Hans Jørgen Koch

Hans Jørgen Koch has been the CEO of Nordic Energy Research since 2014. In the period 1982- 2014 he was Director General, Deputy Permanent Secretary of State, in the Ministries responsible for energy issues in Denmark. He took leave from this position in 1994-2002, after his appointment to OECD-Director. He was in that period responsible for Energy Efficiency, Renewable energy and for Research, Development and Deployment in The International Energy Agency of OECD in Paris (IEA/OECD).

 

Koch has been one of the leading voices in international, intergovernmental collaboration on energy for decades. For a 30-year period he was member of The Governing Board of the International Energy Agency and of EU’s High-Level-Group of Director Generals on Energy.

 

He has been Chairman of IEA’s Committee on Renewable Energy (IEA/REWP) (2010-14) and IEA’s Committee on Research and Technology (IEA/CERT) (1990-1994). Earlier, he has been Governor in the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna (IAEA) (1983-94). He was Chairman of the Energy Committee of the Nordic Council of Ministers and acting minister several times in the period between 1982 and 2013.

 

In the last decade, Hans Jørgen Koch was one of the founding fathers of The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).