Before joining UNDP, Christian co-led the work on resilience and adaptation in the Climate Action Summit Team of the Executive Office of the Secretary-General. Prior, as Head of Development Cooperation at the German Embassy in Mongolia, he coordinated cooperation on economic development, energy, and biodiversity. As Deputy Head of the Environmental Division of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) he negotiated finance at UN Convention on Biological Diversity COPs and was closely involved in negotiations related to the Sustainable Development Goals. He has worked as a lawyer in Berlin, studied in Trier and Paris, and holds a PhD in International Environmental Law. He has also held positions with the German Federal Foreign Office, a law firm in New York, and UN Environment in Nairobi.