OUR MISSION
SDSN Europe serves as a collaborative platform that brings together the 19 European SDSN chapters to cooperate on topics of mutual regional concern.
SDSN Europe mobilises over 500 member organizations, coordinates scientific expertise and knowledge to advance sustainable development, and supports resilient European policies, aligning closely with EU priorities such as the Green Deal. Launched in 2020, notable contributions include the annual Europe Sustainable Development Report, which provides an independent assessment of EU progress on the SDGs, and its collaboration with the European Economic and Social Committee on workshops to strengthen SDG leadership.
SDSN Europe was launched in December 2020, coinciding with the release of the 2020 Europe Sustainable Development Report. Its goal was to mobilize and coordinate knowledge and science across SDSN networks to support a sustainable and resilient European recovery, after the Covid-19 pandemic. With the European Green Deal positioning the EU as a leader in sustainable development and the approval of the Recovery and Resilience Fund, there was a unique opportunity to advance SDG implementation and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Three regional leaders—Adolf Kloke-Lesch, Angelo Riccaboni, and Phoebe Koundouri—were invited to coordinate SDSN’s work in Europe as European SDSN Chairs.
Team
Phoebe Koundouri
Co-Chair of SDSN Europe
Co-Chair of SDSN Greece
Prof. Phoebe Koundouri is a world-renowned environmental economics professor and global leader in sustainable development. She is widely recognized as a pioneer in innovative, human-centric, interdisciplinary systems for the sustainable interaction between nature, society, and the economy. Prof. Koundouri is listed in the most-cited women economists in the world, with 15 published books and more than 300 published peer reviewed scientific papers.
Prof. Koundouri is University Professor (the university’s highest academic rank) at the School of Economics, Athens University of Economics and Business, an elected fellow of the World Academy of Art & Science and the President-elect of the European Association of Environmental and Natural Resource Economists for the period 2019-2025 (EAERE) with more than 1200 scientific member institutions, from more than 75 different countries).
Prof. Koundouri is the Founder and Scientific Director of the Research Laboratory on Socio-Economic and Environmental Sustainability (ReSEES) at Athens University of Economics and Business, focusing on interdisciplinary research on socio-economic and environmental systems. She is also Affiliated Professor at the ATHENA Research and Innovation Center, where she founded and scientifically directs the Sustainable Development Unit and the EIT Climate-KIC Hub Greece of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology , the latter focusing on accelerating technological and social innovations for use in the transition to a climate neutral economy.
Prof. Koundouri is also the co-Chair of United Nations Sustainable Development Network (UN SDSN) –Europe. The leadership of UN SDSN-Europe is constituted from existing National SDSN European networks and its mission is to serve as a science driven interface with European Commission policymaking. Prof. Koundouri is also the Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of the International Centre for Research on the Environment and the Economy (ICRE8) and Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of the European Forest Institute.
Prof. Koundouri is one of the Commissioners of the prestigious Lancet Commission on COVID-19 for which she co-chairs the “Jobs-based Green Recovery” Task Force. She leads the UN SDSN Senior Working Group on “Transformation Pathways for the implementation of EGD and the SDGs”, co-leads the UN SDSN Sustainable Shipping and Ports and Shipping Initiative, and the UN SDSN 4-seas (Mediterranean, Black, Caspian and Aral Seas) Blue Growth Initiative. She is a member of the CEPR (Center for Economic Policy Research) Network (RPN) on Climate Change, member of the Priministerial Committee for the Recovery and 10-year Development Plan of Greece, the National Climate Change Committee of the Greece, as well as chair or member of numerous European and International Scientific, Research and Policy Boards and Committees.
Prof. Koundouri acts as a scientific advisor to the European Commission, World Bank, European Investment Bank, the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development, OECD, UN, NATO, and WHO, etc. numerous national and international foundations and organizations, as well as national governments across the world. Also, Prof. Koundouri is editorial board member of more than 20 prestigious scientific journals
Since 1997, she has coordinated more than 100 interdisciplinary research projects, in all five continents, focused on combinations of Sustainable Development, Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation, Behavioural Economics and Econometrics, Economics of Wellbeing and Happiness, Natural Resource-Food-Energy Nexus, Smart Water Systems, Ecosystem Services Valuation, Blue Growth, Circular Economy, Systems Innovation, Innovation Acceleration and Commercialization, and has attracted significant competitive research funding. Prof. Koundouri and her large interdisciplinary team (more than 200 researchers) have produced research and policy results that have contributed to accelerating research and innovation for the enablement of Sustainable Development and has contributed to shaping European and National policies.
Over the last two decades, Professor Koundouri has given keynote and public lecturers, at high level forums all over the world, and received various prizes for academic excellence, including best paper awards, highest policy impact paper, European Research project award, etc. as well as the prestigious European Research Council (ERC) Synergy Grant (2020-2027), which focuses on design of the next generation of urban water systems, via the combination of water science, systems and control theory, economics, decision-science and machine learning. This is the biggest research project in the world at the moment working on urban water systems.
Prior to joining the Athens University of Economics and Business, Professor Koundouri has held academic positions at the University of Cambridge, University College London, University of Reading and London School of Economics. Prof. Koundouri holds a PhD and MPhil in Economics and Econometrics from the University of Cambridge (UK). For her studies she received a full scholarship from the University of Cambridge and the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust.
Prof. Koundouri was born and raised in Cyprus. During the period 1991-2006, she studied and worked in the UK (Leicester, Cambridge, Reading, London). Since 2006 she leaves in Greece (Athens) with her husband, Prof. Nikitas Pittis, and their three daughters: Chrysilia, Billie and Athena.
Angelo Riccaboni
Co-Chair of SDSN Europe
Chair of SDSN Mediterranean
Angelo Riccaboni is Chairman of PRIMA Foundation, created by 29 Countries and the EC to fund agrifood innovation, located in Barcelona. He also chairs the Santa Chiara Lab, an innovation center at the University of Siena. Former Rector of the University of Siena from (2010-2016), he is a member of the Leadership Council of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Solutions Network, Chair of the Regional Centre of the SDSN for the Mediterranean, Co-Chair of the SDSN Europe. A full Professor in Business Administration at the University of Siena, his main research interests relate to businesses’ governance and management systems for sustainability and to innovation in agrifood systems. He was Chair of the Association of Italian Rectors Foundation. He is also a Member of the EC sub-group on Mission Area Soil Health and Food of the ‘shadow’ strategic configuration of the Horizon Europe Program Committee.
María Cortés Puch
Vice-President of SDSN
Networks Program
María Cortés Puch is the Vice President of Networks of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, which operates under the auspices of the UN Secretary-General to support the implementation of the SDGs and the Paris Climate Agreement. She leads the SDSN efforts to build a global network of universities, research centers and civil society organizations that pursue sustainable development innovation locally through research, public education, executive training, demonstration projects, convening of social stakeholders and incubation of solutions. Prior to joining the SDSN, María worked for UNESCO at the Science Policy and Sustainable Development Division for two years. Previously, she coordinated the European energy and transport programs at the Polytechnic University in Madrid, and worked for two years as a Scientific Officer at the Spanish Office for Science and Technology in Brussels, analyzing EU policies for international cooperation, transport and energy. She began her professional career with the National Institute of Aerospace Technology in Madrid as a Technology Transfer Officer. Maria holds a Master’s Degree in International Affairs from Columbia University (Fulbright scholar) and BSc. and MSc. degrees in Physics from the Complutense University in Madrid (with one year at Paris VII as an Erasmus scholar). She currently lives in Madrid with her family.
Simone Cresti
Manager SDSN Mediterranean
Simone Cresti is a staff member of the Santa Chiara Lab of the University of Siena. With a background in political sciences and sustainable management systems he is involved in research and education projects in the fields of sustainability.
He contributed to the development of the Massive Open Online Course “Sustainable Food Systems: a Mediterranean Perspective” offered through the ASD Academy-EdX platform and to the organization of the Siena Advanced School on Sustainable Development.
He is engaged in the research project “Fixing the Business of Food” developed by the Barilla Centre for Food and Nutrition, The Center of Sustainable Investments of Columbia University and SDSN.
He is part of the teaching Staff of the Jean Monnet Module “Delivering Eu Studies on Agenda 2030” and serves as Network Manager of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network for the Mediterraenan region.
Andrija Erac
SDSN Head of Networks
Andrija is the Head of the Networks Team at SDSN. He oversees the work of over 50 national and regional networks that is coordinated by the secretariat offices in New York, Paris, Kuala Lumpur and Kigali. He also contributes to a number of cross-cutting initiatives and projects in the field of decarbonisation, climate adaptation and health.
Previously, Andrija worked at the ICC (International Chamber of Commerce), managing high-value commercial negotiations and disputes. In this role, Andrija worked with a variety of sectors (construction, energy, transports etc.) and actors (multinational companies, state owned enterprises, state entities, IGOs) in over 30 countries.
Hamza Kechiche SDSN Networks Communications Officer
Hamza is a young professional dedicated to international development and sustainability. At SDSN, he supports the Networks Team, focusing on several EU projects, and contributes to the Communications Team’s outreach efforts. Before joining SDSN, Hamza had experience working on social and behavior change projects in collaboration with major institutional donors such as UNICEF, UNDP, UN Women, WFP, and USAID, across Africa and the Middle East. His work spanned a range of critical issues, including climate change, global health, gender, food security, and WASH, covering all aspects of projects lifecycle — from research, data collection, and analysis to strategy design, implementation, workshop facilitation, and monitoring and evaluation. In addition, Hamza also worked with a European cluster on Transport and Mobility, a collective of associations focused on Africa’s development, and at the French Embassy in Podgorica, where he supported Montenegro’s EU accession efforts.
Hamza holds master’s degrees in International Relations from Paris 2 Assas University and in African and Mediterranean Studies from Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University, and is currently pursuing a Master’s in European Affairs at Sciences Po Paris. A native French speaker, he is fluent in English and has intermediate proficiency in Arabic and Spanish.
Marta García Haro SDSN Networks Senior Manager
Marta is Senior Manager within the Networks Program of SDSN. She is the focal point for the networks in the Mediterranean region as well as the Black Sea, UK and Ireland. She also leads the Universities for Goal 13 competition and award. Previously she was the manager of SDSN Spain and the director of the non-profit association that hosts the network, where she led projects such as the ‘Spanish Cities SDG Index’ and the annual seminar ‘Culture and Sustainable Development’ (5 editions). She is the author of several publications on the subject, including ‘How to implement the SDGs in the cultural field’.Before joining SDSN in 2015 she pursued her professional career in the cultural arena, where she carried out projects for some of the most renowned art institutions in Spain. She regularly teaches about sustainable cultural management at different master’s degrees and other fora. She has a BA in Economics and Business Administration and a BA in History of Art from the University of Valencia and a Master’s Degree in Cultural Policies from LUMSA University. She is currently based in Madrid, Spain.
Zofia Kunysz
SDSN Networks Program Associate
Zofia is a Project Manager in the Networks Team. She leads the team’s work on several EU-funded projects in the areas of climate mitigation, climate adaptation, and skills building. She also contributes to the SDSN Europe initiative.
Previously, Zofia worked for the OECD’s Climate Change Expert Group (CCXG), focusing on the Global Stocktake process and countries’ net zero emissions targets, as well as the Polish Ministry of Climate and Environment, where she supported international cooperation efforts and the Minister’s candidacy for the position of OECD Secretary-General.
Zofia holds a master’s degree in Environmental Policy from Sciences Po Paris and a bachelor’s degree in Global Business, Finance, and Governance from the Warsaw School of Economics. She speaks Polish, English, Spanish, and French.
Hannah York SDSN Networks Intern
Hannah is a Public Policy master’s student at Sciences Po Paris, currently on a gap year. Before joining the SDSN, Hannah worked as a communications intern for the ITER Organization, an international organization in the south of France dedicated to proving the feasibility of fusion energy. She also completed an internship with the National Low Income Housing Coalition in Washington D.C. where she researched how states and localities can act to prevent evictions, discrimination, and housing instability for low-income renters. She is passionate about innovative solutions to climate change which address socioeconomic inequalities.
Hannah holds a bachelor’s degree in History from the University of Georgia. She is a native English speaker, and an intermediate French speaker.