Keynote Speakers

Keynote address

16 September, 09:45 -10:45

Janez Potočnik, UNEP Environment International Resource Panel

Keynote session 1: POLICY FOR GREEN TRANSITION

16 September, 11:15 – 12:30

Jan Dusík, Deputy Director-General for Climate Action, European Commission

Eva Bille, Head of the Circular Economy, European Environmental Bureau

Keynote session 2: SUSTAINABLE AND CIRCULAR BUSINESS MODELS

17 September, 09:00 – 10:30

Rupert Baumgartner, Institute of Environmental Systems Sciences, University of Graz

Thomas Lindqvist, International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics, Lund University

Thomas Perianu, Global Business Development Director, SUEZ Digital Solutions

Petr Dovolil, Member of the Presidium, Czech Business Council for Sustainable Development

Keynote session 3: FINANCING SUSTAINABILITY

17 September, 14:00 – 15:30

Blanka Svobodová, Tribe Leader Corporate Strategy & Financing, Komerční banka

Ulrich Volz, Centre for Sustainable Finance, SOAS University of London

Keynote session 4: SUSTAINABILE CONSUMPTION

18 September, 09:00 – 10:30

Halina Szejnwald Brown, Clark University

Philip J. Vergragt, TU Delft / Clark University

Melanie Jaeger-Erben, Brandenburg University of Technology

Janez Potočnik

Ten years after the launch of the first EU Circular Economy Action Plan, Dr. Janez Potočnik – former European Commissioner for the Science and Research and later for Environment, when he proposed the first circular economy package in EU policy space in 2014 – delivers a keynote address that reflects on a decade of policy evolution and implementation. Drawing on his extensive experience at the forefront of EU environmental and economic policymaking, he will explore the milestones that shaped Europe’s circular agenda, assess its real-world impacts on policy and industry, and share lessons learned from both successes and persistent barriers. Looking ahead, Dr. Potočnik will place the circular economy within the broader context of the resource management, green transition, climate and biodiversity goals, and global competitiveness—emphasizing the urgent need for systemic change to accelerate circularity as a driver of sustainable, resilient societies.

Jan Dusík

The European Commission has placed the circular economy at the heart of its modernisation and investment agenda. Already for the past decade, circularity has been a headline political objective, from the circular economy and plastics strategies developed under the Juncker Commission, to the world-leading ban on the most important single use plastics. Under President Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission adopted a new circular economy action plan (CEAP) in March 2020, as one of the main building blocks of the European Green Deal. The EU’s transition to a circular economy will reduce pressure on natural resources and will create sustainable growth and jobs. It is also a prerequisite to achieve the EU’s 2050 climate neutrality target and to halt biodiversity loss.

Now, under the mandate of the second von der Leyen Commission, the Clean Industrial Deal outlines concrete actions to turn decarbonisation into a driver of growth for European industries, creating quality jobs and the right conditions for companies to thrive. A key element of the Deal is circularity, which aims to reduce waste and extend the life of materials by promoting recycling, reuse, and sustainable production. Maximising the EU’s limited resources and reducing overdependencies on third-country suppliers for raw materials is crucial for a competitive and resilient market.

Eva Bille

The European Environmental Bureau is the largest network of European environmental civil society organisations, with more than 190 members in 41 countries, together representing more than 30 million individual members. The organisation’s secretariat is based in Brussels and follows EU environment policy very closely. The intervention will cover current changes and developments in the EU’s environmental/sustainability policy, noting the shift from the previous to the present Commission, in terms of content, consultation and the “new” darling “competitiveness”.

With the increasing geopolitical tensions allegedly forcing the Commission’s hand towards focusing on simplification, and boosting European competitiveness, what is the future of the Green Deal? From the perspective of sustainable consumption a lot of good things are being implemented and important initiatives are under preparation. But to what degree will past present and future initiatives, through omnibuses or otherwise be watered down? The intervention will interpret the political context and provide the civil society perspective on due process, transparency and regulatory protection.

Rupert Baumbartner

In today’s turbulent world, characterized by war, geopolitical crises, polarized societies, the digital revolution and the global sustainability crisis, established routines and practices in politics, society, and business are under constant challenge. To navigate these complexities, new approaches in management are essential. Sustainability strategies and sustainable business models emerge as potential solutions, offering a path forward for managing effectively in this dynamic environment. Enhancing positive externalities for society and nature while reducing negative impacts can increase a firm´s resilience. A sustainability-driven purpose serves as the foundation for a transformation of companies towards sustainability. The use of digital technologies can support the development and implementation of corporate sustainability strategies and sustainable business models.

Thomas Lindhqvist

Prof. Thomas Lindhqvist will situate his talk in the broader context of growing environmental challenges and the urgent need for sustainable resource management. Policy instruments such as Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) were introduced to shift environmental costs back to producers and promote circular economy principles. However, despite these efforts, significant hurdles remain in achieving meaningful product innovation and environmental impact reduction. He will reflect on the development of producer-consumer schemes, highlighting current strengths and weaknesses and how they could be improved. The talk will explore why EPR has not delivered the expected product changes, and what role design and innovation can play in minimizing environmental impact. It will also address systemic limitations and the need for stronger support from public authorities.

Thomas Perianu

Thomas Perianu has over 25 years of international experience in general management, strategic planning, business development and project management within the infrastructure, utility, and environment sectors. In the past decade, he has focused on delivering real-time, predictive Internet-of-Things and data analytics solutions to assist water utilities in their digital transformation journey. His work has helped improve regulatory compliance, revenue management, energy efficiency, and network leak reduction, while also addressing floods and enhancing customer engagement and satisfaction. He worked in Singapore and Bangkok where he managed complex infrastructure deals, including a desalination plant and various industrial water and energy projects across Asia. He has a solid understanding of concessions, Build-Operate-Transfer schemes, and other Public-Private Partnership business models. Thomas holds a degree in Business Administration from ESCP Europe, a leading business school in Europe.

Petr Dovolil

Petr Dovoli, Vice President of the Czech Business Council for Sustainable Development (CBCSD) brings more than 23 years of experience in public policy, regulation, institutions, public procurement, and sustainability. He has extensive expertise in infrastructure projects financed from EU sources, EU policies, international contractual standards, PPP, as well as Czech private and public law.

Over the past decade, he has contributed to numerous investment projects and technical assistance initiatives of the EBRD, the European Commission, and the EIB in the field of green transition, both in the Czech Republic and abroad, across the water, transport, energy, waste, and building sectors. Currently, his work focuses on broader issues of sustainable development, the green and digital transition, and compliance with ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) standards, including the EU Taxonomy, sustainability due diligence (climate, environmental, and social), sustainable public procurement, and financing sustainability in the EU.

Blanka Svobodová

Blanka Svobodová serves as the Tribe Leader for Corporate Strategy & Financing at Komerční banka, a member of the Société Générale Group. She brings over 25 years of in-depth banking experience, primarily in the corporate business segment. Leveraging her strong background in client communication and her previous role as Deputy Executive Director for Top Corporations, Blanka plays a key role in shaping strategic direction for the corporate sector.

A core focus of her leadership is the development of new value propositions and client services, with a commitment to promoting sustainable development and streamlining the corporate customer journey for greater efficiency and simplicity. She is dedicated to supporting innovative, sustainable solutions and enhancing advisory services that go beyond the boundaries of traditional banking.

Ulrich Volz

Prof. Ulrich Volz will reflect on how finance can become a powerful lever for tackling today’s climate and sustainability challenges. He will address the role of financial systems in supporting the transition towards greener and more resilient economies, and the importance of aligning capital flows with long-term environmental and social goals. Drawing on his extensive experience advising governments, central banks, and international institutions, he will share insights into the opportunities and challenges of mobilizing global capital for climate action. He will also consider the governance reforms needed to align finance with the goals of the Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Halina Brown and Philip Vergragt

Government policies on environmental protection and climate change lag greatly behind the growing understanding of the system of production-consumption. Technological solutions are insufficient for what is largely a social-political problem. In high-consuming countries the structure of the economy, the dominant institutions, power relations, and cultural understandings of good life must change as well.

The barriers to such changes are great. Entrenched power relations, wealth inequalities, economic interests, existing infrastructures, and cultural norms all work against changing the status-quo. The power elites resist change while the cause of sustainable consumption does not have a clear political champion. 

We urgently need to undertake a society-wide conversation about sustainable consumption and lifestyles and about the future of consumer society. Our forthcoming book Vocabulary for Sustainable Consumption and Lifestyles: a Language for our Common Future seeks to curate a common language that will stimulate and enable such conversation. Drawing on its 87 essays, we will offer the building blocks, the entry points, and the broad boundaries for such a conversation.

Melanie Jaeger-Erben

Are we still consuming — or are we being consumed? Digitalised consumer worlds feed off our attention, time, and desires, transforming our bodies into sources of data and labour for an economy that thrives on manufactured needs and instantiation. Even so-called sustainable strategies often reproduce the same logic: reducing us to efficient consumers or productive machines, sidelining bodily diversity, care, and lived realities. This keynote draws on feminist and decolonial perspectives to argue for a radical shift: from sustainable consumption to subsistence, from optimisation to autonomy. It puts a focus on initiatives that reclaim time, space, and skills through do-it-yourself and care-based practices, which resist the extractive pull of consumer culture. A research agenda is outlined that reclaims sufficiency, relational care, and embodied regeneration as vital pathways out of the consumerist spiral.