Speaker:
Dr Levke Caesar is a climate scientist and Lab Leader at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), where she co-leads the Planetary Boundaries Science Lab. Her research focuses on Earth system dynamics, planetary boundaries, ocean circulation and climate tipping points. She holds a PhD in physics from the University of Potsdam and PIK, where her doctoral research examined changes in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). Her research provided evidence of a significant weakening of the Atlantic circulation since the mid-20th century and was published in Nature in 2018. Following her PhD, she conducted postdoctoral research at Maynooth University in Ireland and the University of Bremen before returning to PIK in 2023. Today, she combines research on the stability of the Earth system with interdisciplinary work on planetary boundaries and science communication.
Alexander Bercht (Member of the Central Board of Executive Directors of the IGBCE) studied economics and has worked in various positions for the Board of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, in the Parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany and the State Parliament of North Rine-Westphalia. Since 2016, he has been working at the IGBCE, where he initially led the Political Liason Office and subsequently headed the Policy Department before taking on the role of Board secretary to the chairman in 2021. Alexander Bercht became a member of IGBCE’s Central Board of Executive Directors in 2023 and is responsible for the Departments Economic and Corporate Policy, Young Generation and Apprenticeships, Education, as well as Corporate Finance, IT and Services.
Marco Mensink has been Director General of Cefic, the European Chemical Industry Council, since May 2016. He represents an industry with around 650 members, 1.2 million employees, and an annual contribution of more than €635 billion to the EU economy.
He focuses on strengthening the competitiveness of European industry, sustainable development, and the goals of the European Green Deal. He is also a member of several European and international bodies, including the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) and the International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA).
Before joining Cefic, Mensink was Director General of the Confederation of European Paper Industries (CEPI). He has lived and worked in Brussels since 2006.
Dr Volker Strauß earned his PhD in Physical Chemistry at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg. He gained several years of experience in materials science at UCLA and at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, and completed his habilitation in Colloid Chemistry at the University of Potsdam. He now heads the division for "Pharmaceuticals, Chemicals, and Substance Testing" at the German Environment Agency (UBA). In this capacity, he is also responsible for the cross-departmental project group "Chemiewende," which focuses on the transformation of the chemical industry in Europe.
Dr Veronica Manfredi, Director Unit C, Zero Pollution, Water Resilience and Green Urban Transition, European Commission, Directorate-General for the Environment (DG Env)
