Woochong Um Is CEO At The Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet

The Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet (GEAPP) has announced the appointment of Woochong Um as its new Chief Executive Officer. Woochong Um will lead GEAPP following his tenure with the Asian Development Bank. GEAPP is a multi-sector alliance created in 2021 to address ending energy poverty and tackling the climate crisis through a just transition to renewable energy.

“Securing a just energy transition is only possible if we urgently work together – there is no competition in this – just the race against ourselves and against time,” said incoming GEAPP CEO Woochong Um. “We need everyone to pull their weight and pull together and GEAPP can make an important contribution to this mission. I look forward to bringing my experience uniting broad groups of stakeholders from the public and private sectors to work with our alliance to urgently address the climate crisis.”

Ravi Venkatesan, Chair of the GEAPP Board, said: “Woochong Um’s appointment marks an important milestone for GEAPP as we step up our commitment to catalyzing a renewable energy movement which will improve the lives of millions and help build a sustainable future for our planet. His decision to join and lead GEAPP will propel us into an even brighter future together.”

To date, GEAPP has invested $464m of active capital in nearly 100 projects in almost 20 countries, and built an alliance of over 50 partners driving a shared mission that is showing early evidence of transformational impact with 147,000 tons of CO2 emissions averted, 1.3 million people and businesses connected to new or improved energy systems, and over 600,000 jobs and livelihoods supported (directly and indirectly) as cited in its second impact report Powering People & Planet.

Interim CEO Joseph Ng’ang’a, who guided the alliance and advanced its work to scale distributed renewable energy and battery energy storage systems across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean will hand over charge on 1 August 2024

Woochong Um brings a wealth of experience from his prestigious 31-year career at the Asian Development Bank. As ADB’s Managing Director General, he spearheaded global partnerships and funding mechanisms to transform economies and communities. Woochong’s time at the ADB saw him driving the bank’s sustainability agenda, putting environmental and renewable energy action plans at the heart of major development sectors, including health, education, agriculture, community resilience, and humanitarian settings. Prior to the ADB, he worked as a corporate computer systems specialist at Pitney Bowes and Pfizer in the USA.