GLOBE Chief Executive to step down & new HQ in Nairobi in 2026

3 December 2025

After 10 years in post as chief executive of GLOBE Legislators (formerly known as GLOBE International), Malini Mehra has announced her decision to step down in Summer 2026 after overseeing a transition to new headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. The move comes as the latest stage of the evolution of the 34-year old Belgium-based organisation, founded in 1991 by Senators Al Gore, John Kerry and prominent parliamentarians from Europe, Russia and Japan, to support parliamentary engagement on a cross-party basis in international environmental processes.

In recent years, GLOBE has increasingly focused on parliamentary capacity building in Africa on sustainability and climate change, and the proposed move to the Kenyan capital has received Board approval as the next stage of strengthening the organisation’s reach and impact as the role of the continent grows in importance.

In 2026, Malini will oversee the organisation’s 35th anniversary celebrations at London Climate Action Week in June, the establishment of new Nairobi headquarters and the induction of new leadership, as well as continue to advance GLOBE’s strategic objectives of a more central role for parliamentarians in climate action and the UNFCCC. She will remain on the GLOBE board of directors, but step down as chief executive in June 2026 to focus on strategic engagement and other initiatives. In particular, the further development of the innovative Climate Action Weeks globally, based on the pioneering London model (London Climate Action Week) developed with her husband, Nick Mabey OBE, CEO and Co-founder of E3G.

Malini joined GLOBE as Chief Executive in November 2014 at a turbulent time for the organisation and steadied the ship ahead of COP20 in Lima, Peru. Following a successful restructuring, she paved the way within a year for GLOBE’s most impactful legislator’s summit at France’s National Assembly at the landmark COP21 in Paris. The organisation has grown from strength to strength, developing innovative new programmes including: parliamentary engagement on the Sendai Framework on disaster risk reduction; dialogues between legislatures and the judiciary on climate laws and litigation; youth engagement through the pioneering Student-MP Climate Surgeries, introduced at the inaugural London Climate Action Week in 2019 and now an annual feature.

GLOBE’s pivotal role in anchoring parliamentary engagement at the UN’s Climate Summits was recognised in its appointment as the first ever UNFCCC Focal Point for the Parliamentary Group in 2021. GLOBE has served in this role since COP26 and developed a suite of free services for the global parliamentary constituency to support their engagement in the COP and related processes.

At COP28 in Dubai, GLOBE initiated the first Parliamentary Pavilion at a COP providing a physical hub with a full two-week programme of events for the parliamentary community and repeated this at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan. For COP30 in Belem, GLOBE once again supported parliamentary engagement through an active year of information, coordination and networking services, including on national NDCs and through a host of publications, webinars and the Pre-COP30 Parliamentary Forum at Rio Climate Action Week.

Commenting on Malini’s departure, GLOBE President, Juan Carlos Villalonga, said: “GLOBE today is a very different and impactful organisation to the one that Malini joined more than 10 years ago. This is largely due to her vision, determination and tenacity in getting things done. We are in a good place to move to the next stage of GLOBE’s journey at a time when parliamentary scrutiny and leadership on the climate agenda are needed as never before. We are grateful to Malini for her decade of contribution to GLOBE and the wider parliamentary constituency, and acknowledge her pivotal role in enhancing legislative effectiveness on climate change on the international stage.”

Reflecting on Malini’s role and GLOBE’s planned move to Kenya, GLOBE’s Vice-President for Africa, Rt Hon Sir Samuel Onuigbo FCIS, FNIM, KJW, said: “Malini’s exercise of admirable and effective leadership ensured the resurrection and sustained growth of GLOBE after a difficult period. These ten years of steady growth and impact, is worthy of recognition, commendation, and emulation. I am confident that the establishment of a new headquarters in Nairobi will lay the foundations for a bright future for GLOBE. We look forward to deepening and strengthening our already excellent relationships with Honorable Members of Parliament in Kenya, as well as UNEP and other partners based in Nairobi.”

Commenting on her time at GLOBE and the coming period, Malini said: “I am immensely grateful to the current and past leadership of GLOBE International, as it was and GLOBE Legislators as we are now, for the opportunity to serve and help bring parliamentarians centre stage in the conversation on climate change. Any success we can claim is down to teamwork. I am indebted to an incredible team of colleagues, including our supportive Board, with whom it has been a pleasure to work with and learn from. Our work is not finished and I look forward to laying the ground for the next step in GLOBE’s journey in our 35th year.”

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