Professor Dato’ Ir. Dr. Abu Bakar Jaafar, FASc

Prof Dato’ Ir Dr A. Bakar Jaafar, PEng, FIEM, FASc,  a Malaysian, is Research Fellow and Founding Director of UTM Ocean Thermal Energy Centre, and Professor at Perdana Centre, UTM Razak Faculty of Technology and Informatics since 2013.

He was the former Chairman of Malaysian Green Technology & Climate Change Corporation (MGTC) over the period 4 October 2019-31 May 2022.

Currently, he is a leading proponent in Malaysia in the promotion and development of renewable energy projects, including that of ocean thermal energy, as well as in the generation and production of green hydrogen.

Prior to that, he has served the Government of Malaysia in various capacity since 1973, and his career included stints as Factories and Machinery Inspector (1973-74), Staff Engineer of the US EPA Industrial Environmental Research Laboratory (1975-76), Principal Assistant Director (Water Quality), Environment Division, Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment (1976-84) and Economic Planning Unit in the Prime Minister’s Department (1984-85), DOE Director of Operations (1985-86), DOE Deputy Director-General (Planning) (1987-1989), and as the Director-General of the Department of Environment Malaysia (DOE) (1990-1995). After his optional retirement, he continued to serve the Government of Malaysia as the Elected-Member of UNCLOS Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (1997-2002) (2002- 2007) (207-2012), UN Headquarters, New York.

He holds a Bachelor Degree (Hons) in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia, 1973, a Master’s Degree in Environmental Science from Miami University, Ohio, USA, 1976; and PhD in (Marine) Geography from the University of Hawaii, @Manoa, 1984.