Speakers & presentations

Dr. Luke Aldred

Environment Director & ESG Lead for Benelux Region // AECOM

Session 2 - Industry Vision: Panel Discussion

Luke has over 15 years of working in technical consultancy in the private sector, with a background in sustainability generally, and low carbon strategies, designs, and technologies more specifically.  Luke’s experience covers a wide range of project and programmes, at many different scales and across multiple public and commercial sectors and geographies.

Luke leads the ESG offering in the Benelux region, and strives to bring a balanced approach to the challenges and opportunities faced by different stakeholders.

Koen Coppenholle

Chief Executive // CEMBUREAU

Reaching Climate Neutrality along the Cement and Concrete Value Chain by 2050

Keynote Presentation: "Reaching Climate Neutrality along the Cement and Concrete Value Chain by 2050"

Koen Coppenholle is Chief Executive of the European Cement Association (CEMBUREAU) since 1 July 2012. Before joining CEMBUREAU, Koen was Head of European Affairs for ArcelorMittal in Brussels. Between September 2000 and November 2007, he was Senior Counsel European Affairs with General Electric EMEA in Brussels.  Koen was Senior Associate with the law firm Linklaters De Bandt in Brussels (1995-2000), worked as a “référendaire” in the cabinet of the Dutch Judge P.J.G. Kapteyn at the European Court of Justice from 1992 to 1995 and was teaching European law at the University of Leuven before that period. 

Koen graduated “magna cum laude” at the Law Faculty of Leuven University in 1988 and holds an LL.M. degree from Harvard Law School (1990).  He is author of various publications on European Community law and a regular speaker at conferences.

Juan Manuel Cruz Palacios

Director Industrial Relations, H&S and Sustainability // Acciona

Business as Unusual - Providing Sustainable Solutions

Keynote Presentation: "Business as Unusual - Providing Sustainable Solutions"

Juan Manuel has more than 30 years of experience in the private sector focused on Corporate resources, HR and HSE responsibilities in Spain, Latam, Europe, North America and Australia.

His background as lawyer specialised in labour law and industrial relations and his more than 15 years of experience as HR Director in the airline sector and as a consultant in PwC focused on M&A and transactional services gives him a broad experience in a the social approach to sustainability challenges. Along the last 15 years in ACCIONA, he has been member of the Sustainability Master Plan Team focused on People, Human Rights and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) strategies.

He is member of different organisations as individual and also representing ACCIONA in EDI third sector and Social Employers Organisations as international Labour and Industrial Relations expert.

Dr. Juha Kostiainen

Executive Vice President, Urban Development // YIT Corporation

Session 2 - Industry Vision: Panel Discussion

Dr. Juha Kostiainen holds a position of EVP Urban Development in YIT Corporation and he is a member of the Group’s Management Committee. His areas of responsibility include also ESG matters in YIT. Additionally, Mr. Kostiainen is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Tampere (Strategic Development of City-regions), and has published several articles on competitiveness of city-regions and urban development. Mr. Kostiainen is Building Life Campaign Ambassador of the World Green Building Council and Green Building Council Finland.

Norbert Pralle

Chairman // ENCORD and Head of Innovation Management // Ed. Züblin AG

A Vision and Draft Action Plan for a more Sustainable and Resource-Efficient Construction Industry

TIME to get CONcrete - Towards a Common Vision for a Resource-efficient and Carbon-neutral Construction Ecosystem

Norbert is currently Head of Innovation Management at the German contractor Ed. Züblin AG, which belongs to the STRABAG SE Group. As Head of Development & Innovation he was responsible from 2008 until 2020 for Corporate Responsibility, Innovation Management, and IPR on the Group Level. Norbert has been representing ZÜBLIN/STRABAG at ENCORD since 2004, which he chairs since 2018. He is also a member of the ECTP (European Construction Technology Platform) Steering Committee.

Trained as a geophysicist, geologist, and a geotechnical engineer, with degrees from Rice University in Houston, US, and Technical University of Karlsruhe, Germany, he acquired a diverse and international project experience at the geotechnical and tunnelling design offices of the contractors Bilfinger Berger and Ed. Züblin AG.

Fields of particular interest are how to drive the much needed transformation of construction into a resource efficient and carbon neutral sector.

Tom Van Ierland

Head of Unit C1, Strategy & Economic Assessment // DG CLIMA

The ´Fit for 55` climate package of the European Union Commission

Policy Context: "The Fit for 55 Climate Package of the European Union"

Tom Van Ierland joined the Commission in 2006. Within DG Climate Action he is head of unit C1, dealing with Strategy and Economic Assessment. This unit is closely involved in the development of the overall climate change policy framework both at the EU and international level and the economic modeling underpinning it. He started his career at the Belgian's Federal Planning Bureau in 1999 where he focused on emission trading. He was a member of cabinet of the Belgian Federal Minister for the Environment. He worked 2 years as consultant for Price Waterhouse Coopers. He has a broad experience both in the international negotiations on climate change as well as in the development of EU Climate Change policies.

Tom Van Ierland holds academic degrees in Applied Economics, Environmental Economics and Computer Sciences from the University of Leuven and University College London.