Meet our experts. Here comes our Scientific Advisory Board

ESG topics pose new and complex challenges that were previously largely outside the remit of financial institutions. They require targeted scientific expertise that needs to be leveraged through collaborations with the research community to enhance climate and environmental practices at Spuerkeess and the entire Luxembourgish financial sector in the long term. This pioneering project got the formal support of Luxembourg’s Minister of Finance and the Spuerkeess board and its executives. It not only adds significant value to Spuerkeess’ projects and activities but will also enrich the entire Luxembourgish financial sector as well as other sectors exposed to climate and environmental risks.

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Take a look behind the scenes and find out what sustainability means to each of our board members personally.

" Sustainability is a matter of aligning our responsibility for the other to a purpose. "
_{Dr. Enrico Benetto}

" Sustainability is not a lifestyle choice we may or may not adopt. It is a necessary behavioural change of how we conduct our daily activities. Sustainability to me thus means thinking about my daily actions more consciously, be it the food or clothes I buy, how I get around or where I invest my money. Our daily actions have the greatest impact on the environment and sustainable development and it is up to each of us to be mindful of our choices and spread the message as wide as we can. "
_{Jenny De Nijs}

" For me, it is important to understand sustainability as both a means and an end: Sustainability as a goal means serving the needs of the many, not just the needs of a select few, and explicitly within the limits of our planet.

Sustainability as a pathway means learning from each other and from other places, thinking beyond established boundaries, and bringing voices from different backgrounds together – to create new solutions for Luxembourg and its unique environment. "
_{Dr. Sabine Dörry}

" My aim is to help to communicate the best available science and information to policy makers in particular and the public in general. I am convinced that having access to scientific data and information in a clear and understandable way will help to make society more sustainable and in particular to take the necessary actions to limit further changes in the climate system to the lowest possible level. "
_{Dr. Andrew Ferrone}

" Sustainability is using our limited resources wisely and avoiding negative impact. I apply this in my personal life: cycling wherever possible, prioritizing public transport and cutting my meat consumption to a minimum.

I feel that the first and the last make me more energetic. Professionally, I focus on investing in sustainable energy and infrastructure in Africa, Asia and Latin America, trying to support sustainability and positive development impact worldwide. "
_{Dr. Gunter Fischer}

" Sustainability is the idea that the production of goods and services should be done in ways that do not use resources that cannot be replaced and that do not damage the environment in order to allow for the quality of life of present and future societies not to decrease. "
_{Dr. Lucien Hoffmann}

" To me, living sustainability means that my private and professional actions not only optimize my own life, but also improve the lives of others - be it in distant lands, future generations, or other living beings. "
_{Dr. Mirjam Kosch}

" Sustainability requires transforming how we think of and relate to ourself, other people and the environment we live and work in. That’s not easy given our social system and infrastructures produce patterns of thought and behaviour that are hard to escape. The courses and study programme I have built since 2010 serve to equip change agents, such that we can better recognise leverage points for local and systemic change, and evaluate and learn from these changes in a networked manner.

This can involve citizen science and other means. With my research team, and personally, I work to improve how we engage with and regenerate healthy water, soil and biodiversity, in Luxembourg and beyond.

My organic garden at home I share with countless lizards and diverse mice, a slowworm and a rare smooth snake, who seem to enjoy the many insects and packaging- and logistics-free vegetables and fruit there as much as I do. "
_{Dr. Ariane König}

" Sustainability to me means safeguarding our Earth limited resources and natural capital for our future generations. For the past 20 years I am dedicated to climate finance, providing value to projects with positive climate and sustainable development impacts. My goal is to find new ways to finance a much faster and equitable transition to a low carbon and resilient economy. Therefore, I have joined the Scientific Advisory Board of Spuerkeess to support its sustainability journey. "
_{Nathalie Roth}

" Science plays a vital stewardship role in in helping us understand complex environmental processes, social contexts, and climate-related data. By collaborating with regulators, banks, and investors, scientists support financial experts in analysing various climate-related and environmental risks to identify potential sustainability-related impacts of financial products and investments. "
_{Dr. Kim Schumacher (Chair of Scientific Advisory Board)}

" Being sustainable, for me, means being impactful. I try to create positive change at home, at work, and through personal projects. For instance, I wrote a textbook called “Clean Fuels” for school students, giving an overview of alternative energies.

The anticipated long-term impact is that this book can enable its young readers, unlike previous generations, to deal with the topic in a more critical and constructive way along their future endeavours. "
_{Dr. Félix Urbain}

"To me, sustainability means to be conscious about my daily decisions and knowledgable about their consequences on the environment, the climate and people living potentially far away. Sustainability also means to teach my kids to switch off the light when leaving a room and to raise them to become critically-thinking, self-reflecting and attentive adults. As a consequence, sustainability to me is inherently linked to education, knowledge creation and research."

_{Professor Michael Halling}

About the blog:

There is an urgent need for rapid transition to Global Environmental Sustainability. Thanks to changemakers, progress is possible. "Why does it matter?" is a bi-monthly series that takes a quick look at the forefront of today's trends around sustainability. From May 2021 on, we aim to elucidate this important topic through the eyes of our experts.

Your contribution counts too! From June on, don't miss out our experts' practical tips for your daily life.