Amb. Franz Perrez

Dr. Franz Perrez (LinkedIn) has been Switzerland’s legal advisor and Director General of the Directorate of Public International Law at the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs since July 2023. He has served in this role as Switzerland’s counsel to the International Court of Justice. From 2010 to 2023, was as Switzerland’s Ambassador for the Environment and Head of International Affairs at the Federal Office for the Environment. He was Switzerland’s chief negotiator on climate change and led the Swiss delegations in the negotiations on biodiversity, chemicals and waste, and sustainable development. He was president of the Conferences of the Parties of the Rotterdam Convention and the Basel Convention, facilitated the negotiations on mitigation for the Paris Agreement, and served as a panellist in the WTO tuna-dolphin dispute between Mexico and the United States (WT/DS381). Previously, he worked in the WTO division of the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO. He is teaching international environmental law at the University of Bern since 2008. He earned a J.S.D. and an LL.M. from NYU. He has published widely on international environmental law, governance and trade and environment.