Vicente Paolo Yu

Senior Fellow | Climate Change, International Environmental Law, International Trade Policy, GHG Emissions Inventory, Climate Action Reporting and Review

Vicente Paolo B. Yu III is a Senior Legal Adviser at the Third World Network, Visiting Research Fellow at the UN Research Institute for Social Development, Associate Fellow at the Geneva Center for Security Policy, and Partner at the Clean Energy Innovations Partnership. He previously served as the Deputy Executive Director of the South Centre, the intergovernmental policy research institution of developing countries, and coordinated the Centre’s work on global governance, climate change, investment, South-South cooperation, and sustainable development issues.

His substantive policy work and expertise include policy research and analysis and the provision of technical policy and legal advice to developing country governments, including on the right to development, international environmental law, development economics, international climate change policy, and South-South cooperation.

He obtained his political science (with honors) and law degrees from the University of the Philippines, and his master of laws degree (with honors, specializing in international trade law and international environmental law) from Georgetown University where he was a Fulbright Scholar. Prior to the South Centre, he worked for Friends of the Earth International (FOEI) and was a Staff Attorney and head for Research and Policy Development of the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center (LRC) in the Philippines. He has taught law at the University of the Philippines. He has also been a consultant for various United Nations agencies, providing research and training/capacity building services on international trade, development policy, and climate change (including reviews and reporting on national climate change actions). He has published papers and articles on issues relating to trade and environment, energy policy, mining policy, sustainable development, environmental policy, climate change policy, South-South cooperation, and indigenous peoples' rights.