How we work
The Panel consists of eminent scientists, highly skilled in resource management issues. Their reports distil the latest scientific, technical and socio-economic findings around global resource use. They provide advice and connections between policymakers, industry and the community on ways to improve global and local resource management. The Panel includes scientists and governments from both developed and developing regions, civil society, industrial and international organizations.
Missions & principles
The Panel’s mission is to provide independent, coherent and authoritative scientific assessments of policy relevance on the sustainable use of natural resources and, in particular, their environmental impacts over the full life cycle; and contribute to a better understanding of how to decouple economic growth from environmental degradation.
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Co Chair
Janez Potočnik
Janez Potočnik is Co-Chair of the International Resource Panel. Among other roles, he is Partner at SYSTEMIQ and advisor to thought-leading institutions such as the European Forest Institute. Before, he was European Commissioner for the Environment.
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Co Chair
Izabella Teixeira
Izabella Teixeira is Co-Chair of the International Resource Panel. She is an expert in environmental management, impact assessment and licensing. She is the former Environment Minister of Brazil and was named a Champion of the Earth in 2013.
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Ester van der Voet
Trained as a biologist, Ester van der Voet has vast experience as a lecturer, researcher and editor in the field of Industrial Ecology. She is full professor of Sustainable Resource Use at the Institute of Environmental Sciences at Leiden University.
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Steve Fletcher
Stephen Fletcher is a marine scientist with extensive experience in coastal and marine science policy. He currently heads the Marine Programme of UN Environment’s World Conservation Monitoring Centre, and has published over 85 peer-reviewed papers.
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Steve Hatfield-Dodds
Steve Hatfield-Dodds is an honorary Professor of Public Policy at the Australian National University (ANU). He has a distinguished track record of working at the intersection of sustainability research, public policy and business strategy.
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Edgar Hertwich
Edgar Hertwich lectures and researches life-cycle assessment, sustainable production and consumption, trade and environment, and risk analysis. He has co-authored more than 150 peer-reviewed journal articles, and has led multiple IRP reports.
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Joanna Kulczycka
Joanna Kulczycka is Professor at the AGH University of Science and Technology, Director of The Highway to Technology, the Innovation Institute and President of the Waste Management and Recycling Cluster – Key National Clusters in Poland.
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Ashok Khosla
Ashok Khosla has served on the boards of numerous global environmental organizations, including the Club of Rome, the International Institute for Sustainable Development and the World Conservation Union. He is a former co-chair of the IRP.
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Stefan Bringezu
Stefan Bringezu is Director at the Centre of Environmental Systems Research at Kassel University. He is pioneer of material flow analysis and a founding member of the International Society for Industrial Ecology.
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Paul Ekins
Paul Ekins is Professor of Resources and Environmental Policy at the Institute for Sustainable Resources in the Bartlett School of Environment, Energy and Resources at University College London. He has a PhD in economics from the University of London
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Jeffrey Herrick
Jeff Herrick works at the US Department of Agriculture and has adjunct appointments at New Mexico State University and the University of Colorado. He is expert in resistance and resilience in arid and semi-arid ecosystems and in land management.
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Nabil Z. Nasr
Nabil Nasr is Director of Golisano Institute for Sustainability at Rochester Institute of Technology. His fields of expertise are sustainable production, remanufacturing, cleaner production, and sustainable product development.
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Seiji Hashimoto
Seiji Hasjimoto’s research interests include assessment methodologies and system design for sustainable resource and waste management, from extraction of resources to disposal. He is a Professor at Ritsumeikan University, Japan.
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Maarten Hajer
Maarten Hajer is distinguished professor of Urban Futures at Utrecht University, and a former Director-General of the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency. He has published widely on environmental politics and urban planning.
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Eeva Primmer
Eeva Primmer is the Research Director of the Finnish Environment Institute, SYKE. Her research interest is in the governance of nature, ecosystem services and natural resources.
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Anders Wijkman
Anders Wijkman is co-president of the Club of Rome, chairman of the Swedish Association of Recycling Industries, senior advisor to the Stockholm Environment Institute. He is co-author of Bankrupting Nature (2012).
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Hans Bruyninckx
Hans Bruyninckx is Professor of Environmental Governance at University of Antwerp, Belgium. He is the Former Executive Director of the European Environment Agency. His expertise lies in the field of European and international environmental policy.
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A. Erinç Yeldan
Erinç Yeldan is Acting Dean of the Faculty of Economics, Administrative and Social Sciences at Bilkent University. His recent work focuses on development macroeconomics and economics of climate change, with emphasis on the Turkish economy.
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Stefanie Hellweg
Stefanie Hellweg is professor of ecological systems design at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich, where she is working on modelling, evaluating and improving the environmental impact of products, technologies and consumption patterns.
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Bing Zhu
Bing Zhu is Professor and Director of Institute for Circular Economy at Tsinghua University. He is an expert in circular economy assessment, techno-economic analysis and industrial park green development.
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Keisuke Nansai
Keisuke Nansai is Director of Material Cycles Division, National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES), Japan. His expertise includes environmental input-output analysis.
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Michael Obersteiner
Michael Obersteiner is Director of the Ecosystems Services and Management Program at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Austria. He has worked for national and international organizations, writing over 100 scientific papers.
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Anuradha Ramaswami
Anu Ramaswami is an expert on urban infrastructure whose work has formed the basis for sustainable cities in the US and internationally. Her research includes integrating science and technology with policy and planning for real-world implementation.
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Anthony Chiu
Anthony Chiu is a specialist in industrial engineering, sustainable consumption and production, eco-industrial development, and resource efficient and cleaner production.
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Saleem Ali
Saleem Ali's research interests are in the causes and consequences of environmental conflicts in the mineral sector. He teaches environmental planning. conflict resolution and industrial ecology, and is a member of the Governance Working Group.
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Helga Weisz
Helga Weisz is an industrial ecologist. She is Full Professor of Industrial Ecology and Climate Change at Humboldt University Berlin and Affiliated Professor at the Institute of Social Ecology of Alpen-Adria University in Vienna
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Bruno M.C Oberle
Bruno Oberle is President of the World Resources Forum. He was a professor at EPFL, Director General of the IUCN, and Secretary of State for Environment, helping to set up the Global Environment Facility and the Green Climate Fund.
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S. Vijay Kumar
S. Vijay Kumar has directed India’s National Wastelands Development Programme and the National Rural Roads Development Agency. He was also Permanent Secretary of the Ministries of Rural Development and Mines. He is now Distinguished Fellow at TERI.
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Elias T. Ayuk
Elias T. Ayuk is the Director of Policy Advisory Services at CHAINT Afrique Academy. He has published widely on the social, economic and policy dimensions of natural resource management, on poverty analysis and institutional capacity building.