Speaker
Kristin Schreiber leads Directorate F “Chemicals and Bioeconomy” in DG GROW, the Directorate General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs. Since 2021, in her current role, she oversees work on the implementation of several pieces of EU legislation on chemicals, such as REACH and CLP, as well as on fertilisers, toys, cosmetics, textiles and the Ecodesign of Sustainable Products Regulation, with a focus on competitiveness, safety and sustainability. She also guides the work on the Circular Economy Act and Biotech Act II. In addition, Kristin Schreiber is an active member of the Management Board of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) and the Circular Bio-Based Europe Joint Undertaking Governing Board (CBE JU).
From 2015 until 2021, Kristin Schreiber was Director for SME policy and the COSME Programme and still takes a keen interest in SMEs. Since joining the European Commission in 1990, she has held various positions, including Head of Cabinet of Employment Commissioner Vladimir Špidla and Deputy Head of Cabinet of Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier.
Kristin Schreiber studied economics, international relations and European law. She graduated with honours from L'Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris and holds master’s degrees from the University of Kent at Canterbury and the College of Europe in Bruges.
Matthias Belitz is a senior executive at the German Chemical Industry Association (VCI). Since spring 2024 he is responsible for Sustainability, Energy and Climate Policy. He is also heading Germany’s energy intensive industries network. Besides working on respective policies, Belitz also holds a leadership position in Chemie³. This initiative supports companies within the chemical-pharmaceutical industry on sustainability matters and engages with various stakeholders outside the industry. Matthias Belitz previously held various positions in finance and controlling at BASF, including international assignments in China and Belgium.
Kristina Jeromin (Made in Germany 2030) is an expert in transformation finance. She works at the intersection of the financial sector, the real economy, and politics, focusing on their efficient interlinkage to successfully shape and reliably finance industrial structural change. Among various other roles and mandates, she has served as Head of Group Sustainability at Deutsche Börse Group (2015 – 2020), Managing Director of the Green and Sustainable Finance Cluster Germany (2018 – 2024), a member of the German Federal Government’s Sustainable Finance Advisory Council (2019 – 2025), including as Deputy Chair (2019 – 2021), and, since May 2024, Co-Lead of the Stiftung Mercator-funded initiative Made in Germany 2030.
Oliver Loebel is Secretary General of EurEau, the European Water Services Association. The association and its 38 member organisations are committed to protecting our water resources for the benefit of both current and future generations.Until 2016, Oliver was managing director at PU Europe. Previously, he worked as Director of Sector Policy at the European SME association UEAPME, and represented the building services industry through CEETB. Between 1994 and 1997, he worked for the European Commission, developing support measures for Europe’s small businesses. He holds a university degree in Economics and an MBA in International Business.
Dr Katrin Ostertag (Head of Department Sustainability and Infrastructure Systems, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI) is a trained economist who has worked in the field of sustainability and innovation for over 30 years. Her department focuses on sustainability issues in mobility, water, raw materials, the circular economomy and the role of digitalisation / AI in those contexts. Impact assessments of novel solutions are part of this research including environmental and social impacts as well as effects on growth, competitiveness, resilience, innovation capacities and sectoral change.
