The CSCP Team

He has successfully directed a number of projects in the fields of Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) and climate change, policy assessment, sustainable business models, SCP indicators, technology assessment, triple bottom line innovation management, sustainable and strategic consumption, lifestyle patterns as well as scenario-building for sustainable living in the future. 

As project director of projects with a variety of clients, he has worked with organisations such as UNEP, UNIDO, Worldbank, ILO, the European Commission, European Environment Agency, World Economic Forum, World Business Council on Sustainable Development, GIZ, the Global Reporting Initiative, the Global eSustainability Initiative and various other national and international initiatives and networks.

In addition, he implemented programmes for numerous multinational companies including the European Aluminium Association, Rewe Group, Metro Cash&Carry, PUMA, Henkel, Nestlé, Barclays Bank, Canon, EMI, Hewlett Packard, Nokia, Matsushita, Motorola and Deutsche Telekom.

Michael Kuhndt has been Co-Chairman of the Task Force on Sustainable Consumption and Green Development at the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED) and a member of various international advisory boards as well as expert groups and has been lecturing at several universities.

Michael Kuhndt studied chemical engineering and environmental management and policy in Germany, Sweden and the USA.

After gaining professional experience in the development and application of environmental and social information for management decisions at a German bank and some corporations, including Saturn and General Motors (USA), he worked for the European Commission on linking environmental information demand and supply in industry and science.  He was a senior consultant of the "Sustainable Production and Consumption Department" at the Wuppertal Institute and a senior advisor at the United Nations Environment Programme. He was the founding director of triple innova, one of Germany’s leading innovation research centres.

Michael Kuhndt is a German national.

From 2000 to 2004, she co-organised the award Prix Charlemagne pour les Médias Européens, in Aachen. From 1989 to 1992 she worked as the Assistant to the Director of the North Rhine-Westphalia InWEnt office (formerly Carl-Duisberg-Gesellschaft).

Gabriele Eigen studied French and Art Education at the University of Wuppertal and holds the 1st state diploma. During her University studies she spent one year in Paris working as an au-pair and studying language at the Sorbonne. After that, she completed two years of practical training in Aachen in order to become a qualified high school teacher (2nd state diploma). In addition, Gabriele Eigen was trained as a personal assistant / bilingual assistant with a final exam at the Chamber of Commerce in Düsseldorf.

Gabriele Eigen is a German national.

Among other things, this is about exploring trends and options for sustainable living practices, scaling up current sustainable lifestyles, as well as envisioning and designing a more sustainable future for all.

Kristina has more than 10 years of experience as a consultant in the segments risk management, expansion strategies and corporate social responsibility across various industry sectors. Prior to working with CSCP Kristina worked at different organisations such as the United Nations Development Programme, PriceWaterhouseCoopers and the Finnish Chamber of Commerce. She also worked as team leader at oekom research, evaluating sustainability aspects of multinational corporations. Her last work station before joining CSCP was as Deputy Director of the European office of an international sustainability organization with multinational companies as members.

She studied international economics and political science at the University of Lund, Sweden. Kristina holds an MBA in Sustainability Management and speaks Swedish, English and German fluently as well as some French and Spanish.

Kristina is a Swedish national.

Her professional experience comprises three years in EU advocacy work at the European Environmental Bureau where she managed NGO-networks, and 7 years in consulting, researching, eco-monitoring and organic textile certification, four years thereof as head of an international team of auditors, managing 20 people globally covering chemicals, textiles, leather, cosmetics and detergents. She combines in-depth knowledge of the textile supply-chain with detailed understanding of the EU’s chemicals policy REACH and the evaluation of textile colorants and chemicals for their use with organic textiles. By training she is a textile engineer specialised in textile finishing and holds a Master’s degree in environmental engineering and management from the Technical University of Lausanne, Switzerland, where she carried out an LCA. 

Besides textiles, chemicals and toxicology, she has been in touch with sectors such as food, agriculture, wood and paper, but also more generally with health care, retail, tourism as well as energy and the water industry. In 2000/2001 she spent half a year in Lomé, Togo as scholar of the ASA-programme, preparing for development coorperation, and has since also been active in Asia and Latin America. Since 2007 she is a member of the technical committee of the International Association of Natural Textiles (IVN).

Being a German national, she works in English and German and is fluent also in French and Spanish.

Many years of consulting and venture capital investing, have given him an insight into innovation, business management and envisioning the future. He is responsible at CSCP for the EU H2020 project INNEON as well as a number of commercial projects developing sustainability practices in corporations, such as CSR and Sustainability Portfolios.

His taste for pioneering was developed early in his career by working at the Treuhandanstalt shortly after reunification and then in corporate restructuring in a Big 4 accountancy firm, before moving onto investing.

As a background to his 25 years of business experience, Alexis holds university qualifications in each of Computer Science, Economics, Business Administration and Sustainability Management, from 3 different countries. He also has some papers on sustainability and finance to his name.

Heading up the Sustainable Business and Entrepreneurship practice at CSCP, Alexis is a dual British-French national.

as a senior adviser to the Sino-Danish Renewable Energy Development Programme. He has also worked in the Environment and SCP sector as technical director of the Sino-German Environmental Policy Programme with the Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).

As managing director of the European Forum for Economic Cooperation from 2002 to 2006, a non-profit company established by Uwe, he developed and implemented a number of Environment and Energy related EU-funded economic cooperation projects with European and Asian partners. Uwe also provided consulting support to public and private clients for cooperation programming, evaluation and management systems.

During 1998 to 2002 Uwe worked for the EU Commission as operations manager of the Asia EcoBest Economic Cooperation Programme – the predecessor of the current SWITCH Asia Programme - and Deputy Director of the Regional Institute of Environmental Technology based in Singapore. More than 200 grants were contracted to EU-Asian consortia, supporting actions improving performance in the energy, environment and SCP sectors in developing countries in Asia.

Prior to the assignment with the EU Commission, Uwe started in 1994 building an environmental business portfolio for the German TÜV Rheinland Group based in Osaka, Japan, with a focus on environmental management and environment related product testing in Asia. Uwe also headed the TÜV Rheinland Academy’s environment section in Cologne from 1991, developing and implementing training courses, seminars and conferences on environmental issues.

From 1985 to 1990 Uwe worked as assistant at the Institute of Physical Geography of the Aachen Technical University, RWTH, heading the Institute’s Laboratory and teaching Physical Geography. He received his Doctor’s degree in Geography for his studies on quantifying the impacts of urbanisation on the hydrological cycle. Uwe holds a Master (M.A.) in Geography and Philosophy from the RWTH and studied business management and accounting prior to his University studies.

Uwe's regional work experience and professional network covers nearly all South and East Asian countries. His areas of expertise include energy efficiency, renewable energy and a broad range of environmental themes. This breadth of experience enables him to effectively support and advance the cross-cutting Sustainable Consumption and Production agenda.

Dr. Uwe Weber is a German national.

He has over 15 years international consultancy and applied research experience in various sectors, including manufacturing, resource processing, waste processing, government, and international development. He is passionate about working with small and medium enterprises, large corporations, and industrial parks to improve their economic, environmental,  societal performance and scale up their innovations.

In 2010 Dick started to work for the CSCP on an UNEP project focusing on business models and the business case for resource efficiency. In his role as a Senior Expert, Dick is contributing to various CSCP projects including the Business Innovation for Sustainable Scale up (BISS) project funded by the BMZ and the SWITCH-Asia project on Greening Supply Chains in the Thailand Auto and Automotive Parts Industries.

Dick held previous positions with GHD engineering firm, Centre of Excellence in Cleaner Production Perth, Centre for Industrial Ecology at Yale University, and African Environmental Solutions.

He holds an PhD (Environment and Resources) from Curtin University of Technology (Australia), MSc (Applied Science) from University of Cape Town (South Africa), and BSc (Industrial Engineering) from University of Professional Education Tilburg (Netherlands).

Through his studies and work, Dick has lived in The Netherlands, South Africa, USA, New Zealand, Australia, and Germany.

Dick is a Dutch national.

Paola has received two degrees in Architecture and Urban Planning, both from Brazil and the Netherlands and has over 20 years of experience in the field. Her services meet the needs for both the public and private sector for small design interventions as well as for long-term urban strategies.

In her work, innovation is about changing realities for people and it succeeds when it creates new pathways for solving entrenched social problems, resulting in lasting transformation of the systems that most affect vulnerable populations and leave stronger social relationships in their wake. “My sense is that successful innovations come from a process where the people who will ultimately benefit from a service are given a voice in its development.”

She strongly believes that a social-ecological systems’ approach to urbanisation can offer a new understanding of exchange between society and ecosystems; giving cities the opportunity to reshuffle technologies that are not helping communities achieve resilience. By juxtaposing the old and the new, the technological and the social, and the political and the economic, social innovations can build a resilient social-ecological system.

Before starting her own business Paola provided a wide range of design services in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium working at renowned architecture firms. Her projects have been carried out for both the public and private sector.  In all cases interdisciplinary teams have tackled these projects. Paola's responsibilities included the development of concepts, supervising services and design activities combined with the main tasks involved in accomplishing the deliverables necessary for the realization of the projects.

Paola is member of the Royal Institute of Dutch Architects and of the Brazilian Council of Architecture and Urbanism. She became an architect because her fascination with people and considers a blessing when she can get a group of different people to interact and share ideas to coordinate a project that benefits the community and the city overall.

Paola is a dual Dutch-Brazilian national.

He gained a broad experience in this field while he was working for various insurance companies, e.g. the Kölnische Lebens- und Sachversicherung, and the Deutsche Krankenversicherung AG, Cologne. As board member of an insurance group in Hamburg, he re-designed the IT landscape being responsible for the Customer-Service-Center and the initiator of the reorganization project SPRINT.

During his career he was mainly working for different banks such as  Landesbausparkasse Münster/ Düsseldorf, where he was responsible for the management of the sales staff, before changing to the position of a CIO at the DG Bank Deutsche Genossenschaftsbank, Frankfurt. At this time he was member of the IT-Advisory-board of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

As CIO of a multi-business DAX-company he was responsible for the coordination of all IT-activities all over the group and the millennium-problem all over the world.

He was member of the founding-board of E-Plus.

He has been working for a political organization as authorized representative for the Federal Management Directorate for the last two years.

Walter holds a diploma in economics from the Cologne University and a PhD in informatics.

For 10 years Walter was member of The Research Board Inc., New York, NY.  

Walter is a German national.

Marco is a strategic and innovative leader with over 19 years of experience in building partnerships, resource mobilization, and program/project implementation of sustainable development and local development programs worldwide. He delivers results through building partnerships, networks, and connecting people and organizations.
 
From 1999 to 2015, he worked for different UN organizations based in Maputo, New York and Bonn, working in Africa, Latin America and globally. Lastly, he worked as Chief Partnerships for UNV on partnerships building and resource mobilization with over 20 donor governments, UN organizations, private sector and academic institutions worldwide.
 
In 2011, he co-organized the UN DPI NGO Conference “Sustainable Societies; Responsive Citizens” of which the final declaration  was a first complete civil society proposal for the SDGs, adopted as an official UN General Assembly input for Rio+20. Subsequently, Marco led the global social media campaign “Volunteer Action Counts” for sustainable development for Rio+20, with over 64 million actions counted.
 
Marco studied International Relations at the University of Amsterdam with a focus on International Environmental Policy and Latin America. He started his career (1996-98) with the Institute for Society, Population and Nature (ISPN), a Brazilian socio-environmental NGO.
He is a Dutch national, speaks fluent Dutch, English, Spanish, Portuguese, proficient German and intermediate French. He currently lives in Spain.

She is a mechanical engineer and holds an MBA, with training on participant-centered learning from Harvard Business School.
Cristina is Pedagogical Coordinator of a graduate course on sustainability management at FIA, an internationally recognized business school in São Paulo, Brazil. She is senior consultant for GIZ in Brazil, supporting the Emerging Market Multinationals (EMM) Network for Sustainability.

Cristina is also member at the international ISO Commission PC277 – Study Commission for Sustainable Procurement, focal point from EcoVadis (Supplier Sustainability Ratings) in Brazil and senior consultant for GVces (Centre for Sustainability Studies at FGV´s Business Administration School).

She is a member of the coordination group of the Corporate Sustainability Index (ISE) of BM&FBOVESPA, the major Brazilian stock exchange.

Cristina’s background combines education, research and consulting projects. She worked with organizations like Avina, GIZ, GRI, IADB, ISTR, RedEAmerica, SEKN, WBCSD, among others. She developed and implemented projects for many national and multinational companies from a variety of industries including Agribusiness, Chemical, Construction, Cosmetics, Energy, Finance, Food, Health Services, Logistics, Metal and Mining, Textile, Waste Management.

She has written papers and other publications on social responsibility, sustainability and sustainable procurement published in Brazil, the United States, Europe, and Canada.

Cristina is a Brazilian national.

Ginnie's been developing the agendas of most of multi-stakeholder Work Studios and honing the expertise of the CSCP in action research processes. She is also very much involved in the areas of transition design, social innovations, ethnographic research, sustainable entrepreneurship and resource efficiency. Thanks to her wide international, cross-sectoral experience, Ginnie developed the tool for allocating, monitoring and evaluating the projects sponsored by the foundation she worked for in the Netherlands in 2006; created the sustainability strategy for the companies she collaborated with in Estonia and became a strategic researcher for an NY based firm while participating as editor of a prime-time aired TV show in Mexico.

Before earning her MSc. Ginnie managed the Sustainability and Social Communications department of a multinational corporation quartered in Mexico City where she developed internal campaigns towards implementation of eco- efficiencies, educational programs and a nation-wide projects aimed at promoting awareness on sustainable lifestyles.

Trying to encompass her theoretical learning with hands-on experience, Ginnie majored in Political Science and began her professional career working for AIESEC, having directive roles in Russia, Poland and Mexico – and internationally directing the communications for the Sustainability Drive Team. Ginnie holds a Master in Marketing and Business Administration and she is a graduate of the MSc. program in Strategic Leadership towards Sustainability at BTH in Sweden, where she focused her research on addressing inter-sectoral sustainability challenges through Media driven initiatives.

Ginnie is known as an extremely creative person that firmly believes on the power of cross-sectoral cooperation and its ability to move societies towards a more sustainable future.

Ginnie Guillen is a Mexican national.

Before joining the CSCP, Patrick successfully completed an MBA programme in Sustainability Management at Leuphana University Lüneburg. He also holds a master’s degree in Political Science and Economics from University of Zurich and spent several years abroad, namely in New Zealand, France, Brazil, Portugal and Switzerland.

Patrick is fluent in German, Swiss-German, English and French and speaks some Portuguese as well. He is active in several associations that drive sustainability to the next level.

Patrick Bottermann is a German national.

At the CSCP, she managed the EU FP7 projects SPREAD Sustainable Lifestyles 2050 and Action Town - Research and Action for SCP. Nora is part of the team working for the European Topic Centre on SCP on behalf of the European Environment Agency (EEA).

Before joining the CSCP, she worked as an environment expert to the EU’s LIFE (Financial Instrument for the Environment) programme and as a parliamentary assistant at the European Parliament, focusing on environmental policy and consumer protection issues. She also worked for the World Wide Fund for Nature and the European Environmental Bureau.

Nora has studied International Relations at the Technical University Dresden and McGill University in Montreal. She conducted her thesis on international water conflicts in close cooperation with the Institute of Organisational Communication (IFOK) and the Wittenberg Center for Global Ethics.

Nora is a German national.

where he supported the strategic development of the China Civil Climate Action Network. This position was supported by the Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) / Centre for International Migration and Development (CIM).

During 2012-2013 Patrick also supported implementation and policy dialogues of the EU-China Environmental Governance Programme. Prior to his engagement with China’s sustainability transition, Patrick worked on biodiversity protection projects in New Zealand.

Patrick’s areas of interest and expertise include the linkages between climate change and SCP, polices for low-carbon development and renewable energy, energy efficiency in buildings, cleaner production and resource efficiency policy in Asian SMEs, green public procurement, and public participation in environmental governance and transition management.

In 2010, Patrick received a PhD in Environmental Studies from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, for his research on China’s renewable energy development.

Dr. Patrick Schroeder is a German-New Zealand national.

Rosa jointed the CSCP in 2009 as a project manager. Rosa is currently managing projects on future sustainable cities, the interaction between sustainable lifestyles and logistics for the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the testing of innovative ICT tools for behaviour change as part of the EU-project Catalyst.

She has previously managed the EU-project SPREAD Sustainable Lifestyles 2050, developed the website “Ich bin’s – nachhaltig in NRW” for consumers on more sustainable every day choices for the Ministry for Climate Protection, Environment, Agriculture, Nature Conservation and Consumer Protection of the German State of North Rhine-Westphalia. Rosa has also developed publications on policy instruments for sustainable consumption and supported the process of the Pro Planet Sustainability label for the REWE Group for several years.

Rosa holds an MSc in Environmental Policy and Regulation from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and an MA in policy, international law and history from the University of Bonn.

Rosa Strube (formerly Groezinger) is a German national.

in partnership with local and international NGOs, civil society organizations, academia, international institutions, media and the private sector.

Silvia’s focus is working to empower local actors to lead change and to optimise the potential for sustainable and inclusive growth through a participatory community-based multi-stakeholder approaches. Beginning in 2009 Silvia led the implementation of one of the first and largest EU-funded SWITCH-Asia projects in China. The 54-month “Train the Trainers” project concluded with the establishment of a permanent Sino-European energy-efficient building training & research centre. 

Silvia has also worked as the Marketing & Events Manager with the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China and an International Development Correspondent in Tokyo with a fellowship supported by the social enterprise Devex. As Managing Editor, she led the production of the study entitled “Tracing the track” that covered the history and achievements of ActionAid International, a human rights organisation active in China. In Bhutan, she cooperated with the first private bilingual newspaper to develop new strategic partnerships with national and international stakeholders to ensure long-term sustainability of the publication.

Silvia majored in International Diplomatic Sciences at Trieste University (Italy) and holds a Master’s Degree in SME Management & Development (IULM University, Italy) as well as a Master’s Degree in Asian Studies (Lund University, Sweden).  

Silvia is an Italian national.

Further focus areas are sustainable consumption, green growth and renewable energies.

Before joining the CSCP Patrik worked as a research assistant on sustainability management topics at the EBS (European Business School) and as a consultant at a large consumer goods company where he implemented innovative sustainability solutions in the supply chain. Major activities in the consulting project involved the development and implementation of a sustainability controlling system and a sustainability assessment tool for suppliers. Furthermore he conducted an employee survey concerning the assessment of the company's sustainability performance. Related to this survey, his research was on employees' perception of their company's sustainability authenticity and the consequent effect on their identification with the company.

Patrik studied Political Science, Economy and History (M.A.) at the University of Heidelberg and at Sciences Po in Paris. His major fields of study were sustainable development, environmental economics and development politics. During and after his studies he worked for the IÖW (Institute for Ecological Economy Research), the ZEW (Centre for European Economic Research), IFOK and Decco Internacional in Sevilla.

Patrik is a German national.

sector institutions towards integrating sustainable value added in their operations and policies by identifying sustainability-related risks and opportunities and developing tailored approaches for innovative solutions. These activities encompass sustainability hot spots analyses for different industry sectors, impact assessments of products and services and the development of related improvement measures and strategies. Jan is also involved in stakeholder councils and consumer engagement activities related to sustainability. 

Before joining the CSCP, Jan worked at the Wuppertal Institute in the research group on future energy and mobility structures and gained considerable experience in implementing sustainability projects in several developing countries such as Guinea, Mali and Uganda.

Jan holds a Master's degree in Economics and Political Science of the University of Cologne. In his master thesis, he analysed the implementation and impacts of different sustainability certification programmes on farmers’ livelihoods in Ghana. Next to his studies he was an active member of oikos Cologne, a student initiative for sustainable economics and management.

Jan Bethge is a German national.

Thomas has also conducted research into CSR communication and has organised multi-stakeholder events with companies to develop innovative sustainability communication strategies. Thomas is also experienced working on projects supporting SME access to finance for sustainability driven investments. 

Prior to joining the CSCP Thomas worked with the Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft (DEG) where he gained work experience in the area of development finance with a regional focus on Latin America. He was working at the Institute for Public Finance at the University of Cologne as well as at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies. 

Thomas studied Economics and Political Sciences at the University of Cologne. During his studies, he spent one year in Chile studying at the Universidad Vina del Mar which included completion of an internship at the Department for International Relations in the National Congress of Chile. 

At an early point in his academic career, Thomas saw the value in integrating sustainability in academia and society and served on the management board of oikos Cologne, a student initiative for sustainable economics and management. For his Diploma thesis, Thomas analysed the finance preferences for sustainability investments among German automotive sector SMEs.  

Thomas Wagner is a German national.

Francesca has been working as a Researcher and Project Coordinator for the CSCP since 2010. Throughout her activities she has been coordinating European projects, conducting in-depth action research analyses, developing innovative methodologies and tools as well as planning and implementing multi-stakeholder interactions within the field of Sustainable Business and Entrepreneurship.

Among others, Francesca has been actively involved in the development of training material for the financial sector, business associations, and SMEs in developing countries. She also produced several transnational studies focusing on the untapped potentials of eco-innovation and energy and resource efficiency strategies, at management level, by analysing the economic, environmental and social benefits linked to these innovative business solutions.

Francesca is currently working on the project Sustainable Development Through Interaction between European Policy, Research and Public Administration, fostering an efficient communication and interaction between policy makers, administrative agencies and the scientific community to create more sustainable lifestyles.

During her career Francesca has also had the possibility to work within international research advisory organisations and private firms in the fields of financial market regulations, CSR, product development, and implementation strategies, as well as policy related services, justice strategy advices and innovation labs.

Francesca holds a M.A. in International Relations and Diplomacy from Leiden University in the Netherlands. The focus of her studies lies in EU politics, structure of international organizations, working procedures and diplomacy, and international security theories. While doing her Bachelor studies at the University of Rome Tor Vergata Francesca learned to speak English, German, and French.

Francesca is an Italian national. 

... the EC-funded SCP demonstration projects in Asia, two annual SWITCH-Asia networking meetings, and several publications such as the annual SWITCH-Asia project fact-sheet and the supply chain management study (2013).

Before joining the Network Facility she was a journalist at Kompas Gramedia group, the largest and most reputable media group in Indonesia, in Jakarta and Bandung (West Java) for five years. Towards the end of this period she was a member of the editing team.

Having been active in many grassroot social organisations for years and with a strong interest in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Kartika has developed a well received proposal for a development project of Indonesian communities. For this proposal she was awarded a DAAD scholarship in 2008 to pursue her MBA in International Management at the Applied University Nürtingen-Geislingen, Germany. Her master thesis explored how multi-national and locally based companies in Indonesia may strategically manage and integrate CSR objectives into their core businesses.

In addition, Kartika holds a bachelor degree in biology majoring ecology and eco-microbiology. In her studies she engaged in the topics of measuring the productivity of a fresh water body and the identification of potential heavy metal resistant bacteria to combat the severe pollution affecting mangrove ecosystem in North Jakarta. Combining her in-depth knowledge of the mechanisms of ecosystems with her business skills, she wants to further contribute to spreading sustainable consumption and production especially in Asia.

Kartika is an Indonesian national.

She joined the CSCP in September 2013 and has been working, among others, on the Low Carbon Future Cities project, the Banana Forum - a multi-stakeholder process for sustainable banana value chains - and on sustainability standards in the textiles sector.

Prior to joining the CSCP, Alexandra gained experiences in development cooperation in a GIZ capacity building programme for economic development in Central Asia, worked with the Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations (IfA) in a support programme for minority media in Poland and conducted research in Bosnia-Hercegovina and China.

Alexandra holds a master degree in international relations and development policies. During her studies she focused on democratisation processes, and dealt with the role of civil society and media in transition countries in eastern and south-eastern Europe, China and Africa.  

Alexandra’s work is based on the belief that active civil societies are crucial to bring about change and are an important driver for societal, political and sustainable development. She is also personally committed to local grass root initiatives, such as Urban Gardening and Transition Town.

Alexandra is a German national.

responsibility and the influence of civil society in shaping and promoting sustainable lifestyles.

After high school, Carina spent a year in Bolivia where she worked for a human rights NGO in the slums of Santa Cruz de la Sierra.  During her University studies, Carina worked with Youth Action for Peace Germany, Friends of the Earth International and the Student Workforce for Sustainability and Development. In the latter, as a member of the executive board she coordinated working groups on civic activism and sustainable technologies.

Carina holds a M.Sc. in Political Science, specialisation in Global Environmental Governance, from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. In her thesis she assessed the CSR performances of leading retail stores and the impact of civil society campaigning on behavioural change.

Carina Diedrich is a German national.

Before joining the CSCP, she worked in different positions (organisation, audit) in an international banking group based in Düsseldorf.

Stephanie holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration/ Economics from Wuppertal University and Birmingham Business School where she spent one year of her master studies. During her undergraduate studies she also participated in a one year exchange program with the Université de Paris.

Stephanie is a German national.

... help her visualize the complexities of sustainable consumption and production. 

She believes that the key to advancing toward identifying solutions for a sustainable future is collaboration and communication among the full spectrum of actors, including small and large groups with a global or local reach.  

Nikola attended to KISD (Köln International School of Design) for four years prior to working as a designer in the New York Dot-com industry. A few years later she returned to university for a degree in Earth System Sciences and Environmental Justice (CUNY New York) where she was active in the greening the campus student club. She was later employed by the University's Institute for Sustainable Cities where she deepened her knowledge and interest in solutions for a sustainable future.
Nikola Berger is a German national.

Neil is an experienced Project leader used to coordinating multi-national and multi-functional project teams to find solutions meeting the interests of diverse stakeholders. He acquired over 10 years professional experience in IT and consumer goods marketing.

As an International Product Manager he was responsible for strategy for a portfolio of brands and products in over 30 countries including projects on full chain sustainability risk and opportunity analysis and market change strategy for harmful products. He designed and commissioned international market researches and has extensive experience of supply chain and packaging optimisation, including working on packaging design and category management for major retailer groups. Additionally he managed innovation process and pipelines and was a trained knowledge management expert.

He now works on diverse projects with corporations, industry associations and policy-makers. His other key field of interest is in the field of behavioural change and values systems shifts towards sustainable lifestyles- addressing people within their own subjective contexts.

Neil studied Marketing at Lancaster University, England with units of Consumer Behaviour, Retailing and Cognitive and Social Psychology. He is a Master Practioner of Neuro Linguistic Programming, a certified coach and an Associate member of the global Association of Coaching.

Neil is a British national.

He joined the CSCP in May 2015. Prior to working with CSCP he worked as a project manager and scientific employee dealing in particular with techno-economic evaluations in regard to the material use of renewable resources. In this context he focussed on value chain analyses and market entry strategies as well as on market framework analyses.

In addition, he conducted research on “Green Premium”.

Furthermore, Janpeter has gained experiences in the fields of event management,online marketing and quality management.“

He is a German National.

He studied public policy at the Willy Brandt School of Public Policy of Universität Erfurt, Germany. His specialization areas include international affairs and international political economy. For his studies he received a partial scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). Ahmad’s research article is recently published in which he analyzed the potential of improving the environmental performance of manufacturing firms through ISO 14001 in Pakistan.

Apart from his academic credentials, he has professional experience in both public and private sectors. In the public service, he served as assistant director for more than a year in the Ministry of Social Welfare and Special Education in Pakistan. During his service, he was involved in various public policy initiatives in the areas of education, health and social security. Before joining the public sector, he was serving as human resources officer in a large textile manufacturing firm in Pakistan.

Ahmad is a Pakistani national. 

Mariana is a lawyer with a Master’s Degree in Constitutional and Environmental Law from the University of Coimbra, Portugal and Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Germany. Her master’s thesis explored the interface between environmental law and SCP, dematerialization and sufficiency, and aimed to analyse related mainstream legal and policy tools and recommend innovative approaches to support SCP through law and policy.

As a member of a student organisation during her time as a law student in Brazil, Mariana led a number of legal seminars and conferences and joined citizenship and prison management projects to help local communities enhance their livelihoods. Previously, Mariana studied theatre and international affairs in the USA as part of her high school education. Combining different fields of knowledge and having lived in a wide variety of countries has provided Mariana an opportunity to build an interdisciplinary and multicultural perspective about sustainable ways of living and cooperating.

Mariana is a Brazilian national.

Stephan has more than 12 years experience as sustainability consultant and researcher, project manager, lecturer and trainer in the area of CSR and SCP.

He worked for multiple companies and government authorities in a broad range of sectors. In the consumer goods sector Stephan supports the national and international work of GS1 (Global Standards 1). Being the leading standardization body for business information exchange and processes, GS1 supports the harmonization of product information and supply chain processes. In the sustainability arena the work of GS1 delivers relevant vehicles for the measurement and communication of product sustainability. Furthermore, is provides technical standards and solutions for the tracking and tracing of raw materials, components, and products along their supply chains.

Stephan has considerable expertise in product sustainability assessment, sustainability reporting, eco-labelling, CSR strategy development and management as well as stakeholder management. In his interest for sustainable consumption and related business strategies he likes to personally test and experience promising approaches with his family at home.

Stephan holds a diploma in business administration and economics acquired at the Universities Witten/Herdecke and Stockholm. He is a German national.

Her focus is on maximising retailers’ impact in low carbon production and consumption in China.

Receiving Erasmus Mundus Scholarship, Yang gained her Joint European Master of Environmental Studies from Denmark, Germany and Spain. During her study, she focused on industrial ecology and environmental management at the company level. Together with a group of fellow students, she analysed physical and social preconditions for an emerging Danish environmental network to sustain its growth. In her thesis, she investigated the institutional and resource-based factors for green retail development in China. Driven by her interest in social innovation, she still volunteers in social enterprise start-ups in China, conducting case studies on successful business model innovation.

Prior to her master study, Yang obtained her B.S. in Environmental Science and B.A. in Finance from Chongqing University in China. She focused on resource recovery and efficiency optimisation in her bachelor thesis.

Yang's expertise and interest lie in green retail, life cycle management, and social innovation.

Yang Deng is a Chinese national.

Before joining the CSCP, Christoph gained a Bachelor’s Degree in International Business Studies from the University of Paderborn. During these interdisciplinary studies with a focus on economics, business administration, English, Spanish and intercultural aspects, he obtained wide theoretical expertise. After his Bachelor’s Degree, Christoph did an internship in which he was responsible for market research on Business Process Modeling Tools.

Since 2013, Christoph has been studying Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Wuppertal. This Master program enables him to improve his knowledge concerning the topics of innovation (-management) and entrepreneurship.

Due to his long-standing interest in sustainability topics, joining the CSCP was a natural fit. In his project work Christoph focuses especially on lifecycle assessment and product sustainability hot spots. In order to connect his professional experience gained from working with the CSCP with his theoretical knowledge, Christoph’s master thesis will also deal with these topics.

Christoph is a German national.

Environmental and especially humanitarian action issues are already fascinating Theresa for a long time and intensified during her bachelor’s degree programme in cultural sciences and sustainability studies at the Universität des Saarlandes. While writing her bachelor thesis on “The resource water and its role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict” Theresa’s interest in the responsible management of natural resources strengthened and motivated her to engage further in the field of sustainable consumption and production.

During an internship at the Goethe-Institut Ljubijana, Theresa gained first conceptual skills designing the concept for an ‘environmental week’ focusing on water as a resource.

Since 2008, Theresa is volunteering at the Lebenshilfe Berlin supporting different events and festivals, and taking care of physical and mentally disabled people on a regular basis.

At the moment Theresa is preparing for her master’s degree programme by taking subject-specific classes on sustainability and humanitarian action and joined the 2015 summer school “Humanitarian Action in the 21st Century” at Ruhr-Universität Bochum. Supporting the CSCP team offers her a great opportunity to work in the interesting field of sustainable consumption and production, and enables her to gain additional working experience for her personal and academic development, and in-depth knowledge of acquisition procedures.

Theresa is a German national.