The board of directors is currently composed of Franck Lecocq (Director), Catherine Boemare (Deputy director) and Naceur Chaabane (Administrative and managing supervisor).

CIRED was created in 1973 on the basis of a group of researchers that had been working together since 1971 under the name Groupe de recherche sur la stratégie de développement.
Ignacy Sachs was its founding father. Considered the precursor economist of sustainable development, he defines himself as an “eco-socio-economist”. After having directed the CIRED for 14 years, he passed the torch to Jean-Charles Hourcade.
An economist specializing in the economic analysis of climate change, he is internationally recognized, notably through his strong involvement in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He has spent his entire career at CIRED, which he directed for 25 years.
Finally, since 2012, it is the turn of Franck Lecocq, a specialist in the economics of climate change, to direct the Center, after having been deputy director of the Forest Economics Laboratory in Nancy. He is also very involved in the IPCC, for which he is lead author of a chapter of the next report.