Simon Stiell, Grenada’s former climate resilience minister, will be the new UN climate chief, UN Secretary General António Guterres announced on Monday.

Stiell will take over as Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change with less than three months until the latest round of climate talks, COP27, in Egypt.

He will replace Mexican diplomat Patricia Espinosa.

Stiell served for five years as Grenada’s Minister for Climate Resilience until June 2022 and previously served as Minister for Education and Human Resource Development.

The UN called Stiell a “true champion for formulating creative approaches for our collective global response to the climate crisis” in a statement.