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Who We Are

The Global Climate Hub is operating as an SDSN Thematic Network which includes the expertise and talent of individuals and members of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network

The Hosting Institutions of the SDSN Global Climate Hub (SDSN-GCH) are the Athens University of Economics and Business (AUEB) and the “Athena” Research and Innovation Center in Information, Communication and Knowledge Technologies (ATHENA RC), both of which are part of the Alliance of Excellence for Research and Innovation on Αephoria (AE4RIA), an initiative for collaboration between research institutions, innovation accelerators, and science-technology-policy interface networks focused on sustainable development. The Academy of Athens and the Technical University of Denmark, are two of the most important co-founding institutions of the GCH.

The chair of the SDSN-GCH is Prof. Phoebe Koundouri, who also is the founder and director of AE4RIA.

The SDSN-GCH consists of nine thematic units that cover in an interlinked fashion a broad spectrum of climate sustainability concerns & needs:

The works of the units of the GCH is supported by 200 researchers.
The SDSN-GCH collates expertise, knowledge, data, and tools to provide science-based and human-centric pathways towards net zero transformation towards 2050. For successfully treading this way, sophisticated support from advanced digital technologies, complex science modelling and a holistic multi-module approach are needed, to provide suitable science-based recommendations. The SDSN GCH makes extensive use of data, knowledge and technologies provided by experts, and couples this with country-specific action plans aiming at their adoption and reinforcement by society. It adopts a holistic multi-module approach, allowing for the evaluation of variable complexities and scales, providing relevant technical, financial, and policy solutions.

Supported by

Chair

Phoebe Koundouri

Professor, Athens University of Economics and Business & Technical University of Denmark

Professor Dr. Phoebe Koundouri is a world-renowned pioneer in innovative, human-centric, interdisciplinary systems for the sustainable interaction between nature, society, and the economy. She is included in the Stanford University list of top 2% world scientists and  is a member of the Nominating Committee for the Nobel Prize in Economics. She is Professor at the School of Economics and Director of ReSEES Laboratory, at the Athens University of Economics and Business. She is also Visting Professor at the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Cambridge. She is the  Director of the  Sustainable Development Unit (SDU) at ATHENA Information Technology Research Center. She is founder and director of the Alliance of Excellence for Research and Innovation on Aeiphoria (AE4RIA), linking the research and innovation work of research centers, innovations accelerators, and numerous science-policy networks and scientific academies, which Professor Koundouri leads, directs or chairs, with more than 200 researchers and 100 large, interdisciplinary, competitively funded research projects, with case studies in more than 120 countries. She is chair of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) Global Climate Hub and co-chair of SDSN Europe, with 2000 universities involved.

She holds an MPhil and a PhD in Economics from the Faculty of Economics and Politics, Department of Economics, University of Cambridge and held academic positions at the University of Cambridge, University College London, University of Reading, London School of Economics and Politics and the Technical University of Denmark.  She has published 19 monographs and edited books, more than 400 scientific papers (and 200 articles in public press) in the following fields of research: Economics and Econometrics, Mathematics, Social Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Geosciences, Multidisciplinary Sciences and Philosophy of Science,  including publications in Nature, the Lancet, and top-ranked economics, econometrics, and sustainability science journals. She edits and co-edits several prestigious academic journals, including Nature: Climate ActionEnvironmental and Resources Economics, Frontiers in Environmental Economics. She has organized numerous international scientific conferences, supervised more than 30 PhD students, and gave keynote speeches and public lectures across the world, including spechess in all major multilateral and high-level fora.

Professor Koundouri is an academician, elected fellow of prestigious academies including Academia EuropaeaWorld Academy of Art and ScienceEuropean Academy of Sciences and ArtsInterAcademy PartnershipAcademy of Engineering and Technology of Developing WorldPontifical Academy of Social SciencesProgram on the Fraternal Economy

European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (EAERE), European Forest Institute.  In 2020 she received the prestigious European Research Council Synergy Grant, in 2021 she received the EAERE ERC Award of scientific excellence, and in 2023, she was awarded the Academy of Athens Award for Scientific Excellence, awarded every four years to the most impactful scientist of Greece.

In 2019, she was elected President of the European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists (EAERE) the biggest scientific association in the field, with more than 1500 member institutions, from more than 75 countries and she is now chairing the World Council of Environmental and Natural Resource Economists Associations (WCERE), including the USA, the Latin American, the European, the African, the Asian and the Oceanian Associations of Environmental and Resource Economists, with many thousands of member scientists from more than 160 countries.

Professor Koundouri’s international impact is also evident through her advisory work in the multilateral space, including Academia Europaea Representative to S20 Task Force 2 on Bioeconomy of the G20 Heads of States, Commissioner for the Lancet Commission on COVID-19 Recovery, member of the Fraternal Economy of Integral and Sustainable Development of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, the European Investment Bank Climate Leaders Network,  the Leading Women for the Ocean (LWO),    the National Board for Research and Innovation (NBRI) of Cyprus, the Special Scientific Committee on Climate Change of the Greek Ministry of Environment and Energy and its representative in the International Climate Councils Network (ICCN), the Regional Action on Climate Change International Advisory Committee (RACC-IAC) associated with the STS Forum funded by the overnment of Japan; Earth-Humanity Coalition (EHC), EU Climate Pact Ambassador,  Scientific and Conservation Council, Tour du Valat Institut de Recherche pour la Conservation des Zones Humides Méditerranéenne, EAERE observer for the 7th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) and scientific statekeholder to IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Cities, and Ambassator for the European Research Council (ERC). She acts as an advisor to the United Nations, G20, World Bank, European Commission, European Investment Bank, European Bank of Reconstruction and Development, OECD, World Health Organization, governments across the world, and many others, including public and private international and national companies.

Advisory Board

Jeffrey Sachs

Professor, Columbia University, President UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, co-chair SDSN EGD SWG

Ian Bateman

Professor, University of Exeter

Co-Founders

Yannis Ioannidis

Professor, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

Andreas Papandreou

Professor, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, co- chair SDSN Greece

Christos Zerefos

Secretary General of the Academy of Athens; Head of the Research Center for Atmospheric Physics & Climatology of the Academy of Athens; Professor Emeritus

Yuen Yoong Leong

Professor, Sunway University; Director, Sustainability Studies, SDSN Asia

Heads of Units

Prof. Yannis Ioannidis

Professor, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

Natalia Manola

Managing Director & Researcher, Athena Research and Innovation Centre / University of Athens

Prof. Christos Zerefos

Secretary General of the Academy of Athens; Head of the Research Center for Atmospheric Physics & Climatology of the Academy of Athens; Professor Emeritus

Dr. Aggelos Alamanos

Research Advisor Associate

Dr. Konstantinos Dellis

Post-Doc Researcher ReSEES AUEB & SDU Athena Research Center

Prof. Dogan Keles

Professor, Technical University of Denmark

Prof. Yuen Yoong Leong

Professor, Sunway University; Director, Sustainability Studies, SDSN Asia

Prof. Karyn Morrissey

Professor, Technical University of Denmark

Prof. Alexandros Charalambides

Associate Professor, Cyprus University of Technology

Lydia Papadaki

PhD (c),Athens University of Economics and Business

Prof. Athanasios Yannakopoulos

Professor, Athens University of Economics and Business

Dr. Conrad Landis

Post-Doc Researcher ReSEES AUEB & SDU Athena Research Center

Dr. Ebun Akinsete

Senior Researcher, Athena Research Center

Eleni Toli

Senior Researcher, Athena Research Center

Prof. Patrick Paul Walsh

Vice President of Education/ Director SDG Academy - SDSN

Secretariat

Giannis Marnelis

Assistant Communications Manager

Nikos Mavrogiannakis

Financial Manager

Angelika Mexia

Office Operations Manager

Lambros Lois

Administrative Finance Assistant

Mary Psilou

Communications Manager

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