Peter W. Heller

Peter W. Heller (born 5 September 1957) is a former deputy mayor of the City of Freiburg im Breisgau in Germany, economist, investor and venture philanthropist.

1990 the council of the City of Freiburg im Breisgau elected him as deputy mayor to head the local administration's environmental protection department,[1] the first of its kind in Southern Germany (until 1996).

1993 the executive committee of ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability elected him as chairman (until 1997).

Heller is the co-founder and executive director of the Canopus Foundation, a private non-profit organisation which became one of the pioneers of Venture Philanthropy in Germany.

Since 2000 the foundation has been providing grants and business development assistance to social enterprises active in the field of rural energy access for low income communities in developing countries.