Klaus Töpfer

Professor Klaus Töpfer, a graduate economist, was Executive Director of the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies (IASS) in Potsdam from 2009 to 2015. Since 2007 he has been Professor of Environment and Sustainable Development at the Tongji University in Shanghai. He was Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) in Nairobi and, from 1998 to 2006, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations. From 1987 to 1994 he was Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, from 1994 to 1998 Federal Minister for Spatial Planning, Building and Urban Affairs.