Janez Potočnik (pronounced ; born 22 March 1958) is a Slovenian politician who served as

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...

er for Environment from 2009 until 2014. He was formerly Slovenia's Minister for European Affairs. In November 2014, he became co-chair of the International Resource Panel (IRP), a forum of scientists and experts working on natural resources management.

Biography

Janez Potočnik was born on 22 March 1958 in

Kropa Kropa () is a settlement in the Municipality of Radovljica in the Upper Carniola region of Slovenia. Name The settlement was first attested in 1498 as ''Chropp'' or ''Krupp''. It is believed to derive from the identical hydronym (now Kroparica Cr ...

SR Slovenia The Socialist Republic of Slovenia ( sl, Socialistična republika Slovenija, sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Slovenija, Социјалистичка Република Словенија), commonly referred to as Sociali ...

. His father Stojan was innkeeper and his mother Lojzka was a school teacher. He has one sibling, a brother seven years older named Lojz. After finishing elementary school in Lipnica, Potočnik attended

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

in Kranj, where he was also active in sports, notably in

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

and

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

. After high school he moved to

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the ar ...

, where he received a bachelor's degree in economics from the University of Ljubljana in 1982.

Early career

Potočnik served as assistant director (1984–1987) and director (1993–2001) at the Institute of Macroeconomic Analysis and Development in

. In 1993, he received his PhD in

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics anal ...

from the University of Ljubljana. Between 1988 and 1993, he was a senior researcher at the Institute for Economic Research in Ljubljana.

Political career

Potočnik was Minister Councillor at the Slovenian Prime Minister's Cabinet from 2001 to 2002 and Minister for European Affairs from 2002 to 2004. He headed the negotiating team for the Accession of Slovenia to the EU between 1998 and 2004. In 2004 Potočnik became European Commissioner, since November responsible for science and research. On 27 November 2009 he was nominated to serve as European Commissioner for the Environment in the

Barroso Commission The Barroso Commission was the European Commission in office from 22 November 2004 until 31 October 2014. Its president was José Manuel Barroso, who presided over 27 other commissioners (one from each of the states composing the European Un ...

. While commissioner, Potočnik stated that he believes trading knowledge and the development of an information society to create prosperity is as important to Europe as trading steel and coal to create peace was 50 years ago. He aimed to develop the European Research Area.

Later career

Since 2014, Potočnik has been co-chairing – alongside Alicia Bárcena (2014-2017) and

Izabella Teixeira Izabella Teixeira was the Brazilian Minister of the Environment. She is the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award (Champions of the Earth) in 2013. Education She was born in Brasília, and has a master's degree in energy planning and a Ph ...

(since 2017) – the International Resource Panel at the

United Nations Environment Programme The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is responsible for coordinating responses to environmental issues within the United Nations system. It was established by Maurice Strong, its first director, after the United Nations Conference on ...

(UNEP); he succeeded Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker in that position. In 2020, he served on the advisory board of the annual Human Development Report of the

United Nations Development Programme The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...

(UNDP), co-chaired by Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Michael Spence. Since July 2020, he has also been serving as a special advisor on sustainability to European Commissioner for the Environment & Oceans and Fisheries

Virginijus Sinkevičius Virginijus Sinkevičius (born 4 November 1990) is a Lithuanian politician who has been serving as European Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries in the European Commission led by Ursula von der Leyen since 2019. He previously ...

. Additional roles include: * ThinkForest Forum, President (since 2019) * SytemiQ, Partne

* SDG multi-stakeholder platform, hosted by European Commission, Membe

* Forum for the Future of Agriculture, Chairman (since 201

* Rural Investment Support for Europe (RISE) Foundation, Chairman (since 201

* Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF), President of the long-term vision for the Balkans sub-region of the Mediterranean Biodiversity Hotspot * 'A vision for Europe towards sustainable and circular economy', Member of the Steering Committee

Recognition

Honorary degrees

* 2008 – Honorary doctorate in

science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence ...

from

Imperial College London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

* 2009 – Honorary doctorate from Ghent University * 2016 – Honorary doctorate in Economics and Business Administration from Aalto University

Awards

* 2011 – Fray International Sustainability Award, awarded by the Fray International Symposium * 2013 –

Champions of the Earth The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) established Champions of the Earth in 2005 as an annual awards programme to recognize outstanding environmental leaders from the public and private sectors, and from civil society. Award details T ...

, awarded by the

* 2014 – ACER Award, awarded by the Catalan Association of Research Entities * 2014 – Twelve Stars for the Environment Award, awarded by the

European Environmental Bureau The European Environmental Bureau (EEB) is a network of around 170 environmental citizens' organisations based in more than 35 countries. The EEB is a democratic federation, representing local, national, European and international groups in Eu ...

(EEB) * 2015 – Personality Trophy at the Circular Economy Competition, awarded by the Institute of Circular Economy in Paris * 2015 – Hans-Carl-Von-Carlowitz Prize, awarded by Carlowitz company * 2015 – Adam Smith Prize for Environmental Economic Policy, awarded by the Green Budget Germany

References

External links

*
Official Media GalleryJanez Potočnik's blog
, - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Potocnik, Janez 1958 births Living people Liberal Democracy of Slovenia politicians 20th-century Slovenian economists Slovenian European Commissioners University of Ljubljana alumni People from the Municipality of Radovljica Yugoslav economists 21st-century Slovenian economists