In addition to his position at the World Bank, Steer serves on a sustainable energy panel formed by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. He previously served as the director general for policy and research at the Department for International Development in the United Kingdom.
WRI works on environmental and development issues in more than 40 countries.
The think tank’s longtime president, Jonathan Lash, stepped down last July to become president of Hampshire College, a liberal-arts school in Amherst, Mass.