Adam Rogers biography
updated January 2022
Adam Rogers worked for the United Nations for 22 years before taking early retirement in 2018. His last post was as senior advisor for South-South Cooperation with the UN Development Programme. Before that, he served as the Regional Representative for Europe for the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation, and as coordinator of the World Alliance of Cities Against Poverty. Adam also worked for 12 years as the head of communication for the United Nations Capital Development and for six years as UNDP’s regional communications advisor for Europe, based in Geneva. He continues to support the work of the organization as a senior consulting advisor for strategic communications, with recent assignments in Kuwait, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Guinea Bissau and Cambodia.
Adam also supports the work of ConnectAID, a combined charitable giving platform and social impact network dedicated to the Sustainable Development Goals, where he serves as vice-president and member of the board.
Before joining the United Nations, Adam worked for many years as a communications advisor and as an environmental journalist. His interests and work have taken him to more than 130 countries in most corners of the world. As the editor-in-chief of Los Angeles-based Earth News, Adam covered the landmark 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro and most of the subsequent summits of the 1990s. His book The Earth Summit, a Planetary Reckoning documented the 1992 conference through the perspectives of youth, business, government and civil society. A related book focusing on Agenda 21 was published by the UN Environment Programme and was called Taking Action: an environmental guide for you and your community. His most recent books include The No Mammal Manifesto: Diet for a new and more sustainable world (2019) and The Intrepid Traveler: the ultimate guide to responsible, ecological, and personal-growth travel and tourism (2018).
A sequel to Taking Action was published in 2021 and is called Taking Action Online for the Environment, Social Justice and Sustainable Development. This book, which includes a foreword from Helen Clark, connects the many dots in the social media universe and provides step-by-step advice on how to fundraise, build communities and inspire action for the results we need to create the world we want in line with Agenda 2030.
Adam received his BA in International Affairs from Northern Arizona University, his MA in Communication and Technology from the University of Alberta, and his MBA from the TRIUM programme at New York University, the London School of Economics and HEC Paris School of Management.