October 15, 2020
MEET OUR KEYNOTE SPEAKERS!
Today we would like to introduce you to our final three Keynote Speakers: Roland Hunziker, Anders Wijkman & Holger Wallbaum.
Roland Hunziker is Director, Sustainable Buildings and Cities, at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), based in Geneva, Switzerland. He leads the Transforming the Built Environment and Climate Action in Cities projects and manages the Council’s relationships with key city networks and stakeholders, notably through the City-Business Climate Alliance, a partnership with C40 and CDP he helped create. A Swiss national, Roland holds an MBA with distinction from INSEAD, France, and an MA in history and political science from the University of Zurich, Switzerland.
At BEYOND 2020 Roland will share his expert insight on “What does decarbonization in the built environment mean”. As he observes, “companies along the value chain need a common language to align their actions to reduce carbon emissions. The Building System Carbon Framework serves all actors, from material manufacturers to construction companies, real estate developers, investors, architects, owners and tenants. It facilitates the engagement in a dialogue on how to reduce emissions from buildings over their full life-cycle, towards the common goal of a net-zero built environment.” Join us on 2nd November to find out more!
Anders Wijkman is an opinionmaker and author. He is chairman of the Governing Board of Climate-KIC – the largest public-private partnership on innovation for low-carbon solutions in the EU. He is a member of the IRP (International Resource Panel) – a UN-appointed expert body “to build and share the knowledge needed to improve the use of our resources worldwide”. Furthermore, he is a Chair of Circular Sweden, a platform for producers, retailers and recycling companies to advance the Circular Economy.
As Anders points out, “there is no doubt that the current linear economy model by which products and materials are used and then discarded as waste has to change. The environmental and climate-related consequences are increasingly serious, and in addition, a lot of material values are being lost in the process. The circular economy concept is attractive and gaining a lot of interest. The question is, however, why the move from linear to circular is so slow?”.
Anders will share his reflections on the above in his speech on “How do we remove the barriers to a circular economy”. Excited to learn more? Join us on 4th November!
Last but not least, Holger Wallbaum is the conference host and Full Professor in Sustainable building and Vice-Dean for Utilisation within the Department och Architecture and Civil Engineering at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden since 2012. He holds active positions at the International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction (CIB) and is an elected member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences. Holger is Editorial Board Member of the Journal “Development in the Built Environments” as well as subject editor for construction materials and buildings with the International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment.
According to Holger’s observation, “the UN SDGs have been in place for more than 5 years now. The UN SDG vision for 2030 has already reached many people all around the world, but we have not been able to translate this vision into a clear action plan, in particularly not at a sectoral and regional level.”
In his speech “A transformational plan for the built environment”, Holger will aim to show a possible example on how to move from a vision to a concrete action plan, based on one region’s perspective that can, however, be used as a starting point for other regions. Very importantly, Holger’s speech will also be an invitation to contribute to the work on the next steps on the transformational plan that the built environment urgently needs. Join us 4th November to learn more!
We look forward to meeting you at BEYOND 2020 online conference.
/BEYOND 2020 Organising Committee
