Development and China: Recommendations for the Forestry, Cotton and E-products SectorsChina has entered an unprecedented stage of economic growth. Home to one-fifth of the world's population, China's domestic markets and production... -
Our Common Inaction: Meeting the Call for Institutional ChangeIISD's President and CEO, David Runnalls, suggests that our failure to dramatically reform our domestic institutions and create an international... -
The Financial Crisis and Our Response to Climate ChangeIn this commentary, IISD President and CEO David Runnalls looks at the challenge of addressing climate change in light of the current economic... -
Arctic Sovereignty and Security in a Climate-changing WorldArctic sovereignty is a complicated business. Promises of vast resources and fabled shipping lanes set free by a melting ice pack have triggered a...
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Trade Policy Tools and Instruments for Addressing Climate Change and Sustainable DevelopmentThis paper was written as the second of a pair of background papers to the Trade Ministers' Dialogue on Climate Change Issues, held in conjunction...
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Summary Remarks: Copenhagen Seminar on Trade and Climate ChangeThese are the summary remarks delivered by IISD President David Runnalls at the seminar on Trade and Climate Change, June 18-20, 2008, in...
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Why Aren't We There Yet?: Twenty years of sustainable developmentIn this commentary, IISD's President and CEO, David Runnalls, takes a short historical look at the Brundtland Commission, explores why progress...
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Subsidizing Biofuels BackfiresCEO and President of IISD, David Runnalls comments on the recent publication on global subsidies to biofuels in the United States. The report... -
Adapting to a Changing ClimateBy David Runnalls, speech to the Green Leaders Conference, Winnipeg, October 2007 "Adapting to climate change is critical to the long-term... -
Climate Change Impacts in Manitoba: IISD President looks at farming, the north, Lake Winnipeg and urban lifeIn March 2007, IISD's President and CEO, David Runnalls, produced a series on four aspects of climate change in Manitoba for the Winnipeg Free... -
The U.S. Climate is Changing: But Where Was Canada at Davos?The talk at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, this year (January 24–28) was all about climate change. This was not...
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Environment and Globalization: Five PropositionsThe processes that we now think of as "globalization" were central to the environmental cause well before the term "globalization" came into its... -
Small Victories in the Road Forward: "No breakthrough, but no breakdown" at WTO meetings in Hong KongCanada's Ministers of Trade and Agriculture joined their counterparts from 149 countries in Hong Kong last month for five gruelling days of high...
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Bush Blinks; The U.S. now at the climate change tableThere is renewed global energy about tackling climate change following the December 2005 climate conference in Montreal, writes IISD's Director of... -
Canadian Agricultural Practices on WTO Block: Trade talks in Hong Kong take aim at wheat, dairy and poultryIISD President and CEO David Runnalls raises the curtain on the December 2005 World Trade Organization Ministerial in Hong Kong, from a Canadian... -
A Presentation to the Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable DevelopmentOn February 17, 2005, David Runnalls, IISD's President and CEO, made a presentation to Canada's House of Commons Standing Committee on Environment...
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Kyoto is here. What now?IISD's President and CEO David Runnalls shares his thoughts about what Canada needs to do—and how Canada might benefit—now that the Kyoto Protocol...
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Canada falling behind on ODA: World leaders commit to increasing development assistance; Canada absent from the listIISD President and CEO David Runnalls writes from the World Economic Forum in Davos that Canada is lagging behind other countries in achieving...
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Russian Ratification Puts Pressure on CanadaAfter over two years of anticipation, President Vladimir Putin's November 2004 signature on Russia's Kyoto Protocol ratification papers is the... -
Trade and Sustainability: Challenges and Opportunities for China as a WTO MemberTrade and Sustainability: Challenges and Opportunities for China as a WTO Member is a collection of essays addressing the implications of China's... -
Ten+TenTen + Ten explores the top ten achievements and failures in sustainable development in the decade between Rio and Johnannesburg. -
Promote Trade and Environment Policies That Enhance Sustainable Development in China - 1999 Annual Report to CCICED The Working Group on Trade and EnvironmentThe Third Meeting of the Second Phase of CCICED The Working Group on Trade and Environment
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Shall We Dance: What the North needs to do to fully engage the South in the trade and sustainable development debateWhat the North needs to do to fully engage the South in the trade and sustainable development debate. -
Trade and Sustainable Development: A Survey of the Issues and a New Research AgendaTrade agreements are now becoming a very important element in the transition towards sustainable development. ...
