By IANS,
London : Nitin Desai, a former under secretary-general for economic and social affairs at the United Nations, has joined premier British carbon finance ratings agency IDEAcarbon as an adviser to its board of directors.
IDEAcarbon is an independent provider of ratings, research and strategic advice on carbon finance. Its services are designed to provide leading financial institutions, corporations, governments, traders and developers with intelligence and analysis of the factors that affect the pricing of carbon market assets.
Desai said: “I have joined the IDEAcarbon Advisory Board because I believe that a global carbon market is the key that will open many opportunities for preventing catastrophic climate change. I am particularly interested in the work on rating of potential carbon credits as that will help in price discovery and deepen the market.”
MondoVisione, a worldwide stock exchanges site, quoted Ian Johnson, chairman of IDEAcarbon, as saying: “We’re very pleased to welcome Nitin to our team. His global experience and advice will be invaluable as we develop our ratings and analytic services. I look forward to working with him.”
Desai worked at senior levels in the Planning Commission in India from 1973 to 1987. From 1988 to 1990 he was the chief economic adviser and secretary in the department of economic affairs in the finance ministry.
Most recently he was asked by the Planning Commission to chair a committee on venture capital and technology innovation. Desai is also the Indian co-chair with Lord Chris Patten of the Indo-UK Roundtable set up by the two governments. He is a member of the council on climate change chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Desai’s international involvement has been most prominent as senior adviser and key draftsman for “Our Common Future”, the report of the Brundtland Commission on Environment and Development and then as Deputy Secretary General for the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, the manager of the Commission on Sustainable Development for its first decade and as the Secretary General for the Johannesburg Summit.
He was also responsible for the organisation of the Copenhagen Summit on Social Development, the Monterrey Summit on Finance for Development and many other global events.
At present Desai is a special adviser to the UN Secretary General for Internet governance and chairs the advisory group that organises the annual UN Internet Governance Forum. He is an Honorary Fellow of the London School of Economics and Political Science.
In India, he is a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI).