Klaus Töpfer (born 29 July 1938) is a German politician (
CDU) and environmental politics expert. From 1998 to 2006 he was executive director of the
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
In 1971, Töpfer was appointed Head of Planning and Information of the Federal State of Saarland, a post he held until 1978. During that time, he also served as a visiting professor at the
Academy of Administrative Sciences in
Speyer, and consulted several countries on development policy, among them Egypt, Brazil and Jordan. He spent the following year at the
University of Hannover as Professor and Director of the Institute for Spatial Research and Planning.[1]
Political career
In 1985 Töpfer became State Minister for the Environment and Health in the government of Minister President
Bernhard Vogel of
Rhineland-Palatinate.
In 1987 Töpfer became Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety under
ChancellorHelmut Kohl. During his time in office, Germany established the
Federal Office for Radiation Protection as a response to the
Chernobyl disaster. From 1994 to 1998 he served as Federal Minister for Regional Planning, Civil Engineering and Urban Development. He was member of the
Bundestag from 1990 to 1998 and member of the Steering Committee of the
CDU from 1992 to 1998.
Töpfer was rumored as a possible successor to the German presidency after
Christian Wulff's resignation.[2] He later served as co-chairman of the Federal Government’s Ethics Commission on a Safe Energy Supply.
Since 2013 Töpfer has been heading the project "DEMOENERGY – The Transformation of the Energy System as the Engine for Democratic Innovations"[3] together with
Claus Leggewie and
Patrizia Nanz (both Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities
Essen, Germany). In 2016, the
United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) appointed Töpfer as co-chairman (alongside
Juan Somavia) of an Independent Team of Advisors on positioning the UN development system for the
Sustainable Development Goals.
In 2018,
Energy Community appointed Töpfer to serve as mediator in an energy dispute between
Kosovo and Serbia.[4][5]
Other activities
Corporate boards
Theva, Member of the Senior Advisory Council (since 2017)[6]
Porsche, Member of the Sustainability Advisory Board (since 2016)[7]