On December 14, 2012, the 9th board meeting of UNEP-Tongji Institute of Environment for Sustainable Development (IESD) was held in Beijing. Members of the Board, Prof. WANG Guangtao, Director of Environment and Resource Conservation Committee of NPCC and Chairman of IESD Board, Prof. WAN Gang, Vice Chairman of CPPCC, Minister of Ministry of Science and Technology of China (MoST), Mr. Achim Steiner, Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of UNEP, Mr. ZHENG Guoguang, Administrator of China Meteorological Administration (CMA), Prof. WU Qidi, Member of Standing Committee, National People’s Congress of China, Mr. MENG Wei, President of Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Science, Mr. Johannes M. Dietsch, President of Bayer Group, Greater China, Prof. XU Jianmin, China's National Satellite Meteorological Center, Dr. Young-Woo Park, Regional Director and Representative for Asia and the Pacific of UNEP, Prof. PEI Gang, President of Tongji University, Prof. WU Jiang, Vice President of Tongji University and Dean of IESD, Prof. DAI Xiaohu, Dean of  College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Prof. LI Fengting, Deputy Dean of IESD and Deputy Dean of College of Environmental Science and Engineering of Tongji University attended the meeting.

This year is the ten-year anniversary of IESD. Dr. Klaus Toepfer, the chief professor of IESD and former Under-Secretary-General of the UN and former Executive Director of UNEP, congratulated IESD on the achievements it made in the last ten years through video messages. Prof. WAN Gang and Mr. Achim Steiner made opening remarks. They recognized the important position of IESD in promoting the concepts and practices of sustainable development and expressed their expectations for the future of IESD. Then, the Renewal Cooperation Agreement between UNEP and Tongji was signed by Mr. Steiner and Prof. PEI Gang.

Prof. LI Fengting introduced the progresses of IESD’s work in 2012 and Prof. WU Jiang introduced the work plan of IESD in the next five years. The IESD 2012 annual report and 2013-2017 work plan were approved. Also, board members gave their advice on the areas for improvement for IESD, including: facilitating the development of sustainability-oriented university; expanding and deepening cooperation with government sectors and other organizations; providing more opportunities for students to learn the operations of private sectors as well as government sectors; making more researches on issues related to sustainable development to facilitate the South-South cooperation. And under the instructions of Prof. WAN Gang, IESD will be built into the base of international cooperation of MoST. 

At this meeting, President PEI Gang of Tongji University presented the Certificate of Vice Dean of IESD to Dr. Park, and awarded Dr. ZHANG Yutian, former representative of Ministry of Environmental Protection to UNEP, with the adjunct professor certificate. Prof. DAI Xiaohu, Dean of College of Environmental Science and Engineering of Tongji University was nominated as the new member of the board, as the successor of Prof. ZHOU Qi.