Josefien van de Ven is an environmental scientist at heart. Moving through different roles and organisations, varying from government positions to management consultancy and finance, she has always been focused on adding more sustainability to our way of life. Circularity is a key factor in achieving this. In her newest position her focus is on helping to create a common story on the circular economy and adding sustainability that will resonate both internationally and nationally in the changing world we find ourselves in.
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Daniel Martín-Montalvo Alvarez
Head, Clean and Circular Economy
European Environment Agency (EEA)
Daniel has dedicated the last 20 years to environment and climate policy, mainly with a European Union focus. He began in environmental consultancy, followed by regulatory work in Spain's industrial sector. Later, he joined the European Commission, focusing on industrial policy within the Directorate General Environment. Currently, Daniel leads a team at the EEA, working on the transition to a circular economy and zero-pollution goals.
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Zsolt Kükedi
Member
European Economic and Social Committee (EESC)
Zsolt Kükedi is a Hungarian environmental expert in local economic development, community sustainability, resource management and environmental concerns. In 2009, he joined the Sustainable Development and Resources Research Group, disseminating findings on resource depletion. Establishing the “Canticle of the Sun” care for creation association in 2011, he bolstered local communities in Hungary in environmental stewardship. From 2012 to 2014, he contributed to Hungary's economic planning, devising development schemes for the seven-year EU term. His focus areas included economic growth, energy investments, innovation and regional development.
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John Wante
Advisor Environment Policy
Cabinet of the Belgian federal minister of environment
John Wante is advisor on environment policy for the Belgian federal minister of Environment, Climate, Sustainable Development and Green Deal. He works on product policy, the circular economy and critical raw materials. Before that he worked as policy officer with OVAM, the Flemish Public Waste Agency, on waste and materials policy, on the regional, federal, European and international level. His educational background is chemical engineering.
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Rikarnto Bountis
Senior Technical Advisor
European Recycling Industries' Confederation (EuRIC)
Rikarnto Bountis joined EuRIC in October 2020. He has a bachelor’s in environmental engineering from the Polytechnic University of Patra and a master’s in waste and resource management from the University of the West of Scotland. After completing his studies, Rikarnto worked in the energy sector for a British consultancy, and then joined amfori, the leading global business association for open and sustainable trade, as an environmental expert. At EuRIC, he is managing technical issues that emerge from the interface between waste, chemicals and product legislation as well as relevant reference documents. The legislative files followed by Rikarnto include the production, collection and end of life treatment of ferrous and non-ferrous metals as well as waste electrical and electronic equipment.
Born in Pamplona/Iruña in 1980, Uxue Itoiz has a degree in biology from the University of Navarre. She also has training in the use and management of geographic information systems, group facilitation and conflict resolution. From 2016 to 2021, she worked on the promotion of the Navarre agency for territory and sustainability, Lursarea. In this field, she managed projects to promote sustainable territorial development based on public-private partnerships. She has promoted cooperation between local, regional and European administrations and is an expert in sustainable mobility. Uxue has also participated in projects focusing on the use of biomass as an energy source and wood for high-rise construction. She has supported the local action groups of Navarre in projects that promote the circular economy and energy transition.
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Vidyadhar Rane
General Secretary
Alang Sosiya Ship Recycling & General Workers’ Association
Vidyadhar V. Rane is a staunch believer in a free, independent and democratic trade union movement. He is the founder of the pioneering union of shipbreaking workers in India. He has been working in the organised sector as well as in the unorganised sector since 1989. He is a member of the Bipartite Wage Negotiation Committee constituted by the ministry of shipping of India to revise the wages and service conditions of port and dock workers of major ports. Rane has been instrumental in organising shipbreaking workers in India. The union of shipbreaking workers at Alang, in Bhavnagar district of Gujarat has under his leadership done excellent work for the welfare of the members and their families. Since 2023, Rane has been instrumental in establishing his union as a partner with the ILO in a project called “Promoting OSH in Alang ship recycling and downstream industry”. He is also vice chair of IndustriALL’s shipbuilding and shipbreaking sector.
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Jocelyn Blériot
Executive Lead, Policy and Institutions
Ellen MacArthur Foundation
Jocelyn Blériot has been with the foundation since its creation in 2010, after 15 years spent in the media and publishing industry. He leads the organisation’s institutional engagement and the work with national governments across the foundation's offices in Europe, Latin America, China and North America. He manages the relationship with supra-national bodies such as the European Commission, United Nations, G7/20 Resource Alliance, OECD and the World Economic Forum. Jocelyn has been a member of the circular economy advisory board of the China Council for International Cooperation on Development (CCICED) and currently is a part of the international advisory network of the forum on Trade, Environment and the SDGs (TESS).
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Oliver Boachie
Special Advisor to the Minister
Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology & Innovation, Ghana
In his position, Oliver Boachie is coordinating Ghana’s transition to the circular economy and facilitating collaboration among stakeholders within government, academia and the private sector, to develop policies for sustainable management of the environment. He is Ghana’s National Focal Point for the Inter-governmental Negotiation Committee (INC) of the Global Treaty on Plastics Pollution, and he is co-author of the proposal for a Global Plastics Pollution Fee (GPPF) as a means of implementation provision in the current draft of the Global Plastics Treaty.
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Zakia Khattabi
Minister of Climate, Environment, Sustainable Development and Green Deal
Belgium
Zakia Khattabi became a politician in 2009. Her parliamentary work has mainly been devoted to the justice, home affairs and equal opportunities committees. In 2015, Khattabi was elected co-president of her party, a role she held for five years before being appointed to her current ministerial post in 2020. Khattabi believes that the triple crisis we are facing (climate, loss of biodiversity and pollution) is not just an environmental issue: it is the social issue of this century because it hits the most vulnerable amongst us hardest, even though they are the least responsible for this crisis. In her view, the transition is therefore an imperative of social justice. Moreover, it also constitutes an economic, financial and public safety issue. As Belgian federal minister, she regularly took on the role of EU negotiator on crucial issues at international conferences on climate and biodiversity.