Speakers

• Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker
  Co-Chair, UNEP Resource Panel & Takeda Prize Laureate
  
  Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker has been founder and president (1991-2000) of the Wuppertal Institute and member of the Club of Rome since 2001. Since 1966 he is member of the SPD. Between 1998 and 2005 he was member of the German Parliament. He received the Takeda Award in 2001. In 2005 he was appointed dean of the Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he served until end of 2008. In 2008 he was awarded the German Environmental Award.
  Von Weizsäcker has authored several influential books on the environment, including "Factor Four: Doubling Wealth, Halving Resource Use" and "Limits to Privatization". Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker holds the Co-Chair of the UNEP Resource Panel.

• Dennis Meadows
  President, Laboratory for Interactive Learning & Japan Prize Laureate
  
  Dennis Meadows is Emeritus Professor of Systems Management of the Institute for Policy and Social Science Research at the University of New Hampshire. He has been a corporate board member and a consultant for government, industry and non-profit groups in the U.S. and many countries abroad. He co-founded the Balaton Group, a network of ca. 300 professionals in over 30 nations involved in systems science, public policy and sustainable development. Meadows has been a system thinker for most of his life. He has written or co-authored 10 books on systems, futures, and educational games, which have been translated into more than 30 languages. The most famous of the books he has authored or co-authored is "Limits To Growth", the 30-year update of which was published in 2004.

• Timo Mäkelä
  Director, Directorate G. DG Environment, European Commission
  
  Timo Mäkelä is Director – Sustainable Development and Integration – at the DG Environment of the European Commission. His present responsibilities include sustainable development and economic analysis, sustainable production and consumption - including waste management, environmental research, science and innovation policies as well as environmental policies for the industry.

• Bruno Oberle
  Director, Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN)
  

   

  Bruno Oberle is Director of the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN). He studied biology and environmental sciences at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, then completed additional education in political economy and pedagogy and did a doctorate at the ETH Zurich. Since 1980 he has been active in the area of environmental management and environmental protection. As an advisor he supported the public administration and businesses on technical and strategic issues concerning environmental protection. For several years he was a lecturer in the Department of Environmental Sciences at the ETH Zurich. From 1999 to 2005, Bruno Oberle served as Vice-Director of the former Swiss Agency for the Environment, Forests and Landscape (SAEFL), with responsibility for technical environmental protection. With effect from 1 October 2005, he was appointed by the Federal Council as Director of SAEFL. With effect from 1 January 2006, he was appointed by the Federal Council as Director of the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN).

• Ashok Khosla
  Co-President, Club of Rome & President IUCN

   

  Ashok Khosla is one of world's leading experts on the environment and sustainable development. A former director of the United Nations Environment Programme, he was awarded the 2002 Sasakawa Environment Prize - "the Nobel Prize of the environment world" - and has been named in the UNEP's Global 500 Roll of Honour. Recently he has been elected by the International Union of the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to be its president for 2008-2012. He has served as a former director of the United Nations Environment Programme, the World Conservation Union and the International Institute for Sustainable Development; and advisor to the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme and the Indian government. Ashok Khosla is Co-President of the Club of Rome.

• Gary Gardner
  Senior Researcher, Worldwatch Institute

  Gary Gardner is a Senior Researcher at the Worldwatch Institute, an environmental research organization based in Washington, D.C. He has written on a broad range of sustainability issues, from cropland loss and water scarcity to malnutrition and bicycle use. Gary contributes regularly to Institute publications, including State of the World, Vital Signs, and World Watch magazine. He is the author of the 2006 book Inspiring Progress: Religions' Contributions to Sustainable Development. Gary holds Master's degrees in Politics from Brandeis University and in Public Administration from the Monterey Institute of International Studies. He earned his Bachelor's degree from Santa Clara University in California.

• Friedrich Schmidt-Bleek
  Director, Factor 10 Institute
  

   

Professor Friedrich Schmidt-Bleek is founder and Director of the Factor 10 Institute. The Factor 10 Institute has been created to provide practical support for achieving significant advances in sustainable value creation, in particular through increases in resource productivity throughout the economy. From 1992 bis 1997 together with Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker he headed the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy. Schmidt-Bleek is considered an authority on the topics of "resource productivity" and "dematerialization". In 1994 he came up with the concept of the "Ecological rucksack" and in 1998 he developed the unit Material-Input per Service Unit (MIPS) as a measure for the assessment of environmental impacts of a product. Schmidt-Bleek is author of numerous books and publications. He is member of the Lindau Group.

• Paul Ekins
  Professor, Department of Geography, King's College London
   
  Professor Paul Ekins was a prominent member of the UK Green Party in the 1970s and 80s. In 1996, he set up Forum for the Future with Sara Parkin and Jonathon Porritt. From 2003-2007 Ekins was on the UK Government’s Sustainable Energy Policy Advisory Board. He is a Co-Director of the UK Energy Research Centre, in charge of its Energy Systems and Modelling theme, and leads King’s College’s involvement in large research consortia on Bioenergy and Hydrogen. He is member of the Lindau Group.

• Marina Fischer-Kowalski
  President, International Society for Industrial Ecology; Chair of the Scientific Board of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research & Member UNEP Resource Panel
  

   

  Marina Fischer-Kowalski is professor of social ecology at Klagenfurt University and director of the Vienna based Institute of Social Ecology at the Faculty for Interdisciplinary Studies (IFF). She is, inter alia, president of the International Society for Industrial Ecology (ISIE), Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Potsdam Institute of Climate Impact Research (PIK) and member of the UNEP panel on the sustainable use of resources. She published several books on social and environmental issues, and 250 scientific articles in books and journals.
  

• Friedrich Hinterberger
  Founding President, Sustainable Europe Research Institute
  

   

  Hinterberger studied national economics at the Johannes-Keppler University Linz. Since 1985 he had been teaching at universities both in Austria and abroad. From 1993-2000 he headed the working group "Ecological Economics and Ecological Economical Policy" at the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy. 1999 he founded the Sustainable Europe Research Institute in Vienna. Hinterberger is board member of the Austrian Chapter of the Club of Rome. His main work areas are Ecological Economics, Scenarios for sustainable economies and societies, and Quality of Life Research.

• Wolfgang Lutz
  Leader of the IIASA World Population Program 
  

   

  Wolfgang Lutz,  is leader of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis's (IIASA) Population Project since 1992. He is also director of the Vienna Institute of Demography of the Austrian Academy of Sciences since 2002. He holds an association as adjunct professor for demography and social statistics at the University of Vienna and served as a Secretary General for the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP) for the period 1998-2001. He has written/edited 19 books and more than 120 scientific articles and book chapters.
  

• Wouter van Dieren
  Director, Institute for Environment and Systems Analysis (IMSA)

   

  Wouter van Dieren is Director of the Institute for Environment and System Analysis (IMSA) in Amsterdam, a leading European think-tank and consultancy on sustainability and innovation. Since 1968 he has been engaged in world environmental activities in the field of management, science, media and politics. His landmarks include a series of 21 environmental films, produced for World Wildlife Fund, Dutch Television, BBC and others. Among the eleven book titles he has published is the Report to the Club of Rome "Taking Nature into Account" (1995), about the need to correct the GNP for environmental losses. As a science-editor he has written hundreds of articles for the general and specialized media in different countries. He has been awarded with several prizes and honorary functions for his pioneering work in the field of environmental management and sustainability policies.

• Martin Lees
  Secretary General, The Club of Rome

   

  After some years as a manager in industry, Martin Lees joined OECD where he managed programmes on Cooperation in Science and Technology and on Innovation in the Procedures and Structures of Government. Among others he served at the United Nations in several capacities, including Executive Director of the Financing System for Science and Technology for Development. In 1982, he was appointed Assistant Secretary General. During this period he was responsible for the establishment of the InterAction Council of former Heads of State and Government becoming its Executive Director. From 1991–1996 he developed and implemented programmes of cooperation with the Newly Independent States of the Former Soviet Union as Director General of the International Committee for Economic Reform and Cooperation. Since 1995, he has been Moderator of the International Advisory Board of the Toyota Motor Corporation. From January 2001 to April 2005 he was Rector of the University for Peace of the United Nations in Costa Rica, guiding its revitalization and launching eight Masters programmes on issues of peace, security and sustainable development. He was elected to the post of Secretary General of the Club of Rome in September 2007 with effect from January 2008.

• Anders Wijkman
  Former Member of European Parliament & Member of EU Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

   

  Anders Wijkman belonged to the Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats is Member of the European Parliament. He sat on the European Parliament's Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety. He is also a substitute for the Committee on Development, a member of the delegation to the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, and a substitute for the delegation for relations with the United States. Wijkman is Member of the Club of Rome and of the International Factor 10 Club.

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  Aromar Revi
  Director, Indian Institute for Human Settlements

   

  Aromar Revi is a researcher, international consultant and practitioner with extensive inter-disciplinary experience in public policy, development, technology and sustainability. He is a founding Director of TARU, a leading South Asian research consulting firm and has lectured and taught widely in India and the West. He has been a senior advisor to various ministries of the Government of India, including the national Planning Commission and consulted with a wide range of multilateral and bilateral development institutions including the World Bank, UNEP, UNU and DFID.

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  Faye Duchin
  Dean, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

   

  Faye Duchin is a Professor of Economics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York. She worked closely with Wassily Leontief and helped to develop input-output analysis, and is active in the field of ecological economics. Duchin is a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Industrial Ecology, and has held this position since the journal's founding in 1997. She was formerly the president of the International Input-Output Association, from 2004 to 2006. Duchin authored or co-authored thirty-three publications between 1973 and 2005. Her most recent book is Structural Economics: Measuring Change in Technology, Lifestyles, and the Environment. Her current research areas are household lifestyles and models of the global economy.

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  Zhouying Jin
  Professor of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS); Director of Center for Technology Innovation and Strategy Studies (CTISS) of CASS

   

  Zhouying Jin is a senior researcher and professor of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS); Director of Center for Technology Innovation and Strategy Studies (CTISS) of CASS. She is Chairman and founder of Beijing Academy of Soft Technology, Chairman of The Future 500 (China) and Director of Beijing Center for The Future. In the recent fifteen years she led more than 20 important projects whereof 15 projects were asked by central government, ministry, Chinese academy of social sciences, or international organizations. She had been in charge of the Strategy Research for the Nation’s S863 Plan, organized a cross-discipline team to led the project of ”Long-term strategy integration and sustainable development” asked by CASS, National strategy for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Evaluation of Nation’s High-Tech Research & Development Plan, Assessment for The Breakthrough Project, Service innovation and NGO organizations in China, Strategic Management and institutional innovation on Coal bed Methane industry, Green Car Development Guideline and Environmental policy in China, Environmental strategy for transnational Auto companies, etc.

• Bernd Meyer
  Professor, Department of Economics, University of Osnabrueck

   

  Bernd Meyer is Professor for Macroeconomics at the Department of Economics at the University of Osnabrück. Meyer is Academic Director of the "Gesellschaft für Wirtschaftliche Strukturforschung mbH (GWS)". He is one of the founding members of the Lindau Group. Meyer is concerned about increasing international competition for ever-scarcer resources. In his 2008 book being translated into English “Costing the Earth? Perspectives on Sustainable Development” he develops the beginnings of solutions to problems in the political economy, and discusses alternative paths of action that could be taken in Europe, in Germany and internationally. Since 2005 he has been Expert Reviewer of the "Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change" (IPCC).

• Dajian Zhu
  Professor, Department of Economics and Management Tongji University, Shanghai

   

  Dajian Zhu is a policy advisor for Shanghai and several municipal and provincial governments and involved in several important research projects of national level and international organizations from UNDP et al. He is Professor and Head of the Department of Management Science and Engineering, Head of Research Center of Sustainable Development and Governance, and vice director of the Institute of Urban Development and Management, at the Tongji University in Shanghai, China. His research interests include circular economy and sustainable development, eco-innovation，urban and regional development, public-private partnership and policy analysis. He has published three books and more than 150 papers and articles on circular economy, sustainable development, urban governance and public policy.
  

• Harry Lehmann
  General Director, Environmental Planning and Sustainability Strategies German Federal Environmental Agency
   
  Harry Lehmann was once part of Schmidt-Bleek’s team at the Wuppertal Institute, and since 1998 he has been Member of the Factor 10 Club. Since 2001 he has been the Managing Director of the Institute for Sustainable Solutions and Innovations (ISUSI), Aachen/Germany.  He is member of the Lindau Group. Harry Lehmann is currently General Director in the Division for Environmental Planning and Sustainability Strategies of the German Federal Environmental Agency (UBA) in Dessau near Berlin, Germany.

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  Alessandro Galli
  Senior Scientist, Global Footprint Network

   

  Alessandro works in the Research and Standards Department, contributing to research on the Ecological Footprint methodology and technical publications. His research focuses on the analysis of human dependence on natural resources and ecological services through the use of sustainability indicators and environmental accounting methods. Currently, he is working as a consultant with the EAD (Environment Agency Abu Dhabi) on the Al Basama Al Beeiya (Ecological Footprint) Initiative. Alessandro holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Sciences from the University of Siena in Italy.

•  Stephan Bringezu
  Director, Material Flows and Resource Management
  Wuppertal Institute & Member UNEP Resource Panel
  

   

  Stefan Bringezu is head of the research group Material Flows and Resource Management at the Wuppertal Institute. This research group investigates material flows from extraction of raw materials through to final disposal, taking account of the global "ecological rucksack" model as well as the land use involved. It develops concepts, strategies and instruments to improve resource productivity and sustainable resource management from the regional and sectoral levels to the international level.
  At the WRF 2009 Stephan Bringezu is also a representative of the UNEP Resource Panel, which is one of the Partners of the WRF.

• Hans-Peter Egler
  Head, Trade Promotion Economic Cooperation and Development , Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs

  Since 2001 Hans-Peter Egler is the head of the Trade Promotion, Economic Cooperation and Development Section at the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO. Previously he was responsible for investment promotion measures and export financing in Latin America, Asia and Africa. From 1992 to 1994 he was deputy coordinator in the coordination office of the Directorate for Development and Cooperation SDC in La Paz, Bolivia. Fom 1990 to 1992 he worked within the then Federal Office for Foreign Economic Affairs (BAWI), and was responsible for bilateral economic relations between Switzerland and Latin America. He holds an degree in economics and business administration from the University of Berne.

• Stefan Giljum
  Head, Research Group Sustainable Resource Use SERI
  
  Stefan Giljum holds an interdisciplinary master in “Human Ecology and Environmental Economics” and a PhD in "Social Ecology" in Vienna. He was visiting scholar at the Universidad de Chile in Santiago and at the University of Keele, UK. Since 1999, he is working as a researcher at the Sustainable Europe Research Insitute (SERI) in Vienna. Since 2007 he is head of the SERI research group "Sustainable Resource Use". He works and publishes in the areas of physical accounting (in particular, material flow analysis), economic-environment modelling, international trade, environment and development.  

• Klaus Fichter
  Founder and Director, Borderstep Institute for Innovation and Sustainability
  

   

  Klaus Fichter was from 1993 to 2000 head of the research field “Corporate Environmental Management” at the Institute for Ecological Economy Research (IOEW) in Berlin, where he published on the Environmental Management and Audit System (EMAS) and cost calculation methods. The emphasis of his research nowadays is upon innovation management, the development of sustainable future markets and the creation of sustainable innovations. Recently he has studied the energy consumption of data centres. Klaus Fichert is Founder and Director of the Borderstep Institute for Innovation and Sustainability, Berlin (of which Dr. Willy Bierter is also a member). He is Associate Professor at the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg and is on the board of directors of the Oldenburg Center for Sustainability, Economics and Management (CENTOS).

• Walter Ammann
  President, Global Risk Forum Davos
  

   

  Walter Ammann is founder of The Global Risk Forum (GRF) Davos which is a newly established international organizationwhich aims at serving as a Center of Excellence in knowledge and know-how exchange, transfer and application. GRF Davos wants to address the variety of risks that face communities, from natural hazards to technical and biological risks, from pandemics to terrorism – all across different political institutions, national and international organisations, countries and business sectors.

• Junko Edahiro
  Chief Executive of Japan for Sustainability
   
  Junko Edahiro is one of Japan’s leading advisors and communicators in the field of sustainability. She has translated dozens of books in the field (while authoring several of her own), including books by Al Gore, Lester Brown, and Alan AtKisson, while authoring several bestselling books of her own. She appears frequently on Japanese television, and currently advises the Prime Minister on possible futures for a post-carbon society. Edahiro is the founder of Japan for Sustainability, a prominent NGO that keeps the rest of the world informed about what is happening in Japan on environment and resource-related matters. Currently she consults to corporations and government agencies through Change Agent, Inc., a consultancy specializing in change and systems thinking for sustainability.

• Yi-Heng Cheng
  CEO of Kunshan Quanta K&M Consulting and Shanghai Planck Microtech Co. Ltd.
  

   

  A Doctor of Chemical Engineering graduated from Karlsruhe, Germany, Yi-Heng Cheng worked in various field of Product Management, Sales & Marketing, Technical Service and General Management for BASF Group Companies in Germany, Singapore, Hong Kong and China. He was last in charge of implementation of Responsible Care Program and Sustainable Development for BASF in Asia Pacific, before moved to CEO of Knauf Asia. He was chairman of chemical associations in Singapore (SCIC) and Hong Kong (AICM). Now he is a joint owner of Quanta Consulting and Planck Microtech offering knowledge management in R&D, production and EHS for chemical enterprises in China. Next to producing and trading fine chemicals, he is also promoting and applying Microtechnology to achieve higher chemical yield, safer operation, better selectivity and thus lesser wastes, on petro and coal base as well. Besides, he also works with Friedrich Schmidt-Bleek to introduce MIPS as well as Resource Productivity Concept into China. He is at the same time an expert advisor to Chinese National Productivity Center.

• Stephanie Weis-Gerhardt
  Founder, 4links-consulting
  

   

  Not to be accused by her son for inaction re the ongoing destruction of the life maintaining eco-systems services Weis-Gerhardt became an activist and a Green politician in the early 1980s. From the late 1990s onwards she helped building up an operative foundation from scratch focusing on resource productivity. Her main field of expertise today is bring together people to collaborate on SD, networking, facilitating, consulting, and linking up people. She is an active member of international informal and formal networks.

• Christian Lutz
  Managing Director and Head, Research Group "Energy and Environment", Institute for Economic Structures Research
  
  Christian Lutz is managing director and head of the research group “energy and environment”at GWS, Institute for Economic Structures Research, in Osnabrueck, Germany. He is working in the field of construction and application of economy-energy-environment models. He has been consultant to government, industry and non-profit organizations. His research interests include sustainable development, energy and environmental policy and the application of multi-regional input-output models to analyze global resource flows.

• Holger Rohn
  Managing Director, Trifolium; Consultant, Sustainable Production and Consumption, Wuppertal Institute
  
  Holger Rohn is the Managing Director of the sustainability consultancy Trifolium (www.nachhaltigkeit.de). He has been working as a consultant for the research group Sustainable Production and Consumption at the Wuppertal Institute since 1994. Amongst others, he is member of the Club of Wuppertal e.V. - Forum for sustainable middle-sized companies, the Factor 10 Innovation Network, the national working group further education within the UN-Decade „Education for Sustainability“, works as a lecturer for „Instruments for sustainability management“ and „Resource efficiency of products and services“. 

• Mathias Onischka
  Project Coordinator, Sustainable Production and Consumption, Wuppertal Institute
  
  Mathias Onischka has been working as a project co-ordinator in the research group Sustainable Production and Consumption at the Wuppertal Institute since 2007. This research group develops instruments, concepts and strategies to promote the transition to more sustainable patterns of production and consumption. His current research covers the following topics: sustainable finance, influence of climate change to financial markets, demography & sustainable finance and public finance & sustainability.

• Michael Lettenmeier
  Project Coordinator, Sustainable Production and Consumption, Wuppertal Institute
  
  Michael Lettenmeier works as a project co-ordinator in the research group Sustainable Production and Consumption at the Wuppertal Institute. He worked as self-employed consultant in the field of resource-efficiency in Finland from 1992 to 2007, has published several books on resource-efficiency in Finnish, is member of the Factor 10 Innovation Network and received the sustainability award of the Kesko retail corporation in 2006. His scientific activities cover the following topics: resource-efficient consumption and production, MIPS and eco-efficiency with a focus on systems like transport or private households, sustainable household consumption, sustainability indicators, Local Agenda 21, waste prevention and policy, education and training on resource-efficiency.
   

• Michal Miedzinski
  Senior Consultant, Technopolis Group
  
  Michal Miedzinski is senior consultant at Technopolis Group in Brussels. His focus is on analysing innovation and regional development policies in Europe. One of his main areas of interest is environmental dimension of innovation process. He recently co-authored a report on eco-innovation in the framework of the Sector Innovation Watch study financed by the European Commission. His doctoral research at University of Manchester is on effects of long-term strategic policy planning processes related to sustainable development agenda. Michal was a long-standing member of the Think Tank 30 of the Club of Rome.
   

• Barbara Schausberger
  Development Manager, Iglo Austria GmbH
  
  Barbara Schausberger holds a diploma in food- and biotechnology from the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences in Vienna, where she graduated in 1997. She participated in the MSc programmes Food Marketing and Plant Biotechnology at Wye College, University of London in 1994 and 1995 as a guest student. She commenced her R&D career in clinical research at Eli Lilly GmbH in 1997 until 2001. Since 2001 she is head of the development department at Iglo Austria GmbH and responsible for product development of frozen food (predominately vegetables, ready meals, and fish) with the objective to achieve nutritional goodness and to apply sustainable production methods through innovative product and process design.

• Hubert Rhomberg
  CEO, Rhombergbau AG
  
  Hubert Rhomberg is CEO of the Rhombergbau AG. With a holistic approach the Rhomberg company is active in the fields of construction, railway technology and resources thereby the not only applying sustainable principles but setting standards. This account includes the entire life cycle of buildings, infrastructure and human resource and includes resource efficient processes. Numerous awards from the "Family Business Vorarlberg" (2007) on the "VCÖ Mobility Award" (2004 and 2006) up to the "Best Workplaces in the Construction Industry" (2005) attest to the fact that it is this holistic view, which contributs to the entrepreneurs successs. Hubert Rhomberg complements its operational activities through active participation in research projects (BRIX, Home of the Future, LifeCycle Tower) and his work as a lecturer on the subject resource productivity, mobility and Sustainable Business.

• Bas de Leeuw
  Head, Integrated Resource Management, Sustainable Consumption and Production Branch,
  United Nations Environment Programme
  
  Bas is Head, Integrated Resource Management, of the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Sustainable Consumption and Production Branch, based in Paris, France. He is Head of the Secretariat of the International Panel for Sustainable Resource Management (Resource Panel) (www.unep.fr/scp/rpanel), which currently is chaired by Prof. Ernst Ulrich von Weizsaecker. Bas has worked in several assignments for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) between 1998 and 2009, based in Paris, France. With a young team of diverse nationalities he initiated various programmes and initiatives, in particular UNEP’s Sustainable Consumption Programme (http://www.unep.fr/scp/sc/), the Advertising Initiative, YouthXchange, SC.net, the Life Cycle Initiative, and he set up the UNEP/Wuppertal Institute Collaborating Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production. He was instrumental in promoting and designing the “Marrakech Process”, aimed at building an international ten-year framework of programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production.