Going green, driving development
From climate change to global inequality, businesses must become part of the solution, not problem, to today's big challenges, says Achim Steiner, head of the United Nations Development Programme.
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Janice Heng
YOU might say that Achim Steiner was born for his role as administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Born in Brazil to German parents in 1961, he grew up in an era shaped by the Cold War - when, as he put it, the divide between rich and poor was often demarcated by the distinction between developed and developing countries. "Having been born in one (a developing country), I think it led me very early on to decide that I wanted to work in the broader field of development," he tells The Business Times while in Singapore for the 7th Responsible Business Forum on Sustainable Development, in October.
"The interest is perhaps less professional and more one of having grown up in Brazil and having had parents who moved to different parts of the world and made me already, as a child, discover the excitement of getting to know different cultures, different places."
