Jaco Tavenier graduated as a lawyer in 1984 in the Netherlands (masters, Utrecht) and has a bachelor in Political Science (Amsterdam). He has served the academic community in several functions before he started his career within the Ministry of Water management and Transport in the Netherlands in 1988. He brings with him over 25 years of experience both at the government and United Nations level at increasing levels of responsibility. He is currently working as the Green Growth Coordinator within the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris (since 2016). From 2012 - 2015 he served as senior policy advisor for the Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment in The Hague, the Netherlands. During that period he acted as Alternate GEF Councilmember for the Netherlands, Coordinator within the Ministry of Infrastructure & Environment for Sustainable Development Goals and tasked with the bilateral relations between the Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment and Brazil. From 2007 – 2011 he was Senior Programme officer within United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Regional Office in Europe in Geneva (Switzerland). From 1991 - 2007 he was serving the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning (VROM) in The Hague (The Netherlands) as senior program officer mainly in the International Affairs Directorate.