Irena names Italian official as director general
The International Renewable Energy Agency announced that its next director general will be an Italian, Francesco La Camera.
The announcement came during the ninth assembly of Irena, the intergovernment organisation that seeks to promote the adoption of renewable energy, this week in Abu Dhabi.
Mr La Camera will take office on April 4, succeeding Adnan Amin who has been in office since 2011. The new director general has been elected for a term of four years.
Mr Amin, a Kenyan diplomat and development economist, was also recognised for his outstanding contribution to the establishment by being awarded the honorary title of director general emeritus.
The agency members commended him for his leadership during the formative years of the agency and his contribution to ensuring the body would carry out its mission of speeding up the adoption of renewable energy across the world.
Mr La Camera is the director general for Sustainable Development, Energy and Climate at the Italian Ministry of Environment, Land and Sea.
He has represented the country in many international delegations and at conferences around the world on topics relating to the environment.
From 2006 to 2008, Mr La Camera taught sustainable development at the Mediterranea University of Reggio Calabria in Calabria, and from 2003 to 2010 was professor of environmental and land economics at the Universita Roma Tre in Rome.
Government ministers and energy officials took to Twitter to welcome the new director general, and thank his predecessor.
Dr Thani Al Zeyoudi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, said that Mr Amin had made a historic mark in speeding up the transition to renewable energy.
Dutch Ambassador to the UAE Frank Mollen said he looked forward to working with Mr La Camera, and Dominique Ristori, the director general of the European Commission, offered his ‘full support’.