The Economist-Diplomat Championing Clean Energy - Ep87: Francesco La Camera

Cleaning Up: Leadership in an Age of Climate Change

Francesco La Camera has been the Director-General of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) since April 2019.

Under Francesco’s leadership the Agency has forged a series of new strategic partnerships with UN organisations including UNDP, UNFCCC and Green Climate Fund among others. A key priority of his tenure is to implement a more action-oriented approach to the Agency’s work.

Previously, Francesco served as Director-General of Sustainable Development, Environmental Damage, EU and International Affairs at the Italian Ministry of Environment, Land & Sea since 2014. Francesco held number of roles at the Italian Ministry of Environment, Land and Sea. As the national coordinator for climate, environment, resource efficiency and circular economy, he led the Italian delegation to UNFCCC’s COP 21 to 24 and the EU Presidency at COP 20. He was responsible for the preparation and organisation of Italy’s G7 Environment Presidency in 2017. He served as co-chair of the Africa Centre for Climate and Sustainable Development established in Rome in partnership with FAO and UNDP and co-chaired the Financial Platform for Climate and Sustainable Development in partnership with the Italian Development Bank Cassa Depositi e Prestiti. He has also coordinated a number of national strategies including on sustainable development, green finance and fossil fuel subsides among other things.

Francesco was a lecturer of Sustainable Development at the University of Cosenza and of Environment & Land Economics at the University of Roma 3. He is a graduate of the University of Messina in Political Sciences (Economic Policy major).

Further reading:

IRENA World Energy Transitions Outlook

https://irena.org/publications/2022/Mar/World-Energy-Transitions-Outlook-2022