Chair from January 2019 – December 2021.
Sonam Phuntsho Wangdi is Secretary of the National Environment Commission for the Royal Government of Bhutan, following 31 years in the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
He was responsible for formulating Bhutan’s Environmental Standards (2020), National Environment Strategy (2020), the updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), the third National Communication to the UNFCCC, the National Climate Policy (2019), amongst other key policies.
With a background in commerce, Mr Wangdi has deep negotiating experience and was the deputy chief negotiator for Bhutan in WTO negotiations from 2005 to 2012.
Mr Wangdi graduated magna cum laude with a Master of International Law and Economics from the World Trade Institute, University of Bern, and holds a Bachelor of Commerce with honours from the University of Delhi.
He remains the Co-Chair of the UNCDF’s Board of Local Climate Adaptive Living Facility, Chairman of Bhutan’s Climate Change Coordination Committee, and has been a member of Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness Commission since 2018.
In 2019, Mr Wangdi was selected as one of the 100 most influential people in climate policy by apolitical.