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 o ...

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. 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 ...

Kranj Kranj (, german: Krainburg) is the third-largest city in Slovenia, with a population of 37,941 (2020). It is located approximately northwest of Ljubljana. The centre of the City Municipality of Kranj and of the traditional region of Upper Carniol ...

, 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 events ...

. 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 The University of Ljubljana ( sl, Univerza v Ljubljani, , la, Universitas Labacensis), often referred to as UL, is the oldest and largest university in Slovenia. It has approximately 39,000 enrolled students. History Beginnings Although certain ...

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 (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...

from the

. 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 A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to in ...

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 Union ...

. 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 The European Research Area (ERA) is a system of scientific research programs integrating the scientific resources of the European Union (EU). Since its inception in 2000, the structure has been concentrated on European cooperation in the fields of ...

Later career

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

International Resource Panel The International Resource Panel is a scientific panel of experts that aims to help nations use natural resources sustainably without compromising economic growth and human needs. It provides independent scientific assessments and expert advice on ...

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 th ...

(UNEP); he succeeded

Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker Ernst Ulrich von Weizsäcker (born 25 June 1939) is a German scientist and politician (SPD). He was a member of the German Bundestag and served as co-president of the Club of Rome jointly with Anders Wijkman 2011 – 2019. Family A member of ...

in that position. In 2020, he served on the advisory board of the annual

Human Development Report The Human Development Report (HDR) is an annual Human Development Index report published by the Human Development Report Office of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The first HDR was launched in 1990 by the Pakistani economist ...

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 Tharman Shanmugaratnam (Tamil: தர்மன் சண்முகரத்தினம்; born 25 February 1957) is a Singaporean politician and economist who has been serving as Senior Minister of Singapore since 2019 and has also been C ...

and Michael Spence. Since July 2020, he has also been serving as a special advisor on sustainability to

& Oceans and Fisheries Virginijus Sinkevičius. 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 Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) is a joint biodiversity conservation initiative of l'Agence Française de Développement, Conservation International, European Union, Global Environment Facility, Government of Japan, and World Bank. CEPF ...

(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 A circular economy (also referred to as circularity and CE) is a model of production and consumption, which involves sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible. CE aims ...

', 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 for ...

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 Ghent University ( nl, Universiteit Gent, abbreviated as UGent) is a public research university located in Ghent, Belgium. Established before the state of Belgium itself, the university was founded by the Dutch King William I in 1817, when the ...

* 2016 – Honorary doctorate in Economics and Business Administration from

Aalto University Aalto University ( fi, Aalto-yliopisto; sv, Aalto-universitetet) is a public research university located in Espoo, Finland. It was established in 2010 as a merger of three major Finnish universities: the Helsinki University of Technology, the He ...

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