Michael Renner, Senior Researcher

Contact Information
Department: Research
Title: Senior Researcher
Email: mrenner@worldwatch.org
Phone: (631) 615-4845

Michael is a Senior Researcher at the Worldwatch Institute, which he joined in 1987.  His work has been motivated by a desire to understand the forces that drive our complex, fascinating world and to use his research and writing talents to ensure that Earth will remain a habitable place not just for his two (grown) children but for all those who share this fragile planet in the next generation.

His work has principally focused on two topics--the connections between environment and employment (“green jobs” / "green economy"), and linkages between environment and peace and conflict.  He has managed various editions of the Institute’s two annual publications, State of the World and Vital Signs.  In 2007-2008, Michael was the lead author of a report on green jobs commissioned by the United Nations Environment Programme, and he has also consulted for the International Labour Organization on this topic.  Michael has given presentations on green jobs around the world, including most recently at the International Green Economy Business Exchange in Sao Paulo, at Nueva Sociedad in Buenos Aires, at the the University of Sydney, and at Shanghai Institutes for International Studies.   In 2005-2007, Michael directed Worldwatch’s Global Security Project, which included the 2005 edition of State of the World, and a 2007 report on natural disasters and peacemaking.

Prior to joining Worldwatch in 1987, Michael was a Corliss Lamont Fellow at Columbia University, and a research associate at the World Policy Institute in New York City. Born and raised in Germany, Michael received his undergraduate degree in political science from the University of Konstanz in southern Germany, and a Master's degree in international relations from the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands.  He spent a year as an intern at the UN Center on Transnational Corporations in 1979-80.

Michael is a Senior Advisor to the Institute for Environmental Security (The Hague/Brussels), serves on the board of the Global Policy Forum and is a member of the International Program Advisory Committee to CoCooN (Conflict and Cooperation over Natural Resources in Developing Countries), Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research.
 
 
 
Languages Spoken:
  • English (fluent);
  • German (native language);
  • Dutch (fair);
  • French (passive).
Media Experience:
 
Michael's writing has appeared in a variety of print and online publications, including the Christian Science Monitor, International Herald Tribune, Le Monde Diplomatique, El País, and Frankfurter Rundschau.  He has appeared on radio and television programs including the BBC, CNN, NPR, Voice of America, and others.

Speaking Engagements:

Michael has addressed a broad variety of audiences, including high- and mid-level policy-makers, business and labor groups, academic settings, and broad public audiences.
 
Speaking engagements have included meetings organized by the Council on Foreign Relations, U.S. State Department, European Parliament, OSCE, Wilton Park/British Foreign Office, MacArthur Foundation, Heinrich Böll Foundation, Geneva Centre on Security Policy, Global Development Network, Norwegian Social Forum, Confederation of Spanish Trade Unions, Carbon Forum Asia, World Bank, a broad variety of UN venues.  

 

Selected Publications