Adnan Z. Amin (born 1957) is a Kenyan

diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...

and a

development economist Development economics is a branch of economics which deals with economic aspects of the development process in low- and middle- income countries. Its focus is not only on methods of promoting economic development, economic growth and structural ...

with a specialty in

sustainable development Sustainable development is an organizing principle for meeting human development goals while also sustaining the ability of natural systems to provide the natural resources and ecosystem services on which the economy and society depend. The des ...

. He served as the first

Director-General A director general or director-general (plural: ''directors general'', ''directors-general'', ''director generals'' or ''director-generals'' ) or general director is a senior executive officer, often the chief executive officer, within a government ...

of the

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area. ...

-based intergovernmental organisation, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). Amin was elected in April 2011, having previously served as the Agency's Interim Director-General in 2010. Prior to his appointment at the IRENA, he worked in a variety of senior positions within the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

system in areas relating to in

renewable energy Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...

and

environmental policy Environmental policy is the commitment of an organization or government to the laws, regulations, and other policy mechanisms concerning environmental issues. These issues generally include air and water pollution, waste management, ecosystem mana ...

. He served as the Director of the

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

Office of

United Nations Environment Programme The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is responsible for coordinating responses to environmental issues within the United Nations system. It was established by Maurice Strong, its first director, after the United Nations Conference on th ...

(UNEP) and Special Representative of the UNEP Executive Director.

Biography

Adnan Z. Amin was born in

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

in 1957. He attended the

University of Sussex , mottoeng = Be Still and Know , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £14.4 million (2020) , budget = £319.6 million (2019–20) , chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar , vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil , ...

where he received a master's degree in development studies. In his three-decade career, Amin was the Head of the UN System Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB) Secretariat. In this role, he spearheaded oversight in the Secretariat supporting the CEB in its UN system-wide policy co-ordination under the UN Secretary-General and comprising the Executive Heads of UN System organisations, during a period characterized by the roll-out of initiatives on climate change and the

financial crisis of 2007–2008 Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fi ...

. He was the head of the Secretariat for the UN Secretary-General's High-level Panel on UN System-wide Coherence relating to development, environment and humanitarian assistance during the administrations of Kofi Annan and

Ban Ki-moon Ban Ki-moon (; ; born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was his country's Minister ...

. During his tenure, the UN bureaucracy was reformed under the “One UN” and “Delivering as One” module, proposed by a panel of consultants. Earlier, Adnan Amin was the Director of the United Nations Environment Programme's (UNEP) New York Office, and as Special Representative of the UNEP Executive Director. At the UNEP, he was instrumental in the ministerial-level intergovernmental process to review International Environmental Governance and UNEP's participation in the 2002

World Summit on Sustainable Development The World Summit on Sustainable Development 2002, took place in South Africa, from 26 August to 4 September 2002. It was convened to discuss ustainable developmentorganizations, 10 years after the first Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. (It was the ...

. At IRENA, Adnan Amin led efforts to make the Agency a worldwide authority on

renewables Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...

and

cleantech Clean technology, in short cleantech, is any process, product, or service that reduces negative environmental impacts through significant energy efficiency improvements, the sustainable use of resources, or environmental protection activities. Cle ...

. Country membership at IRENA is almost at near-universal level. During his tenure, the Agency had 160 Members (159 States and the European Union) and an additional 23 states in accession, providing support to countries in their transition to a sustainable energy future through the adoption of practices, policies, technologies, resources and financial knowledge relating to the achievement of sustainable development,

energy access Energy poverty is lack of access to modern energy services. It refers to the situation of large numbers of people in developing countries and some people in developed countries whose well-being is negatively affected by very low consumption of ene ...

, energy security and low-carbon

economic growth Economic growth can be defined as the increase or improvement in the inflation-adjusted market value of the goods and services produced by an economy in a financial year. Statisticians conventionally measure such growth as the percent rate of ...

and prosperity. Under Amin's leadership, the IRENA became a core patron in the implantation process for the

Paris Agreement The Paris Agreement (french: Accord de Paris), often referred to as the Paris Accords or the Paris Climate Accords, is an international treaty on climate change. Adopted in 2015, the agreement covers climate change mitigation, Climate change a ...

, the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the G7 and

G20 The G20 or Group of Twenty is an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 countries and the European Union (EU). It works to address major issues related to the global economy, such as international financial stability, climate change mitigation, ...

. Adnan Amin was re-elected in January 2015 to his second term as Director-General of the IRENA. Upon the conclusion of his tenure of office in April 2019, Amin was given the honorary title of Director-General Emeritus. He was succeeded by

Francesco La Camera Francesco La Camera is an Italian civil servant, academic, diplomat who was elected the second Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), and assumed office on 4 April 2019. At the IRENA, he has a four-year tenure ...

, an Italian bureaucrat. Shortly thereafter, Amin became a Distinguished Fellow of the

Atlantic Council The Atlantic Council is an American think tank in the field of international affairs, favoring Atlanticism, founded in 1961. It manages sixteen regional centers and functional programs related to international security and global economic prosp ...

Washington, D. C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...

and Honorary Professor of Practice at his alma mater, the University of Sussex. Amin served as a Trustee and a Member of the Board of Directors of the World Conservation Monitoring Centre, a

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...

information institution located in

Cambridge, UK Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

. He later became a Senior Fellow of the Geopolitics of Energy Project at the

Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs The Robert and Renée Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, also known as the Belfer Center, is a research center located within the Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University, in the United States. From 2017 until his death in Oc ...

at the

John F. Kennedy School of Government The Harvard Kennedy School (HKS), officially the John F. Kennedy School of Government, is the school of public policy and government of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school offers master's degrees in public policy, public ...

at Harvard.

Honours and awards

In 2019, the government of the United Arab Emirates decorated Amin with the ''Order of Zayed (first class) "in recognition of his efforts in renewable energy''."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amin, Adnan Z. 1957 births 21st-century diplomats 21st-century civil servants Alumni of the University of Sussex Kenyan diplomats Living people International Renewable Energy Agency people