Green digital skills for sustainable value chains

Luis Neves is CEO of the Global Enabling Sustainability Initiative (GeSI) since 2017. Prior to that, from 2008-2017, Luis held the position of GeSI Chairman. Under Luis' leadership, GeSI has become a globally recognized “thought industry leader” organisation in the field of ICT- sustainability with strong focus on the enabling role and positive contribution of digital technologies to climate protection. Before GeSI, Luis worked at Deutsche Telekom for over 15 years holding positions such as Head of Sustainable Development and Environment, VP of Corporate Responsibility and Chief Sustainability and Climate Protection Officer. Luis has also held positions and played relevant roles at European and international levels in organisations, such as the UN Global Compact Lead Group, Econsense -the German Sustainability Association, World Resources Forum Association and UNFCCC Momentum for Change Initiative. Luis was born in Portugal and obtained a degree in History from the University of Lisbon.

MEP Giarrusso was born in 1974 in Catania. MEP Giarrusso graduated in 1997 in Communication Sciences at the University of Siena. Giarrusso worked as an Italian television personality and played roles in Italian TV series. From 2014 to 2018, he worked as a correspondent for the TV program “Le Iene”, broadcast on Italia 1. He is a MEP since 2019 and a key member of the AGRI Committee where he has been focusing on rural connectivity, precision farming, Smart Villages and the deployment of renewables in rural areas.

Ilias Iakovidis PhD, Adviser, Digital aspect of green transition, European Commission, DG CONNECT Ilias works on EU wide measures and initiatives that aim to improve the energy and material efficiency of ICT. He is also focused on digitalisation for circular economy, in particular, on the digital product passport that aims to accelerate the transition to circular economy. In cooperation with several Commission services and external stakeholders, Ilias works on maximising the benefits of green digital transformation. He has supported the establishment of the European Green Digital Coalition and manages the European Parliament Pilot project supporting this Coalition that is working on science-based methods to estimate the net environmental impact of digital solutions. In cooperation with stakeholders the Pilot project will also develop guidelines for green digital transformation in sectors such as energy, transport, construction, agriculture and others. Before 2017 Ilias was leading the eHealth and ICT for Active and Healthy Ageing units and contributed to the EU Agenda in eHealth for over 20 years. Areas he pioneered include digitally supported Integrated Care; 'Virtual Physiological Human' (digital patient); Personal Health Systems and Electronic Health Records.

Gilda Amorosi works as program manager for the EMEA energy team at Microsoft. She is responsible for EU and national energy policy and relations with stakeholders to support Microsoft’s sustainability commitments on resource efficient and decarbonized datacenters. She is leading on topics such as electricity market design, the energy crisis and grid access and congestion for the team that ensures that Microsoft datacenters have clean power. Previously she worked on energy, climate and sustainability policies at Eurelectric, the European trade association representing the electricity sector where she had several roles, among which leading the team responsible for positioning and advocacy on the Fit for 55 Package. In one of her roles at Eurelectric, she focused on skills, working on a project together with European trade unions to identify skills gaps for the energy transition and build capacity at national level to address it. Before joining Eurelectric in May 2016, she worked as a lobbyist in France and Brussels for two energy companies. She has been an independent consultant and co-founded an electoral committee for an Italian MEP in 2014. Gilda graduated from Sciences Po Paris (2012) with a Master in European Affairs.

Dave Keating is an American-European journalist in Brussels who moderates live events. He is ranked as the number one EU politics social media influencer by ZN Consulting and the second most influential EU observer in 2022, coming third in 2020 and 2021. Before arriving in Brussels in 2010, Dave covered the boardrooms of London, the halls of the US Congress in Washington, the cafes of Paris, the politics of Prague, the courtrooms of Chicago and the streets of New York City. He has also covered climate policy in Berlin. Dave previously covered US politics in Washington. Originally from the New York City area, Dave holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from New York University in film/television and European history. He also holds a Masters of Science in Journalism from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.

João Albuquerque was born on December 25, 1986, in Barreiro, Portugal. Albuquerque holds a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science and International Relations and a Master's Degree in History, Defence, and International Relations. Currently serving as Member of the European Parliament, Albuquerque is Vice-Chair of the Delegation for relations with Brazil, and Member of the Committee on Employment and Social Affairs, the Committee on Fisheries and the Delegation to the EU-Russia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee. He is also a substitute member of the Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, the Committee on Culture and Education, the Committee on Petitions, the Delegation for relations with Mercosur and the Delegation to the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly. Previously, Albuquerque was assistant to the Vice-President of the European Parliament (2019-2022), President of the Young European Socialists (2017-2019), and held political roles in Portugal, namely as advisor the the Minister of Internal Administration of Portugal (2017-2019) and as political advisor at the parish council of Lumiar, in Lisbon (2014-2016). Albuquerque also served as an intern and later policy advisor of the S&D group to the Global Progressive Forum between 2012 and 2014. Albuquerque also had a brief experience at Eupportunity as a Consultant, and worked as a project monitor and communications officer at Galp in (2011-2012). Albuquerque was also the International Relations Officer at Universidade do Algarve (2010-2011) and volunteered as a Face-to-Face recruiter in Amnesty International in 2009. An avid defender of human rights and a strong believer in equality, João Albuquerque has focused his career and political participation on pushing efforts towards ensuring a more equal and fairer society is being built.

Luis Neves is CEO of the Global Enabling Sustainability Initiative (GeSI) since 2017. Prior to that, from 2008-2017, Luis held the position of GeSI Chairman. Under Luis' leadership, GeSI has become a globally recognized “thought industry leader” organisation in the field of ICT- sustainability with strong focus on the enabling role and positive contribution of digital technologies to climate protection. Before GeSI, Luis worked at Deutsche Telekom for over 15 years holding positions such as Head of Sustainable Development and Environment, VP of Corporate Responsibility and Chief Sustainability and Climate Protection Officer. Luis has also held positions and played relevant roles at European and international levels in organisations, such as the UN Global Compact Lead Group, Econsense -the German Sustainability Association, World Resources Forum Association and UNFCCC Momentum for Change Initiative. Luis was born in Portugal and obtained a degree in History from the University of Lisbon.

Luis Neves is CEO of the Global Enabling Sustainability Initiative (GeSI) since 2017. Prior to that, from 2008-2017, Luis held the position of GeSI Chairman. Under Luis' leadership, GeSI has become a globally recognized “thought industry leader” organisation in the field of ICT- sustainability with strong focus on the enabling role and positive contribution of digital technologies to climate protection. Before GeSI, Luis worked at Deutsche Telekom for over 15 years holding positions such as Head of Sustainable Development and Environment, VP of Corporate Responsibility and Chief Sustainability and Climate Protection Officer. Luis has also held positions and played relevant roles at European and international levels in organisations, such as the UN Global Compact Lead Group, Econsense -the German Sustainability Association, World Resources Forum Association and UNFCCC Momentum for Change Initiative. Luis was born in Portugal and obtained a degree in History from the University of Lisbon.

A graduate in Law, Isabel Yglesias holds a Master's degree in European Union Law, a postgraduate degree in CSR and an Executive Master's degree in International Association Management. She is a specialist in antitrust and state aid, an area in which she has worked at the European Commission and as a lawyer in the private sector. Her latest responsibility has been the CEO of EFCI (European Cleaning and Facility Services Industry), the European business organisation for cleaning services, a position she has held from 2018 until the end of June 2022. Isabel Yglesias is also currently chairing the BusinessEurope’s State Aid Working Group.

Michael Kuhndt is the Founder and Executive Director of the CSCP with more than 20 years of experience in the fields of international co-operation, development and sustainability. He has managed impact driven programmes for numerous multinational companies, ministries, European and UN organisations in the fields of strategy development for sustainable supply chains and circular economy, sustainable lifestyles, upscaling of sustainable business models and triple bottom line innovations. He has worked with organisations such as UNEP, UNIDO, Worldbank, ILO, the European Commission, European Environment Agency, World Economic Forum, World Business Council on Sustainable Development, the CCICD, GIZ, the Global Reporting Initiative, the Global eSustainability Initiative, the Wuppertal Institute, triple innova, the European Circular Economy Platform and various other national and international initiatives and networks. In addition, he implemented programmes for numerous multinational companies including the European Aluminium Association, Rewe Group, Metro Group, REAL, PUMA, Henkel, Clariant, Nestlé, Canon, EMI, Hewlett Packard, Nokia, Matsushita, Motorola and Deutsche Telekom. He is member of various international boards and expert groups and has published a range of interviews and articles. Michael Kuhndt studied chemical engineering and environmental management and policy in Germany, Sweden and the USA. Michael Kuhndt is a German national.

An international lawyer specialized in international economic law (investments, trade and development), Christophe Yvetot has worked as university assistant at the Institute of International Economic and Development Law at René Descartes University in Paris (1992-1994) before joining the Intergovernmental Organization of Francophonie (OIF) as Head of the Secretary General’s Cabinet (1994-1998) contributing to reinforce the cooperation with member countries and international organizations. He then joined the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna as Policy Officer (1999-2004) in charge of industry, research and development in the office of the Director General. He then moved to UNIDO where he worked successively as strategic donor relations officer (2004-2018) in headquarters, Representative to the European Union (2008-2018) in Brussels and Representative to Senegal and the Sahel (2018-2023) in Dakar. As UNIDO Representative to the European Union institutions (Commission, Council, Parliament, European Investment Bank) from 2008 to 2018, Christophe Yvetot contributed to strengthen the policy dialogue with various Directorates general of the EC (development, environment, industry, agriculture, climate, consumer protection and research and innovation) and to support international industrial cooperation (local productive jobs, quality and competitiveness, circular economy as well as renewable energy and energy efficiency in industry) in more than hundred developing countries around the world. He has regularly participated in EU bi-regional dialogues with Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean and the Neighborhood to support private sector investments and industrial cooperation. During his time as Representative in Senegal from 2018 to 2023, Christophe Yvetot supported the implementation of the Plan Senegal Emergent including the reform of special economic zones and the review of the industrial policy, investment promotion through modern and attractive industrial infrastructures (industrial parks, agropoles, mining hub) and the transfer of industrial know-how and technologies. Since 2018, with the support of UNIDO, the volume of public investments leveraged has reached an amount of more than $1 billion dollars for Senegal industrial projects. On 6 January 2023, the President of Senegal Macky Sall decorated Christophe Yvetot as Commander of the National Order of the Lion in recognition of his contribution to Senegal’s industrialization.

Giorgia Epicoco is Senior EU Public Affairs Manager at Huawei, responsible for the company’s strategy and advocacy work on social and environmental sustainability in the European Union, focusing on technology for a nature positive agenda and digital skills for a digital Europe. Ms. Epicoco has extensive experience in international cooperation and industrial development. She is specialized in public-private partnerships and corporate social responsibility in the field of sustainability and education and wants to unlock the power of the digital age for sustainable development. Prior to Huawei, Ms. Epicoco worked for the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), where she coordinated global initiatives on the Fourth Industrial Revolution and industrial skills development, and previously in Beijing evaluating the environmental, social, and governance performance of beneficiary countries of the EU’s Generalized Scheme of Preferences. Giorgia Epicoco studied Public Management and Social Development at the Copenhagen Business School, Management Administration at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, and Political Sciences at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan. In 2023, she was nominated Young Energy Ambassador by the European Commission for her contribution to promoting climate change mitigation efforts, including advocating for a clean energy transition, especially through digitalization.

Sevim Aktas is a policy officer at the European Commission's Directorate-General for Climate Action. She founded EU Green Deal Brief, an Instagram account with around 14k followers, to provide accessible and engaging briefings on EU energy and climate topics, as well as career tips for aspiring sustainability professionals. Sevim holds a degree in Energy Engineering from the University of Twente and the University of Oxford. She was born in the Netherlands, grew up in Germany, and her roots are from Turkey.

Paula Byrne is an experienced Corporate Sustainability and EU Public affairs professional with over 15 years experience in the field. She has worked as a Sustainability Director at Samsung Electronics. Paula’s main focus is on sustainable and responsible sourcing in global supply chains. At Samsung Electronics, Paula coordinated the development of the ESG strategy in Europe. She was responsible for responding to European customers and stakeholders' requests and investigations on value chain due diligence and company labor and human rights standards. She conducted research and analysis for global sustainability and procurement teams on risks and internal weaknesses on supply chain due diligence in light of emerging legislation. Paula represented the company with EU stakeholders such as NGOs, the public sector (EU, UN and OECD), customers, ESG benchmarking organizations, and investors. As Director of Sustainability Management and Network at CSR Europe, Paula led the sustainability management and network team, supporting member companies and national partner networks in setting up sustainability impact projects and advising on corporate sustainability strategy and disclosure. Paula's work also included identifying the need for collaboration in manufacturers and logistics companies to address labour conditions of truck drivers on European roads. At CAOBISCO, Paula created multi-stakeholder partnerships on sustainable and responsible sourcing in global supply chains (cocoa, palm oil, and hazelnuts) and engaged with European institutions, producer country governments, research institutes, universities, retailers, and NGOs. She also chaired the working group to define the requirements for traceability of sustainably produced cocoa and oversaw the creation of a Public Private Partnership in the Turkish hazelnut sector with the ILO to address child labor and access to education for migrant workers and their families. As a Corporate Sustainability expert, Paula is committed to helping businesses achieve their sustainability goals and identifying new opportunities for collaboration and impact.

Alessandro Gropelli is ETNO’s Deputy Director General and Director of Strategy and Communications. He joined ETNO in 2013 and he is an expert of tech and telecoms policy. Alessandro is also a Member of the Board and the Treasurer of GeSI, the Global e-Sustainability Initiative. Prior to joining ETNO, Alessandro was European affairs advisor at Vodafone Group and vice-chairman at m-commerce working group of GSMA Europe. In 2010, he worked in the Brussels team of Telecom Italia. In 2009, as public relations officer at the European Parliament, he implemented the information campaign for the 2009 European Elections in Northern Italy. He holds an Executive MBA from Copenhagen Business School (2021). He graduated in public management from Bocconi University in Milan (2009) and did an exchange at the Hitotsubashi University of Tokyo (2008). He also completed Executive Education courses at the MIT (Leadership, 2018) and Berkeley Haas (Negotiations, 2016). Alessandro speaks English, French and his native language is Italian.

Diane Mievis leads strategic public policy for Cisco in the European Union, including sustainability, telecoms regulation, and trade policies. Diane started at Cisco in May 2021 and is based in Brussels. She has over 12 years of diverse experience across government and technology public affairs. Prior to joining Cisco, she held various positions in both the public and private sectors, including at DIGITALEUROPE as Director of Policy and Global economic affairs, and at Samsung as a Senior Manager. She's currently DIGITALEUROPE’s Vice Chair of the Green Deal Working Group.

Antoine Larpin is Director for EU Policy at VMWare - the provider of multi-cloud services for all apps, enabling digital innovation with enterprise control. Antoine leads on EU public policy (including digital and sustainability policies) helping VMware to become the modern, multi-cloud SaaS company. Prior to joining VMware, Antoine has developed expertise in public affairs at both national and EU level. He has sound experience in the fields of digital technologies having advised a broad range of organisations in this sector. His experience includes working at the French House of Representatives (Assemblée Nationale), EDiMA (the European Digital Media Association), FTI Consulting, Panasonic. Antoine is Vice-Chair of DigitalEurope’s Digital Transformation Policy Group, Advisory Board Member of the EU Common Data Space for Skills (DS4S), and co-founder of FFTech, Brussels’ network for the French community working in EU digital policies. In addition, Antoine has been Vice-Chair of Japan Business Council in Europe’s Digital Innovation Committee (2018-2021). He has also been Chair of DigitalEurope’s Digital Consumer Policy Group (2015-2018) and Vice-Chair of the ICT Taskforce of the British Chamber of Commerce in Belgium (2008-2012).

Georg Houben is Policy Officer at the EU Commission’s Directorate General for Energy (DG ENER) since 2010, where he is responsible for Smart Cities & Communities, the Smart Cities Marketplace, the Covenant of Mayors and the Covenant of Companies. Georg is involved in urban matters since 2011, being a proof for his enthusiasm for the urban context and the relevance of this area for most major EU policies. The Covenant of Companies is the latest addition to his portfolio, linking his local level work to the SME focus of the project.

Jean-Manuel Canet, Senior Manager, is in charge of Sustainable Development in Orange Consulting, a Consulting Branch of the Orange Group. He has developed an expertise in the assessment of the environmental impact of ICT products, services and organizations. He has led numerous projects to assess and reduce GHG emissions related to IT, for customers such as the European Parliament, France Télévisions or Zurich Financial Services. In the ITU-T Study Group "Environment and Climate Change", he serves as vice-chairman of the working party “ICT and Climate Change” and Rapporteur of the “methodologies” question. Jean-Manuel has been strongly involved in the preparation of the participation of the Orange Group in the COP 21. He is a member of the Advisory Panel of the UNFCCC “Momentum for Change” initiative. He also leads projects developing public and private MOOCs (Massive Online Open Courses), using the Orange Solerni platform. Jean-Manuel graduated from Télécom ParisTech and the MBA Programme of the “Collège des Ingénieurs”. He holds a certificate in carbon accountancy from the French National Agency for Energy and Environment.

Phoebe Koundouri is Professor at the School of Economics and Director of Research laboratory on Socio-Economic and Environmental Sustainability – ReSEES at the Athens University of Economics and Business, Professor at the Department of Technology, Management and Economics at Denmark Technical University, Director of the Sustainable Development Unit (SDU) and the EIT Climate-KIC Hub Greece at ATHENA Information Technology Research and Innovation Center, President of the European Scientific Association of Environmental and Natural Resource Economists (EAERE), Member of the World Academy of Arts and Sciences (WAAS), Member of the Academia Europae, Member of the Nominating Committee for the Nobel Prize in Economics Sciences. She is also Chair of the UN SDSN Global Climate Hub, co-chair of SDSN Europe & SDSN Greece, Member of the National Climate Change Committee of Greece, of the Ministry of Energy and the Environment, Member of the writing team of the Pissarides Report (10 year Greek Development Plan) and President of the Alliance of Excellence for Research and Innovation on Aephoria (AE4RIA). Prof. Phoebe Koundouri included in the 1% of most-cited women economists in the world, with 15 published books and more than 500 published peer reviewed scientific articles. Prof. Koundouri acts as a scientific advisor to the European Commission, World Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, OECD, UN, NATO, WHO, as well as national governments around the world, and has directed more than 100 research projects.

Marianna De Luca (Rome, 1966), a senior expert in industrial relations and collective bargaining, is currently in charge of trade union relations at e-distribuzione, the Enel Group company that manages the distribution networks in Italy. Chair of the Eurelectric Social Dialogue Task Force and Vice-Chair of the Electricity Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee established among the social partners of the sector at the European Commission. The Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee signed in 2021 a joint declaration on Just Transition and has recently launched a project on the skills needed in the electricity sector to accelerate the transition towards a net-zero emission economy. Author of publications on industrial relations and collective bargaining has been a professor of labor history and industrial relations at the Faculty of Economics of the Catholic University of Milan.

Frank Siebern-Thomas is Head of Unit of the “Fair Green and Digital Transitions, Research” unit in the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, in charge of policy development and analysis related to the employment and social dimensions of the green and digital transitions (e.g. Council Recommendation on ensuring a fair transition towards climate-neutrality) and links with the European research & innovation programme Horizon Europe. He has worked in different departments of the European Commission, including on employment and social analysis and research, economic policy coordination, competitiveness, internal market and industrial policy, social dialogue, sustainable development and international relations. Before joining the European Commission, he worked in reinsurance. He studied applied mathematics and economics at the University of Hamburg and UCLouvain and holds a Ph.D. in economics from the European University Institute, Florence.

French State Civil Engineer by education, Hélène Chraye graduated then in Economics and Public Law at Sciences – Po / Paris. After a stay in the French Administration to build the Energy Observatory and then on State Aids to the industry, she joined the European Commission and worked successively on various domains of the European Transport policy: Inter-modality, Trans-European Networks, Single Sky, as well as dealing with enlargement to 12 new member states. After a few years as Head of Operations in the EU Delegation to Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine, she joined DG RTD where she built the European Research Council Executive Agency and then managed financially and legally the EU programme NMBP, part of FP7 and H2020. She later on revamped the EU policy on materials and nanotechnologies, also designing the new European system of materials innovation testbeds. Since 1St June 2019, she is heading the unit in charge of designing and implementing the European Research policy for Clean Energy Transition and is also Deputy Director for the Directorate Clean Planet.

Professor Saifur Rahman is the founding director of the Advanced Research Institute at Virginia Tech, USA, where he is the Joseph R. Loring Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. He also directs the Center for Energy and the Global Environment at the university. He is a Life Fellow of the IEEE and an IEEE Millennium Medal winner. He was the president of the IEEE Power and Energy Society (PES) for 2018 and 2019. He is the founding editor-in-chief of the IEEE Electrification Magazine and the IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy. He has published more than 160 journal papers and has made more than 500 conference and invited presentations. His h-index is 60 with over eighteen thousand citations. In 2006, he served on the IEEE Board of Directors as the Vice President for Publication Services and Products. He is a distinguished lecturer for IEEE PES and has lectured on renewable energy, energy efficiency, smart grid, energy internet, blockchain, and IoT sensor integration in more than 30 countries. He is the founder of BEM Controls, LLC, a Virginia (USA)-based software company providing building energy management solutions. He served as the chair of the US National Science Foundation Advisory Committee for International Science and Engineering from 2010 to 2013. His research at Virginia Tech has been funded by Duke Energy, Tokyo Electric Power Company, the US National Science Foundation, the US Department of Defense, the US Department of Energy, and the State of Virginia. He has a PhD in electrical engineering from Virginia Tech.

Giorgia Epicoco is Senior EU Public Affairs Manager at Huawei, responsible for the company’s strategy and advocacy work on social and environmental sustainability in the European Union, focusing on technology for a nature positive agenda and digital skills for a digital Europe. Ms. Epicoco has extensive experience in international cooperation and industrial development. She is specialized in public-private partnerships and corporate social responsibility in the field of sustainability and education and wants to unlock the power of the digital age for sustainable development. Prior to Huawei, Ms. Epicoco worked for the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), where she coordinated global initiatives on the Fourth Industrial Revolution and industrial skills development, and previously in Beijing evaluating the environmental, social, and governance performance of beneficiary countries of the EU’s Generalized Scheme of Preferences. Giorgia Epicoco studied Public Management and Social Development at the Copenhagen Business School, Management Administration at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, and Political Sciences at the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan. In 2023, she was nominated Young Energy Ambassador by the European Commission for her contribution to promoting climate change mitigation efforts, including advocating for a clean energy transition, especially through digitalization.