The African Development Bank is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Anthony Nyong as the Director for Climate Change and Green Growth with effect from 1st January 2017.
Dr. Nyong, a Nigerian, holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Geography and Regional Planning from the University of Calabar, Nigeria; a Master's Degree in Land Surveying from Ahmadu Bello University, Nigeria; a Ph.D. in Geography (Environment and Natural Resources Management) from McMaster University, Ontario, Canada and a Post Graduate Diploma in Global Business (Energy) from the University of Oxford, UK. He is also a Senior Executive Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, USA.
Nyong joined the Bank in 2008 as the pioneer Climate Change Expert and built up the Bank's first climate change initiatives. He was promoted to the Head the Climate Change, Gender and Sustainable Development Unit. He initiated the Bank's Green Growth Agenda and worked on developmental issues to unlock the continent's renewable energy potential. Prior to joining the Bank, he worked as A Senior Program Specialist for the International Development Research Centre, based in the Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office in Nairobi as a senior program specialist in climate change from 2006. In this role, Nyong successfully mobilized substantial resources to set up the Climate Change Adaptation in Africa program that has significantly built adaptation capacity in Africa.
He has been the Manager for the Compliance and Safeguards Division at the Bank since 2010, and has been responsible for ensuring that all the Bank's investments deliver intended developmental benefits. Over the years, he has built a high-impact team of multi-disciplinary experts to deliver solutions on green growth, climate change, environmental and social safeguards, natural resources management and the Sustainable Development Goals. He led the development and implementation of the Bank's first Climate Change Action Plan (2011-2015) that systematically channeled resources into climate finance, and coordinated the development of the Bank's Second Climate Change Action Plan (2016-2020) that seeks to ensure that the Bank's High 5s build climate resilient and low-carbon development on the African continent. Since September 2016, Nyong has also served as Coordinator of the New Deal on Energy Flagships and as Lead for the Renewable Energy flagship in addition to his Managerial responsibility. In this role, he has also had to operationalize the Africa Renewable Energy Initiative.
A well-recognized scholar, Nyong was also a Professor of Climate Change at the University of Jos, Nigeria. He has served on the Boards and Committees of several global initiatives on climate change and green growth. He also represented the Bank on the Trust Fund Committee of the Climate Investment Funds and led efforts to deliver a substantial portion of climate investment fund resources to be programmed in Africa, much of which are invested through the African Development Bank.
In 2007, Nyong was named a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize as a contributor to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
The President of the African Development Bank, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, said of the appointment, "Anthony is a globally recognized leader on issues of climate change and green growth. His demonstrated leadership in the development and implementation of policies on climate change and green growth, and a thorough understanding of international developments in these areas, will help the Bank to deliver innovative solutions and financing to address climate change issues in Africa".
