Nature

Anis is an economist with a specialisation in resource economics and behavioural economics. He leads the portfolio of activities on the circular economy of the World Economic Forum.

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Chen Xiaoting brings a wealth of expertise to the UK-based foundation’s Beijing office, where she leads their plastic initiative as well as policy and climate work in China. With a PhD in sustainability economy from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Chen has over 17 years’ invaluable experience across the public and private sectors, specialising in public policy, international environmental and climate governance as well as cross-sector collaboration.

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Silvia is an architect with a master’s in natural resources management. With over 15 years’ experience in the construction market, she has honed her expertise across Latin America. She is a leader of the Green Building Market Transformation Program (GBMTP) in Latin America, responsible for strategy and implementation of the programme in Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Brazil. Experienced in green buildings and EDGE certification, she engages with private sector developers, industry associations, financial institutions, government and international cooperation agencies. Her focus on decarbonising the built environment and promoting the expansion of green and resilient buildings underscores her commitment to sustainable development.

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Eric is the country representative for the WRI in Rwanda and leads the country’s circular food systems initiative. He has over a decade of experience in climate finance, sustainable development and policy engagement across Rwanda and beyond. In his current role, he leads strategic partnerships and supports national efforts to integrate climate and circular economy approaches into development planning. He also works with MSMEs to embed circular economy principles into their business models. Eric holds a master’s in sustainability and circular bioeconomy and is passionate about inclusive, systems-based solutions for climate resilience and green growth.

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Chris’ vision is to drive a just transition to a circular economy for Africa, addressing sustainable impacts and outcomes in energy, water, agriculture, infrastructure, mining, manufacturing and tourism that result in positive benefits for the environment and social upliftment. He founded USE-IT (2009-2020), resulting in thousands of jobs created and 18 national and global awards. Chris was previously executive director of ACEN and is co-founder of the ACEN Foundation (rebranded to Africa Circular) based in Europe. He is also a director of several commercial companies across Africa developing profitable circular economy projects.

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Vong Sok is a passionate and dedicated environmental professional with over 20 years’ environmental compliance and governance experience, including in-depth knowledge of strategic environmental planning, diplomacy and management systems. At ASEAN’s sustainable development directorate’s socio-cultural community department, he works extensively on environmental management in Southeast Asia, in close collaboration with government agencies, international organisations, development partners, civil society organisations (CSOs) and communities. This has empowered him with the necessary resources to oversee strategic initiatives, resulting in significant impacts and contributions to this region and beyond.

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Gustavo Porpino has worked for Embrapa since 2006. He holds a PhD in business administration from Fundação Getulio Vargas's São Paulo School of Business Administration (FGV-EAESP) and was a visiting scholar at Cornell University, where he carried out research on food consumption behaviour. Gustavo is a member of the Brazilian food banks’ network steering committee and he collaborates with Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and UN Environment Programme (UNEP) initiatives on food security and circularity. He is a co-founder of the Pact Against Hunger, a multi-sectoral movement that combats hunger and reduces food waste in Brazil.

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With over 14 years’ experience in corporate sustainability, Alice is strategically integrating Arcadis’ ESG practices into organisations in Brazil. An environmental engineer and specialist in sustainable infrastructure and ESG, she works on driving cultural transformation within companies and implementing solutions aligned with national and international ESG protocols. Alice has extensive experience in preparing sustainability reports, assessing and measuring socio-environmental impacts, and developing strategies to enhance ESG maturity across businesses . Her work spans sectors such as mining, energy, sanitation and transportation, fostering more responsible and sustainable management within organisations.

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Luiz is a geologist with a master’s in environmental analysis and a PhD in geography. He was a researcher and teacher of resource economics for more than 10 years in southern Brazil. Luiz has 12 years’ experience in Brazilian public environmental management, from local to national level. He was coordinator of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) for Brazil and senior adviser in climate change and biodiversity of the Stockholm Resilience Centre in Sweden. At the UN since 2016, he has been coordinating international cooperation activities in many countries on a circular and low carbon economy and nature-based solutions.

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Tuuli helps Finnish society to find solutions to the most difficult problems of our time. She has more than 15 years’ experience in making societal change happen. At Sitra, Tuuli has worked in different positions related to promoting ecological sustainability. She holds a master’s in social sciences and is infinitely interested in how societies can flourish within the limits of nature’s carrying capacity.

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