Eddie RICH

Eddie Rich was appointed CEO of IHA in 2019.

Since then, IHA has repositioned itself as the global voice of sustainable hydropower and a values-based organisation based on the bold statement that “Going forward the only acceptable hydropower is sustainable hydropower.” He was instrumental in the launch of the Hydropower Sustainability Standard in 2021 and the establishment of the influential Global Alliance for Pumped Storage which is convened by IHA. In 2022, IHA was awarded International Association of the Year.

Eddie is also a co-founder and Vice-Chair of the Global Renewables Alliance. He also chairs the Hydropower Technical Standards Committee of the Global Energy Interconnection Development and Cooperation Organization. And, having helped establish the Hydropower Sustainability Alliance in 2023 – which oversees the Hydropower Sustainability Standard – he now chairs its Supervisory Committee.

Previously, he was deputy head of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) since the international secretariat was established in 2007, including a period as its executive director.

In 2015 he published 'Beyond Governments: Making Collective Governance Work - Lessons from the EITI'.

He has served on the Board of Transparency International UK for over seven years and chairs its international programmes on defence and security, and on global health.  

He has degrees from the University of Oxford and the University of Westminster.

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