Spyros Kouvelis

Spyros started his involvement in politics in 1997, when he was appointed as Advisor to the Deputy Minister of Environment, Planning and Public Works of Greece, a post that he held until 2001, advising on Environmental Protection, Nature, Water Management and coordination with Civil Society and NGOs.

After a short period of Business Management and Finance with Coopers and Lybrand and Unilever he joined the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) as a Conservation Director in 1991.

After leaving politics in 2012, he worked closely with the Mediterranean Action Plan of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP/MAP), acting as Senior Expert and head of the Experts Team for the development of the 2nd Edition of the Mediterranean Strategy for Sustainable Development (MSSD) and the Action Plan for Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP).

In 2017 he established the joint initiative on Sustainable Development and Governance between the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership (CISL) – of the University of Cambridge, and the European Public Law Organization (EPLO), an International Organization with Permanent Observer status at the UN General Assembly.

Since 2023, he is the Team Leader of the EU-GCC Cooperation on Green Transition project, established by the European External Action Service and funded by the EU Foreign Policy Instrument.

The project focuses on promoting Green Transition and cooperation on Decarbonisation, Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency, Green hydrogen and Climate change adaptation between the European Union, and Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.