Klaus Töpfer is the Former United Nations Undersecretary-General and Former Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

Klaus Töpfer studied economics at the Universities of Mainz, Frankfurt and Münster graduating an economist in 1964. He completed his PhD in political science in 1968.

He is widely recognized as having spearheaded environmental policy as Minister of Environment in Germany. He introduced ground-breaking environmental regulations including the law on the life-cycle economy and the "green dot" packaging recycling system.

Before his political career as a member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Klaus Töpfer was a professor at the University of Hannover, Germany, where he directed the Institute of Regional Research and Development (1978-79).

Klaus Töpfer was Minister of the Environment, Nature and Conservation and Nuclear Safety from 1987 to 1994 in the German federal parliament. He was Minister of Regional Planning, Building and Urban Development from 1994 to 1998.

He is the recipient of several honors including the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (1986) and the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. In 2002 he was awarded the Bruno H Schubert Environment Prize and the German Environment Prize.

Klaus Töpfer became Executive Director of UNEP and Director-General of the United Nations Office at Nairobi in 1998. He was also appointed Acting Executive Director of the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (UNHabitat) from mid-1998 to mid-2000. He stepped down from his position at UNEP in April 2006.