UN Official on Renewable Energy

Worldwide investment in renewable energy is growing exponentially—confounding experts who said it would never happen—says Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Steiner, a German development expert who has run UNEP since 2006, spoke April 1 at an event sponsored by the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center. His conversation with the center’s Founding Director, Richard L. Morningstar, coincided with the release of a UNEP report, Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2015.

“Renewable energies are becoming accessible for developing economies,” Steiner said. “This is not just a matter of not using oil revenues, but leapfrogging technology. It is happening before our very eyes.”

Image: “Renewables are going to take hold a lot faster than anybody ever thought,” Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, said at the Atlantic Council April 1. (Atlantic Council/Larry Luxner)