Green thoughts from great minds

Professor Dr. Michael Braungart is the founder and scientific CEO of EPEA (Environmental Protection Encouragement Agency). He is also the co-founder and scientific director of McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry in Charlottesville, Virginia and co-founder and scientific manager of Hamburger Umweltinstitut. Braungart studied Chemistry and Process Engineering. In the 1980s, he dedicated his work to the environmental organization Greenpeace and beginning in 1982 helped to establish the chemistry section of Greenpeace International, which he took over in 1985. In the same year he received his Ph.D. from the University of Hannover’s chemistry department. In order to develop solutions for complex environmental problems, EPEA was established by Greenpeace in 1987. Ever since, Braungart has been involved with research and consultancy for eco-effective products i.e. products and production processes in a loop, not only harmless to man or nature, but beneficial. In 1994, he became professor of Process Engineering at Leuphana University of Lüneburg (Germany) and now holds the chair for Cradle to Cradle & Eco-Efficacy.

Andrea Bertaglio is a freelance journalist specialized in sustainability, climate change and environmental topics. He writes for the Italian daily La Stampa, among other publications. In 2007 he worked at the UNEP Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production in Germany, where he understood the deep link between technology, social trends and environmental issues. Since some years is focusing is work on renewables, electro-mobility, green economy, smart cities and innovation.

Professor Dr. Michael Braungart is the founder and scientific CEO of EPEA (Environmental Protection Encouragement Agency). He is also the co-founder and scientific director of McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry in Charlottesville, Virginia and co-founder and scientific manager of Hamburger Umweltinstitut. Braungart studied Chemistry and Process Engineering. In the 1980s, he dedicated his work to the environmental organization Greenpeace and beginning in 1982 helped to establish the chemistry section of Greenpeace International, which he took over in 1985. In the same year he received his Ph.D. from the University of Hannover’s chemistry department. In order to develop solutions for complex environmental problems, EPEA was established by Greenpeace in 1987. Ever since, Braungart has been involved with research and consultancy for eco-effective products i.e. products and production processes in a loop, not only harmless to man or nature, but beneficial. In 1994, he became professor of Process Engineering at Leuphana University of Lüneburg (Germany) and now holds the chair for Cradle to Cradle & Eco-Efficacy.

Marcello Colledani has a degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Polytechnic University in Milan. In 2007 he completed his doctorate in Processing Technologies and Systems, and since 2013 he has been an Associate Professor at the University’s Department of Mechanics. In 2009 he conducted research at the Laboratory for Manufacturing and Productivity (LMP) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His areas of research are stochastic modelling, the analysis of the performance and configuration of production systems, and the development of technology and advanced de-manufacturing systems for the circular economy. Since 2017 he has been the coordinator of FiberEUse, a project that is part of the EU’s Horizon 2020 program. This is for the end-of-life recovery and reuse in industrial applications of Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymers (GFRPs) and Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymers CFRPs). He coordinates the working group on De-and Remanufacturing in the AFIL (Associazione Fabbrica Intelligente Lombardia, the Intelligent Manufacture Association of Lombardy) regional cluster, and in 2020 he coordinated the technical development group for the Lombardy region’s Roadmap for Research and Innovation in the Circular Economy.

A world-renowned economist, Enrico Giovannini is Italian Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Professor of Economic Statistics at the University of Rome Tor Vergata and teaches Public Management in the Department of Political Science as a Senior Fellow at Luiss University in Rome.

Co-founder and current spokesperson of the Italian Alliance for Sustainable Development (ASviS, its acronym in Italian), Giovannini was Chief Statistician of the OECD from 2001 to 2009 and President of the Italian National Institute of Statistics from 2009 to 2013. Between April 2013 and February 22, 2014, he served as Minister of Labor and Social Policies in the Italian government under Enrico Letta.

He has been and still is on the Boards of numerous foundations and national and international organizations. These include the International Labour Organization’s Global Commission on the Future of Work, the Independent Commission for Sustainable Equality (ICSE), the International Expert Working Group and the Canadian Index of Wellbeing, tasked with defining indicators of societal wellbeing.

In April 2020, he was appointed a member of the Committee of Economic and Social Experts established by the Italian Presidency of the Council of Ministers to address “phase 2” of the Covid-19 emergency.

Chris Goodall is an economist working in energy technology and climate change action. He wrote the pioneering How to Live a Low-Carbon Life (2007), Ten Technologies to Save the Planet (2008) and The Switch (on solar power) in 2016. He was recently chair of one of the UK’s leading car charging companies and is involved in several innovative businesses in the green economy. In 2020 he wrote the Wainwright Prize shortlisted book What We Need to Do Now. The website Carbon Commentary, which is part of The Guardian Environment Network, is owned and operated by Goodall. Through Carbon Commentary he publishes a free weekly newsletter on clean energy around the world. Goodall has also contributed a number of articles to “The Guardian”, the “Independent”, and the “Ecologist”, among others.

Joanna Haigh was Co-Director of the Grantham Institute at Imperial College from 2014 until her retirement in 2019. For the previous 5 years she was Head of the Department of Physics. Her scientific interests include radiative transfer in the atmosphere, climate modelling, radiative forcing of climate change and the influence of solar irradiance variability on climate. She has been President of the Royal Meteorological Society, Editor of Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society and of the Journal of Atmospheric Sciences, a Lead Author on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and acted on many UK and international panels.

She is a Fellow of the Royal Society, the Institute of Physics, the City & Guilds and the Royal Meteorological Society and an Honorary Fellow of Somerville College Oxford.  She was awarded the Institute of Physics Charles Chree Medal and Prize 2004, the Royal Meteorological Society Adrian Gill Prize 2010 and appointed CBE in the 2013 New Years Honours.  

CEO and co-founder of wood technology company Modvion. Modvion develops demanding designs made of laminated wood, nature's carbon fibre, for large-scale applications. Wooden designs enable radical reductions in emissions by replacing heavy-emission material such as steel and concrete. Thanks to their patented module system, Modvion has been able to develop wind turbine towers at decreased manufacturing costs and more efficient transportation for installations of tall towers. Modvion’s first tower was installed in the Gothenburg archipelago in April 2020, the first commercial sized tower will be installed in 2022. Enel Green Power and Modvion are in collaboration with the joint vision to bring the next generation of wind power technology to market. Otto Lundman holds a M.Sc. in Entrepreneurship and Business Design and a B.Sc. in Product Development from Chalmers University of Technology, and is furthermore a Commissioned Officer in the Swedish Amphibious Corps.

Louisa Parks is an Associate Professor in Political Sociology at the School of International Studies and the Department of Sociology and Social Research at the University of Trento. Prior to that, she was a lecturer at the School of Political and Social Sciences at the University of Lincoln in the UK.

Her research covers the environment and local communities and how citizens can influence politics and international policy independently from the ballot box, both through targeted campaigns and activism. She published numerous academic papers and two books: Benefit-sharing in Environmental Governance: Local Experiences of a Global Concept, which was published by Routledge this year and which is available in Open Access, and Social Movement Campaigns on EU Policy: in the Corridors and in the Streets, which was published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2015.  

A qualified hydraulic engineer, Emanuele Quaranta is Scientific Officer at the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, following a previous collaboration with the EC in 2017 on emerging technologies in the hydroelectric sector.  

From 2014 to 2019, he worked as a researcher at the Politecnico di Torino, where he completed a research doctorate that won the prize for best Italian thesis in water engineering in 2017. His research relates to hydroelectric power, the water-energy nexus and nature-based solutions. He also collaborates with the International Energy Agency and SINTEF Energy Research on the interaction between hydroelectric energy and fish.  

Quaranta is scientific referee for a variety of international science journals and conferences and a science writer for the publications of various international associations and scientific societies, including the International Hydropower Association, Prescouter, Qual Energia and Solar Power World. He is also the curator of a special edition of the international journal Sustainability MDPI on the future of hydroelectricity.

Virginie Raisson-Victor graduated in History, International Relations and Geopolitics. Since 2008, she has run Lépac, an independent research lab dedicated to geopolitics and foresight studies, co-founded in 1992 with her husband, Jean-Christophe Victor. She used to contribute to the geopolitical programme Le Dessous des Cartes broadcasted on ARTE, and is the co-author of two books based on this programme.

Among numerous publications, Virginie Raisson-Victor also published two books that became references in foresight and data visualisation: 2033, Atlas des Futurs du Monde (Robert Laffont, 2010) and 2038, Les Futurs du Monde (Robert Laffont, 2016).

In 2020, Virginie Raisson-Victor was appointed President of Giec Pays-de-la-Loire, a regional scientific committee in charge of research about climate change impacts. Recently, she also co-initiated Convention21, a French national initiative which brings together 150 private companies and which aims to propose a set of structuring measures enabling companies to actively contribute to reduce both, greenhouse gas emissions and decline in biodiversity in accordance with European and French commitments.

Thauan dos Santos is assistant professor of the Specialist Course in Maritime Studies at the Brazilian Naval War College (EGN) in Rio de Janeiro. He was previously a professor at the Institute of International Relations at the Pontificia Università Cattolica, in the Department of Defense and International Strategic Management at the Università Federale, and the Faculty of Economics at the Università Statale, also in Rio de Janeiro. He heads the Economy of the Sea Group and is a researcher with the Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO) and the Simulation and Scenarios Laboratory.  He completed a research doctorate in Energy Planning at the Istituto Alberto Luiz Coimbra and in Engineering Research and Specialization. He also holds a master’s degree in International Relations and a degree in Economic Science.  Thauan dos Santos is particularly interested in international economic policy, the economy of the sea and related issues, the economy of defense, energy, sustainable development and regional integration, and the achievement of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.  He has been a speaker at various United Nations events and conferences. 

Kadri Simson was appointed European Commissioner for Energy in 2019. Prior to that, starting in 2016, she was Estonia’s Minister for Economic Affairs and Infrastructure. She is a member of the Estonian Centre Party. From 2007 to 2016, she was a member of Estonia’s parliament. From 2009 to 2016, she served as chairman of the Estonian Centre Party, and from 2007 to 2009, the deputy chairman of the National Defence Committee. In 2013, she was elected to the Pärnu City Council and in 2009, she was elected as a member of Tallinn City Council. From 2003 to 2007, she was secretary-general of the Estonian Centre Party. In 2003, she served as a research assistant of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. From 2001 to 2002, she was the Advisor to the Mayor of Tallinn and in 1999, the Advisor of Tallinn City Council. She is a graduate of Tartu Secondary School No. 10. She acquired a degree in History at the University of Tartu and a Master’s degree in Political Science from University College London.

Co-creator of the Ecological Footprint and President of Global Footprint Network, he completed a Ph.D. in community and regional planning at the University of British Columbia and earned a mechanical engineering degree from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.

Mathis has worked on sustainability with governments, corporations and international NGOs on six continents and has lectured at more than a hundred universities. He previously served as director of the Sustainability Program at Redefining Progress in Oakland, California, and ran the Centro de Estudios para la Sustentabilidad at Anáhuac University in Xalapa, Mexico. Mathis has authored and contributed to more than 50 peer-reviewed papers, numerous articles, reports and various books on sustainability.

Mathis’ awards include the 2018 World Sustainability Award, the 2015 IAIA Global Environment Award, 2006 WWF Award for Conservation Merit and 2005 Herman Daly Award of the U.S. Society for Ecological Economics. He was also selected as number 19 on the (En)Rich list identifying the 100 top inspirational individuals whose contributions enrich paths to sustainable futures (www.enrichlist.org).