Kaveh Zahedi is the Officer in Charge of the Division of Technology, Industry and Economics (DTIE) at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) based in Paris. He oversees the work of UNEP-DTIE covering green economy, resource efficiency, energy, chemicals, ozone and waste.  In addition to his role as Deputy, from 2012-2-13 he was also the interim Head of the Secretariat of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) for reducing short lived climate pollutants – a major initiative to help countries protect human health and the environment and slow the rate of near term climate change by reducing key short-lived climate pollutants such as methane, black carbon and HFCs. Prior to his current appointment, Kaveh was the UNEP Climate Change Coordinator and responsible for the organisation’s climate programme and work with the UNFCCC as well as setting up major partnerships such as the UN-REDD Programme (with UNDP and FAO). Kaveh was the Acting Director of the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre (2004-2007) and also worked at UNEP headquarters in Kenya (1995-1999) and the Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean in Mexico (1999-2004). Before joining UNEP, he worked at a NGO in the UK as project manager for development microfinance and credit projects in Latin America and the Middle East.

Kaveh holds a Master’s degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, USA, and a BSc (Econ.) first class degree in Economics & Geography, from University College London.