2021 Accounting for water: The present and future of nature-based approaches

Mrs. Julia Martínez Blanco holds a PhD in Environmental Science and Technology and from the Autonomous University of Barcelona. Founding partner and senior expert of the strategical eco-innovation studio inèdit. She presents 14 years of experience with the methodology of Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) applied to products and organizations and the ecoinnovation in industrial, urban and agricultural systems. She is also external researcher and teacher linked to the Autonomous University of Barcelona and the Technical University of Berlin. She is also Subject Editor in the International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment. She is also the Subject Editor of the section Organizational LCA in the International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, the most important and recognized indexed scientific journal in the field of ACV and the carbon footprint. More than 30 articles published in indexed journals, several book chapters and main author of 2 UNEP report publications: "Guidance on Organizational Life Cycle Assessment" and "Road testing organizational life cycle assessment around the world: Applications, experiences and lessons learned." She was responsible for the secretariat of the flagship activity UNEP / SETAC Life Cycle Initiative "LCA of organizations" from 2013-2017.

Doctorate in anthropology from Oxford University in 1988, on the social organization of informal sector mining camps in the Amazon, followed by research posts at the universities of Edinburgh, Cambridge and Harvard. He then returned to Brazil for four years to direct an EU-funded project assessing mercury contamination linked to gold mining in the Brazilian Amazon. Joined The Nature Conservancy in 1999, where he set up the Conservancy’s Amazon program. Subsequently based in Rio de Janeiro as director of conservation strategy for Latin America, leading work with the private sector, especially agribusiness, with a focus on eliminating deforestation from supply chains in the beef and soy industries. Returning to the USA in 2010, he took up a new position as the Conservancy’s director of global agriculture, where he has helped the organization develop a sustainable intensification approach to food security, and assisted corporate partners in thinking through land-use issues. He is responsible for supporting and coordinating the Conservancy’s work on agriculture in Africa, China and Latin America, with a strong focus on soil health, water issues and habitat conservation, while continuing to supervise the Conservancy’s work on deforestation. He is the author of several books and articles on development and environmental issues, but was also the first author of the Rough Guide to Brazil.  He moved to his native London in 2019.

Therese Noorlander is European sustainability director at the Coca-Cola Company. Therese is responsible for driving the corporate sustainability agenda in Europe. This means ensuring her organization meets the sustainability commitments. Her organization has many global commitments in place ranging from environmental sustainability to social sustainability topics. For example, World Without Waste focusing on packaging and women empowerment goal called 5by20 focusing on economic empowerment and inclusion of women. She also works with The Coca-Cola Company’s bottling partners to co-ordinate and align on the implementation of their joint sustainability commitments in Europe. Therese studied business administration at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam (the Netherlands). She has experience in both the public and the private sector, having previously worked at Heineken, Nutricia Advanced Medical Nutrition, Pfizer and the Dutch Ministry of Health. After 6 years in the public sector, she joined Coca-Cola. There she started as Public Affairs, Communications and Sustainability Director in the Netherlands. Since 2018 she is responsible to lead Sustainability in Europe for Coca-Cola.

Claudia Olazábal is holder of a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry and Radiochemistry from the University of Strasbourg and a Master’s degree in Science from the University of Texas at Austin. She worked for three years in the Sustainable Resources - Consumption and Waste Unit, then became Policy Officer and Head of the Soil Sector dealing with the development of Community policy on soil protection in the Agriculture, Forests and Soil Unit. She was for 4 years the Deputy Head of the Biodiversity Unit and was appointed Head of the Agriculture, Forests and Soil Unit in 2013, which became the Land Use & Management Unit in 2016. All these positions are held in the Directorate General for the Environment of the European Commission.

Ivan Paspaldzhiev is Senior Consultant at denkstatt – the leading sustainability consultancy in Central & Eastern Europe, headquartered in Vienna & with offices Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia, and a long-term partnership with German consultancy sustainable AG. Ivan leads denkstatt’s services for Natural & Social Capital management. As such, he helps companies understand and manage their impacts and dependencies on nature, the economy and society toward creating shared value. He has particular experience in projects for the retail & food & beverages sectors. Ivan’s work includes developing The Coca-Cola Company’s methodology for assessing the ecosystem service benefits of water replenishment projects, as well as multiple natural capital studies with leading wholesalers & retailers such as Metro AG. His wider experience includes topics such as life-cycle assessment & product sustainability, TCFD & climate strategy, as well as impact assessment of environmental policies (primarily for the European Commission). Prior to joining denkstatt, he worked on climate change model development for the UK Hadley Centre. He holds a degree in Ecological and Environmental Sciences from the University of Edinburgh, and is currently working toward a second degree in Big Data Analytics.