Corinne Le Quéré

Education

Le Quéré received her B.Sc. in physics from University of Montreal, an M.S. in Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences from McGill University, and a Ph.D. in oceanography from University of Paris VI.

Personal and early life

Le Quéré was born in Quebec in 1966 and as a child spent her camping holidays in the national parks of Eastern Canada which fostered her interest in the natural world. She completed high school in 1984 and enrolled for a course in general studies at the University of Ottawa, near to her home in Gatineau, prior to transferring to the University of Montreal to study physics.

Le Quéré later became a British Citizen and holds both French and Canadian passports. She is now married to her second husband and has a daughter from her first marriage, Marianne, who she raised partly as a single mother.

On 3 February 2023, Le Quéré was a guest on BBC's Desert Island Discs on Radio 4 (presented by Lauren Laverne). As an imaginary Castaway she chose a mask and snorkel as her luxury items and, for her favourite disc, La Vida Es Un Carnaval by Celia Cruz. For her book, she chose World Atlas of the Oceans by Dave Monahan.

She was co-chair of the Global Carbon Project (GCP) from 2009 until 2013. Within the GCP, she initiated and directed for over a decade the annual publication of the Global Carbon Budget. During 2014-2017 she has been a member of the Scientific Committee of the Future Earth platform for sustainability research. She is author of the 3rd, 4th and 5th assessment reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. She conducted research at Princeton University in the US (1992–1996), at the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in Germany (2000–2005), and jointly between the UEA and the British Antarctic Survey in the UK (2005–2010).