Loa is committed to helping humanity thrive within planetary boundaries by building bridges between environmental ambition and economic reality. With a career spanning the non-profit and for-profit sectors, she focuses on cross-sector collaboration to drive systemic change. As director of FSC Denmark, she expanded the organisation’s membership and significantly increased public awareness of sustainable forestry. Loa also helped lead FSC’s digital transformation to enable data-driven solutions. Today, she’s working at FSC International with over 70,000 companies to accelerate the transition toward circular, regenerative business models that can shape a more resilient and sustainable future.
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Marcelo Thomé da Silva de Almeida
President
Federação das Industrias do Estado de Rondônia (FIERO)
Marcelo advocates for innovation, economic growth, community inclusion and forest conservation, building a sustainable Brazilian industry especially in the Amazon. He currently holds several roles, also as Vice-President of CNI, leading their thematic council on environment and sustainability (COEMAS); Executive Director of the Amazônia+21 Institute; board member of the Center for Bioeconomics of the Amazônia (CBA); member of the Guidance Committee of the Amazon Fund (COFA) and the Brazil Climate Finance Hub Council; and several regional leadership roles. He has a bachelor’s in architecture and urbanism from Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) and is a post-graduate in business management from Fundação Getulio Vargas.
Janez Potočnik (born 1958) is an economist graduated from the Faculty of Economics at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. He was appointed head of the negotiating team for the accession of Slovenia to the EU and served as minister responsible for European Affairs. Between 2004 and 2014, he served in the European Commission, first as Commissioner responsible for science and research and then for environment. After the mandate he was appointed as a co-chair of UNEP IRP. Dr Potočnik is also a partner at SYSTEMIQ.
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Mauricio Mireles
Policy Officer
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
A Mexican national, Mauricio Mireles has served at the FAO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean since 2019. He previously worked with FAO as an international consultant in Italy, Ghana, Mozambique and Brazil. A sociologist and anthropologist by profession, he holds a master's in environmental security from the UN University for Peace, and a master's in peace, development, security and international conflict transformation from the University of Innsbruck, Austria. Mireles has extensive experience in issues related to the social inclusion of Indigenous peoples and traditional communities, having coordinated diverse projects and initiatives related to South-South cooperation, social protection, school meals, family farming and the Amazonian bioeconomy.
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Liisa Folkersma
Counsellor, WTO
Permanent Mission of Finland in Geneva
Career diplomat at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland, Liisa is passionate about sustainable development. Currently, she focuses on sustainable trade, the circular economy, dispute settlement, trade rules and trade in goods at the WTO. Her previous positions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland include deputy head of mission at the Embassy of Finland in Vietnam and regional manager for Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan. Earlier, she worked at UNICEF Brazil, UN Women Brazil and Southern Cone, and Akava, the Confederation of Unions for Professional and Managerial Staff in Finland.
Giuliana Morrone combines journalism with business expertise and doesn't treat ESG as merely the sum of the environmental, human and governance practices adopted by companies. She has a long history of interacting with leaders from all sectors in Brazil and abroad, covering the most varied topics including presidential elections, corruption scandals, environmental tragedies and social movements. Her experience, broad outlook and ability to connect the dots between different fields are essential for approaching the subject from a systemic perspective. With an MBA in ESG from PUC Rio, Giuliana has rewritten her own professional journey and authored the book ‘Myths and Truths about ESG’.
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Al-Hamndou Dorsouma
Division Manager Climate and Green Growth
African Development Bank (AfDB)
Al-Hamndou Dorsouma leads AfDB’s efforts on climate change in Africa, including policy and finance, building climate resilience and low carbon opportunities into the bank’s investments, as well as supporting the bank’s engagement in the green transition and the circular economy. Dr Dorsouma’s academic background is in geography and environmental management. He also worked for other international organisations, namely the Observatory of Sahara and Sahel (OSS) in Tunis as environment and climate change officer and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in Geneva as senior programme manager for resource mobilisation and development partnerships.
Cynthia is a Costa Rican economist with over 25 years’ experience in environmental economics, public policy and sustainability. She is a specialist in cost-benefit analysis, climate change, the circular economy, bioeconomy and environmental assessment. She is vice-chair on OECD committees, coordinator of Costa Rica's Inter-Ministerial Committee on Circular Economy, and country chair of the G100. Previously, Cynthia has served as environmental economics coordinator at the Ministry of Environment and Energy and held technical and leadership roles in key institutions such as the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (INEC), Costa Rican Institute of Electricity (ICE) and Tropical Science Center (CCT). Recognised for her academic publications, she promotes creativity, consensus-building and a just transition.
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Priscila Rocha
Director of Department of Sustainable Development
Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo (FIESP)
Alongside her work at FIESP, Priscila Rocha is also global head of sustainability and ESG at Volkswagen Trucks & Bus. She has over 23 years’ experience in the area, having previously worked in companies in the pulp and paper sector (Fibria/ Suzano), chemical sector (3M) and the defense of collective interests (FIESP). She has a master’s in health, sustainability and environment from the School of Public Health at USP, chemical engineering from the Federal University of São Carlos and specialisation in business management and ESG from the University of Cambridge. Priscila is also a guest professor of the postgraduate course in ESG at Senac.
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Lucas Ramalho Maciel
Director New Economy
Ministry of Development, Industry, Trade and Services of Brazil (MDIC)
Lucas Ramalho Maciel is a public policy and government management specialist with over 18 years' experience in formulating and implementing strategic policies. He took part in the Lula government's transition team, contributing to the re-creation of the ministry (MDIC) and the creation of the Secretariat for Green Economy, Decarbonisation and Bioindustry. He led the area of social innovation and was one of the creators of the national impact economy strategy (Enimpacto), which significantly expanded impact investments in Brazil. In addition to Enimpacto, he is responsible for the national circular economy strategy and the Green Seal Brazil programme, a certification system for products and services aligned with sustainability and ESG criteria.
