Adnan Z. Amin Re-Appointed as IRENA Director-General

International Renewable Energy Agency head re-elected by acclamation for second term

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 17 January 2015 – The Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), Adnan Z. Amin was reappointed today to a second four-year term. The reappointment was agreed by acclamation by the 124 IRENA member countries in attendance at the fifth Assembly in Abu Dhabi.

Mr. Amin was appointed as the first Director-General of IRENA in April 2011. His new term will run from April 2015 to April 2019.

"In the span of just five years, IRENA has grown from a concept into the primary platform for renewable energy cooperation and analysis, positioned alongside decades-old organizations in terms of both political importance and content delivery. This is a huge achievement, and the result of a partnership between the Director-General, the UAE, and the Agency's membership," said Dr. Thani Al Zeyoudi, the UAE's Permanent Representative to IRENA and Director of Energy and Climate Change at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "The next five years will be just as challenging, with IRENA now at the heart of a booming industry. There are huge expectations for the Agency, and we are glad to have Adnan Amin at the helm."

"The importance of IRENA's mission grows apace with the need for rapid renewables expansion across the globe,” said German State Secretary Rainer Baake. “The members of IRENA see the Agency as the key driver for the global energy transformation. IRENA has shown tremendous progress in this regard and I look forward to continued collaboration with the Agency under Mr. Amin's able leadership."

Since Mr. Amin was first appointed, IRENA membership has increased from 64 members with two countries in accession to 139 members (138 States and the European Union) with more than 30 countries in accession and has established a robust programmatic framework in support of its global mission.

IRENA fifth Assembly documents: www.irena.org/Assembly/5thAssembly.aspx 
Live Assembly coverage: www.irena.org/newsroom

About Adnan Z. Amin
Adnan Z. Amin was first elected as the Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) in April 2011. In this capacity he is charged with the responsibility of establishing a sound institutional management structure and clear strategic vision for the implementation of the agency’s mandate to promote the adoption and use of renewable energy worldwide.

Mr. Amin brings to this position over 25 years of experience in the fields of international environment and sustainable development policy, as well as in the political, management, and interagency coordination functions of the United Nations (UN) work. Mr. Amin served as Head of the UN System Chief Executives Board for Coordination (CEB) Secretariat. In this function, he was responsible for overseeing the Secretariat supporting the CEB in its UN system-wide policy coordination under the Chairmanship of the UN Secretary-General and comprising the Executive Heads of UN System organisations. The CEB is the highest level interagency coordinator framework in the UN system and oversees UN coordination on Policy, Management and Field Operations.

Mr. Amin also served as the Executive Director of the Secretariat of the Secretary-General’s High Level Panel, co-chaired by the Prime Ministers of Mozambique, Norway and Pakistan, on UN System-wide Coherence. The Panel undertook an ambitious and unprecedented level of consultation on development, environment, and humanitarian aspects of the work of the UN System and proposed an ambitious reform programme that still continues in the UN General Assembly under the framework of the “One UN ”. The development of coherent field operations, harmonised business practices across the United Nations System, and the establishment of a new organisation , UN Women, are outcomes of the process launched by the panel.

Previously, Mr. Amin served as the Director of the New York Office of United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Special Representative of the UNEP Executive Director. He was responsible for environment policy coordination and collaboration with other UN Agencies, and for outreach to civil society and the private sector. He played the lead role in supporting the ministerial-level intergovernmental process to review International Environmental Governance and UNEP’s participation in the World Summit on Sustainable Development.
He has also served from 2000-2006 as a Trustee and member of the Board of Directors of the Cambridge, UK-based World Conservation Monitoring Centre that is one of the premier Biodiversity information institutions in the world.

Mr. Amin is a development economist specializing in sustainable development. He is a national of Kenya.