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Worldwatch Institute Staff

Biography

Michael Renner, Senior Researcher & Director, Global Security Project

Email: mrenner@worldwatch.org
Phone: (631) 369-6896

Areas of Expertise

Jobs and the Environment ("Green Jobs"); Green Economy; Environment, Resources, and Conflict; Post-Disaster Peacemaking

Green Economy Blog: blogs.worldwatch.org/greeneconomy/

Languages

English, German, Dutch

Background

Michael Renner is a Senior Researcher at Worldwatch. He has analyzed the relationship between environment and employment since the early 1990s. In 2007-2008, Michael was the lead author of a report commissioned by the United Nations Environment Programme and the International Labour Organization. Green Jobs: Towards Decent Work in a Sustainable, Low-Carbon World, was released at UN Headquarters in New York in September 2008.  Michael has also briefed Al Gore on international green jobs developments.

During the past two decades, Michael has also examined linkages between environment and peace and security, and he directed Worldwatch's Global Security Project.  Principal outcomes of the project include the 2005 edition of State of the World, and a 2007 report, centered on literature and field research, which examined opportunities for peacemaking in the wake of un-natural disasters.

Before joining Worldwatch in 1987, Michael was a Corliss Lamont Fellow in Economic Conversion at Columbia University (1986-87) and a research associate at the World Policy Institute in New York City (1984-86).  He serves on the board of the New York-based Global Policy Forum and is a Senior Advisor to the Institute for Environmental Security (The Hague/Brussels).

Michael was born and raised in Germany. He is a cum laude graduate of the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, where he received a Master's degree in international relations. He lives with his wife and two children on Long Island, New York.

Speaking Engagements

Michael has addressed a broad variety of audiences, including meetings organized by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Council on Foreign Relations, U.S. State Department, European Parliament, Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), Wilton Park/British Foreign Office, MacArthur Foundation, Heinrich Böll Foundation, New Zealand Institute of International Affairs, Geneva Centre on Security Policy, Global Development Network, Norwegian Social Forum, Confederation of Spanish Trade Unions, Carbon Forum Asia, World Bank, and a wide range of United Nations venues.

Media Highlights

In addition to publishing two books, Michael's writing has appeared in a broad variety of print periodicals, online publications, and newspapers 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.

Selected Publications