Meet the speakers

‍Frans Timmermans
Executive Vice President of the European Commission

Frans Timmermans was born May 1961 and is a Dutch politician and diplomat who currently serves as the First Vice-President of the European Commission and the European Commissioner for the portfolio of Better Regulation, Inter-Institutional Relations, Rule of Law and Charter of Fundamental Rights in the Juncker Commission since 1 November 2014. Timmermans previously worked in the Dutch Civil Service (1987–1998), as a member of the House of Representatives for the Labour Party (1998–2007; 2010–2012), as Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs charged with European Affairs (2007–2010) and as Minister of Foreign Affairs (2012–2014). 1995-1998 he served as a Senior Advisor and Private Secretary to the High Commissioner on National Minorities of the OSCE, Max van der Stoel and 1994-1995 as a staff member for EU Commissioner Hans van den Broek. In 1993 and 1994 Timmermans worked as deputy head of the Minister for Development Cooperation’s EC Affairs Section, 1990 and 1993 as the Deputy Secretary of the Dutch embassy in Moscow. 1987-1990 he served as Policy Officer in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 1984-1985 he had postgraduate courses in European Law and French Literature at the University of Nancy. 1980-1985 he achieved a degree in French language and literature, Radboud University Nijmegen. Timmermans is married with four children.

Clara De La Torre
Deputy Director General of the Directorate General for Climate Action, European Commission

Since 1 September 2019, Clara de la Torre has held the post of Deputy Director General in the Directorate-General for Climate Action in the European Commission.

Prior to her current appointment, her professional career focussed on research and innovation policy. She had been Director for Transport in the Directorate-General for Research & Innovation from 2016 to 2019.

Previously, starting in 2014, she was responsible for Key Enabling Technologies, following a 3-year appointment as Director in the field of Innovation.

In her first post as a Director, from 2008 to 2010, she was in charge of inter-institutional and legal matters related to the Framework Programme at the European Commission.

In the late 1990s, she dealt with National Research Policies and Intergovernmental Cooperation. She worked at the EU Joint Research Centre in Brussels and Seville, where she was Advisor to the Director of the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies.

Before joining the European Commission, she had spent some years in the private sector.

Clara de la Torre has a degree in Economics and Business Administration from the Universidad Autónoma of Madrid.

Wireko Andrew Awuah is a medical student of Sumy State University, Ukraine. He holds a Diploma in International Law and Global Governance with the International Business Management Institute, Berlin, Germany. He is currently serving as an Editorial Board Member of the Harvard Public Health Review, and 4 other reputable journals in the UK, Canada and India. He also serves as an ambassador for over 20 European, Canadian and UK medical conferences and over 10 other reputable social networks. His immense contributions to scientific research works and Sustainable Development has earned him huge reputation globally and also won him reputable awards like the best International Medical Student Award of Sumy State University.

Tjebbe Boersma is a Life sciences student in Leiden working on his Master's degree. Helping as a vaccinator in the Dutch vaccination program and working to connect people and ideas to fight climate change via his Climate Pact Ambassadorship.

Arian Feigl-Berger is a climate justice activist based in Halle an der Saale. She is mainly active at the citizen initiative HalleZero which aims to bring her city down to zero emissions by 2030. HalleZero provides a local strategy to maneuver out of the climate crisis. Not only do they leave no one behind but encouraging every citizen to create their climate neutral city providing high live quality. Arian Feigl-Berger is also active with the Students for Future, planning education programs for the one-world network of Saxony Anhalt, doing audio visual media production and writes her bachelor thesis about communication of the climate crisis. Her goal is to create a save and healthy world for everyone for now and for the future.

Julius Fischer is Country Coordinator of the Climate Pact in Germany. He currently works for ifok GmbH in Berlin, a sustainable change consultancy. He holds a Master’s degree in Leadership and Organization for Sustainability from Malmö University and a Bachelor’s degree in European Studies from Maastricht University. Additionally, he gained experience in project management and stakeholder engagement in a consultancy for social start-ups in Berlin and a non-governmental organization in Medellín, Colombia. His mission is to create value-based conditions that enable to systemically challenge the status quo and achieve a sustainable social and ecological impact.

Emanuel Heisenberg is founder and CEO of ecoworks, a start-up that digitises and industrialises renovation to enable the housing and construction industry to decarbonise the building stock. Prior to ecoworks, he founded and managed start-ups in the renewable energy sector. Emanuel Heisenberg advises the German government in heat and decentralised energy policies and has published a number of articles on energy policies. He holds a Master’s degree from Cambridge University.

Recent publication: Georg Diez, Emanuel Heisenberg, Power To The People, Wie wir mit Technologie die Demokratie neu erfinden (Hanser 2020)

Luciana Miu is an Associate Researcher at the Energy Policy Group and a founder of the European Youth Energy Network, an emerging organization whose mission is to empower youth to engage with the European energy transition. Prior to the Energy Policy Group, she worked for the UK Government and Climate-KIC, and held a number of voluntary positions including Vice-Chair of Sponsorship at the 2019 International Student Energy Summit. Luciana has delivered keynote interventions on youth in energy, including the 10th Clean Energy Ministerial, the 2020 European Sustainable Energy Week and the launch of the European Climate Pact. She holds a PhD in energy efficiency from Imperial College London.

Dario Nardella is Mayor of Florence. He began working for the City Council of Florence in 2014 and in 2009 was re-elected as Councillor. He was a member of Mayor Matteo Renzi’s cabinet, with responsibility for Economic Development and Sports. He was briefly Deputy-Mayor in the months before taking office as Mayor in 2014. In 2012 he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies. He holds a Degree in Law and a PhD in Public Law and Environmental Law from the University of Florence.

Since November 2020, Mayor Nardella is President of Eurocities, the network of major European cities.

Dr. Kimberly Nicholas is Associate Professor of Sustainability Science at Lund, Sweden’s highest-ranked university. Born and raised on her family’s vineyard in Sonoma, California, she studied the effect of climate change on the California wine industry for her PhD in Environment and Resources at Stanford University. Since then, she has published over 50 articles on climate and sustainability in leading peer-reviewed journals, and her research has been featured in outlets including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, USA Today, Buzzfeed and more. She has also been profiled in Elle and The Guardian, and gives appearances at around 50 lectures each year, such as the recent Climate Change Leadership summit. She is the author of the popular science nonfiction book UNDER THE SKY WE MAKE: How to be Human in a Warming World (Putnam/Penguin Random House, March 2021).

In her research, she studies the connections between people, land, and climate. Her goal is to understand how to steward ecosystems to support a good life for everyone alive today, and leave a thriving planet for future generations.

Her current research projects include a collaboration with the Municipality of Lund to radically reduce climate pollution; The Takeoff of Staying on the Ground, studying the flight-free movement in Sweden; and using digital communication to improve traveler satisfaction with public transport. She recently concluded a five-year investigation of sustainable food systems in Europe, including the first comprehensive mapping of €61 billion of annual public spending under the Common Agricultural Policy.

She serves as Director of PhD Studies at the Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies (LUCSUS). She has taught courses in the LUMES masters' program including Earth Systems Science, focused on climate science and solutions; Rural Systems and Sustainability; Quantitative Methods in Sustainability Science; and Writing for Change. She has mentored over 30 masters' students, as well as half a dozen PhD students and several postdocs.

Joris Overmeer is the country coordinator for the Netherlands. He was a board member at two Dutch youth climate organisations, the Youth Climate Movement Netherlands (Jonge Klimaatbeweging) and Young Friends of the Earth Netherlands (Jongeren Milieu Actief). As a board member at these organisations, Joris worked on a better representation of Youth in the Dutch Climate debate by talking to politicians and policymakers and on campaigns for climate justice (e.g. the court case against Shell). More recently, Joris worked within the European Commission on the European Climate Pact and is currently one of the two focal point on SDG 13: Climate Action in the Netherlands on behalf of the Youth Climate Movement Netherlands.

Pietro Rigonat is a consultant who currently holds the position of European Project manager at LOBA (Portugal) and of Chief Operating Officer at Oxigen (Italy). In the past, he worked at the “Central Directorate finances, assets, coordination and programming of economic and community politics” of the Italian Autonomous Region Friuli Venezia Giulia. Namely, at the Department of European Territorial Cooperation Service, State aids and general affairs, supporting the Managing Authority of Interreg V-A Italy-Slovenia 2014-2020 programme.

Anastasis Stamatis is the co-founder and CEO of Dataphoria, using data science for sustainable development and social impact. He has been volunteering for the environment ever since he finished school, being one of the two National Coordinators of “Let’s do it Greece”, which in 2019 mobilized more than 119,000 people all over Greece to act for the environment in a single day. He is the incoming Curator at the Global Shapers Athens Hub, where he co-led "Athens Climate Lab", a series of inclusive workshops uncovering the climate change system in Athens. He is also a mentor at the Tipping Point, sharing his experience on the environment and climate change with students all over Greece.

Gilles Tisserand is the Head of Sustainability Transformation at Tetra Pak Europe & Central Asia as well as the Marketing Director at Tetra Pak France & Benelux, the world's leading food processing and packaging solutions company. In his role he is leading the sustainability agenda in Europe through the development and deployment of low carbon portfolio solutions as well as driving the company's climate and biodiversity agenda in this region. Prior to joining Tetra Pak, he worked for L'Oreal and the French Ministry of Economy (Business France). He holds masters in Political Sciences, Economics and Sustainability.

Elisha Winckel is the Climate Pact Ambassador for Youth and Environment Europe, the largest independent European network of environmental youth organizations. He has been advocating for better youth participation in decision-making processes since his time as President of the Luxembourgish Youth Parliament. A former UN Youth Delegate, he continues to strive for a greener planet, and is politically engaged for a more just society. Elisha is currently enrolled in a Master in Sustainable Development at the KU Leuven, while working part-time as a creative strategist at neon marketing technology. His engagement and work taught him about the strength of grassroots organising and the importance of using digital tools to bring about societal change.

Sofie Winge-Petersen, 22, Denmark. Member of the Danish Youth Climate Council: Bringing new thinking into Danish climate policy and provides inputs to the Minister on the climate solutions of the future. Studying Process & Innovation engineering at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). Co-founder of a climate startup improving packaging of paint and a Global Shaper (youth impact organization from World Economic Forum).

Raluca Văduva is Country Coordinator for the Climate Pact in Romania. She currently works for denkstatt Romania, a leading consultancy company in Central and Eastern Europe. Her main areas of expertise include environmental assessments, sustainability reporting, hydrological hazards and urban planning. Raluca has experience in research and teaching activities and she is also Teaching Associate at West University of Timisoara. Her current research project is focused on environmental conflicts. She holds a PhD in civil engineering from Politehnica University of Timisoara.