Prof. Dr. Dirk Messner

Prof. Dr. Dirk Messner is President of the German Environment Agency since 2020. He previously
served as Director of the Institute for Environment and Human Security of United Nations University
(UNU-EHS) in Bonn, Germany, and Vice Rector of the United Nations University (UNU). Prior to
becoming Director of UNU-EHS in October 2018, Prof. Messner had been Director of the German
Development Institute from 2003-2018. Prof. Messner is an internationally recognised expert on
globalisation / global governance, transformation pathways to sustainability, decarbonization of the
global economy, sustainability and digital change, and international cooperation and societal change.
Prof. Messner has also been a member of a number of high-ranking policy advisory councils,
including co-chairing the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU) and the Sustainable
Development Solutions Network Germany and is member of the China Council for International
Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED).