‘Having hydrogen for breakfast, lunch and dinner’ with Petra Schwager, UNIDO Chief of Climate and Technology Partnerships

On today’s show, Chris, Patrick, and Alicia speak with Petra Schwager from UNIDO about her work promoting global green hydrogen development with particular emphasis on the Global South.

Petra Schwager:

Petra Schwager is Chief of the Climate and Technology Partnership (CTP) Division, and Directorate of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Innovation and Economic Transformation (IET) of the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO). She has more than 20 years of experience in building up global and national programmes for inclusive and sustainable industrial development. She has worked closely with governments, financial institutions, universities and industries in more than 40 countries in Asia, Africa, Central and Eastern Europe, and Latin America.

At her current position at UNIDO, she develops and manages strategic partnerships and technical cooperation on climate and technology innovation. She heads the UNIDO Global Programme for Hydrogen in Industry promoting Green/Renewable Hydrogen in industry to support net zero industrial and economic transformation in developing and transition countries.

She coordinates UNIDO’s engagement and is a regular speaker at high-level climate related policy events, e.g. G-20 and COP 27.

Her field of expertise covers the promotion of innovative and circular economy approaches, green hydrogen, resource and energy efficient solutions, renewable energy, sustainable/eco-industrial parks, green chemistry and sustainable performance based business models. In her projects she pays special attention to gender parity, supporting women participation and leadership.

She is co-author of the books "Chemical Leasing-Function to Impact" and "Chemical Leasing goes Global" and managed UNIDO's global chemical leasing programme. Chemical leasing is an innovative performance-based and circular economy business model for sustainable use of chemicals. In close cooperation with the Yale University, she initiated UNIDO's Global Green Chemistry Programme.

About UNIDO:

The UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) is the specialized agency of the United Nations that promotes industrial development for poverty reduction, inclusive globalization and environmental sustainability. UNIDO's mandate is to promote and accelerate sustainable industrial development in developing countries and economies in transition, and work towards improving living conditions in the world's poorest countries by drawing on its combined global resources and expertise. In recent years, UNIDO has assumed an enhanced role in the global development agenda by focusing its activities on poverty reduction, inclusive globalization and environmental sustainability. UNIDO services are based on two core functions: as a global forum, they generate and disseminate industry-related knowledge; and as a technical cooperation agency, they provide technical support and implement projects. They focus on three main thematic areas, in which they seek to achieve long-term impact: productive capacity-building, trade capacity-building, and sustainable production and industrial resource efficiency.

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Links:

www.unido.org

linkedin.com/in/petraschwager

https://iap.unido.org/articles/industrial-and-innovation-policy-can-speed-green-hydrogen-transition