Critically acclaimed Icelandic/Danish artist and climate activist Olafur Eliasson was appointed as a UNDP Goodwill Ambassador for climate action and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on 22 September 2019.  

Highly regarded for his artistic work and efforts to advance sustainable development with a focus on renewable energy and climate action, Eliasson has joined UNDP in our mission to protect the planet. He helps to raise awareness and mobilize support for UNDP’s work to mitigate the effects of climate change through projects that promote renewable energy, reduce CO2 emissions, and protect our planet for generations to come. 

“Life on Earth is about co-existence - among people, animals, ecosystems, and the environment. Co-existence is beautiful and generative, chaotic and challenging. The fact is, we’re in it together. That’s why we all have to take the climate emergency seriously. To respond adequately to the crisis, we - individuals, institutions, businesses, and governments - must trust the science and bring together our knowledge, creativity, and energy,” said Olafur Eliasson during his appointment ceremony at the Social Good Summit 2019. 

Throughout his career as an accomplished and globally influential artist, Olafur has shown a strong commitment toward fighting climate change and increasing access to renewable energy. As Goodwill Ambassador, Olafur brings a new, creative perspective to the social and environmental issues facing our world today. Using his creativity, he shines a light on the underappreciated yet paramount ties between art, the environment, renewable energy, and climate change. 

Driven by an interest in the way we collectively perceive and co-create our environment through movement and embodied experience, Eliasson has created large installations like The Weather Project, an indoor sun shrouded in mist at Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall in 2003, and The New York City Waterfalls, commissioned by the Public Art Fund and installed along Manhattan and Brooklyn shorelines in 2008. 

Eliasson has explored art’s potential for addressing global issues, including those outlined in the Sustainable Development Goals. In 2012, he founded Little Sun, together with engineer Frederik Ottesen, to replace fossil fuel lighting with solar energy in communities living without electricity and to raise awareness of the need to expand energy access to all. For Ice Watch (2014), Eliasson brought large blocks of glacial ice taken from the sea near Nuuk, Greenland, to the city centers of Copenhagen, 2014; Paris, 2015, on the occasion of the UN Climate Summit (COP21); and London in 2018. Coming into direct contact with these fragments of the disappearing Greenland ice sheet, passers-by could experience the beauty of the melting ice and feel inspired to take action to tackle climate change. 

To showcase the effects of climate change, Eliasson re-photographed glaciers in Iceland which he had previously captured in 1999 for his work The glacier series and presented them together with the old images to reveal the dramatic changes that have occurred over the course of 20 years. 

The ability of the UN to address shared global challenges has long held Eliasson’s interest. In 2015 he co-founded UN Live, a Museum for the United Nations dedicated to catalyzing global efforts towards achieving the goals of the United Nations while inspiring a new generation of global citizens. In addition, Eliasson has participated in many events promoting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), such as UNLEASH – SDG Innovation Lab, in Denmark in 2017, together with then UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner. 

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