18 Facts About Petteri Taalas

Petteri Taalas was director general of the Finnish Meteorological Institute from 2002 to 2005 and 2007 to 2015.

Petteri Taalas was awarded a PhD in meteorology by the Helsinki University Physics Department in 1993, following presentation of his thesis on Arctic and Antarctic stratospheric and lower atmospheric ozone.

Petteri Taalas pursued management training at Helsinki University in economics in 1998 and 2004 as well as public sector management in 2003.

Petteri Taalas is fluent in English, has moderate skills in German and Swedish, and basic skills in Russian and French.

Petteri Taalas was the secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organization.

Petteri Taalas had a mandate from WMO members to develop activities that give greater support to weather, climate and water services, research and development institutions and the private sector.

Petteri Taalas was in charge of a historical reform of the WMO constituent bodies and their working practices.

Petteri Taalas prefers modest and science based climate mitigation and adaptation efforts and understands the political sensitivity of related actions.

Over his career, Petteri Taalas has been an adept of change management to enhance efficiency in the various organizations with which he worked, including research institutes, government agencies, universities and private companies.

Petteri Taalas is motivated to support the developing countries and countries in economic transition, especially through project implementation, for example, in Africa, small-island developing states in the Pacific and Caribbean and in southeast Europe.

Petteri Taalas has extensive experience in managing national and international expert organizations with demonstrated ability to enhance efficiency and implement innovation while maintaining high customer and staff satisfaction.

Petteri Taalas has a strong scientific background with an emphasis on atmospheric sciences.

Petteri Taalas has authored about 50 publications on global climate change, satellite methodologies and atmospheric chemistry.

Petteri Taalas has held several positions and board memberships in both national and international organizations, serving as a member of the WMO Executive Council and the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts Council, and he is past chairman of both the EUMETSAT and the EUMETNET councils.

Petteri Taalas was the first chairman of the board of the University of Eastern Finland, which was formed by merging the universities of Kuopio and Joensuu.

Petteri Taalas was on the advisory board and on the board of directors of Fortum energy company, one of the leading low carbon energy providers in Northern Europe.

Petteri Taalas has served as a research professor and scientist at FMI dealing with global change, satellites, atmospheric chemistry and UV radiation.

Petteri Taalas speaks fluent English and Finnish, moderate German and Swedish and basic French and Russian.