The Management Board of the European Environment Agency (EEA) designated yesterday the EU scientific experts that will be members of the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change for its second term, from 2026 until 2030. The independent advisory body, tasked to provide the European Union (EU) with scientific knowledge, expertise and advice relating to climate change, will begin its second term on 24 March 2026.
The European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change, established under the European Climate Law in 2021, is composed of 15 independent senior scientific experts covering a broad range of relevant disciplines.
The Advisory Board provides independent scientific advice on EU measures and climate targets and their coherence with the European Climate Law and the EU’s international commitments under the Paris Agreement, which will underpin the EU’s climate action and efforts to reach climate neutrality by 2050.
During its first term (2022-2026), the Advisory Board provided advice on important issues such as the EU’s 2040 target, policy gaps and opportunities to reach EU’s climate targets, carbon dioxide removals and EU’s response to the energy crisis and energy infrastructure. The Advisory Board will publish two more reports on adaptation and agriculture before the end of its first term.
The Advisory Board operates independently from EU institutions. Its members are designated by the EEA Management Board for a 4-year term, renewable once, following an open, fair and transparent selection procedure.
New members
On 4 December, the EEA Management Board appointed the following 15 members (in alphabetical order):
- Annela Anger-Kraavi (Estonia) – University of Cambridge
- Constantinos Cartalis (Greece) – National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (second mandate)
- Suraje Dessai (Portugal) – University of Leeds’ School of Earth, Environment, and Sustainability (second mandate)
- Laura Díaz Anadón (Spain) – University of Cambridge (second mandate)
- Ottmar Edenhofer (Germany) – Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (second mandate)
- Vera Eory (Hungary) – Scotland’s Rural College (second mandate)
- Lena Kitzing (Denmark / Germany) – Technical University of Denmark (second mandate)
- Kati Kulovesi (Finland) – University of Eastern Finland
- Lars J. Nilsson (Sweden) – Lund University (second mandate)
- Åsa Persson (Sweden) – KTH Royal Institute of Technology’s Climate Action Centre
- Keywan Riahi (Austria) – International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (second mandate)
- Jean-François Soussana (France) – French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (second mandate)
- Giorgio Vacchiano (Italy) – University of Milan
- Detlef van Vuuren (The Netherlands) – PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency
- Zinta Zommers (Latvia) – University of Toronto
When starting its second term on 24 March 2026, the first tasks of the Advisory Board will be to elect its chairperson and to define its work programme.
Background
The European Climate Law, adopted in June 2021, sets out a binding objective of climate neutrality in the EU by 2050 in pursuit of the long-term temperature goal set out in the Paris Agreement. It also provides a framework for achieving progress in pursuit of the global adaptation goal established in the Paris Agreement.
To support the achievement of these objectives the European Climate Law also provides for the establishment of a European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change. The European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change is established through an amendment of the founding regulation of the EEA.
The members of the Advisory Board are appointed in a personal capacity for a term of four years, renewable once. They will give their positions completely independently of the Member States and the EU institutions. No more than two members of the Advisory Board can hold the nationality of the same Member State.
The Advisory Board is supported in its work by a Secretariat hosted by the European Environment Agency.
Read more about the Advisory Board here.
