João Pedro Matos Fernandes (born 1967) is a Portuguese politician who served as

Minister of the Environment An environment minister (sometimes minister of the environment or secretary of the environment) is a cabinet position charged with protecting the natural environment and promoting wildlife conservation. The areas associated with the duties of an ...

until 30 March 2022.

Early life and education

Matos Fernandes has a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from the University of Porto and a master's degree in transport from

Instituto Superior Técnico Instituto Superior Técnico MHSE • MHIP (IST, also known colloquially as Técnico, and stylized TÉCNICO LISBOA) is a public school of engineering and technology, part of University of Lisbon. It was founded as an autonomous school in 1911 ...

Early career

Before entering politics, Matos Fernandes served as president of the

Portuguese Port Authorities' Association Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

from 2008 to 2010, and as chairman of the

Viana do Castelo Port Authority Viana may refer to: Places * Viana, Luanda, Angola *Viana, Espírito Santo, Brazil * Viana, Maranhão, Brazil *Viana do Castelo, Portugal *Viana, Spain in Navarre * Viana (comarca), Ourense, Galicia, Spain **Viana do Bolo, a municipality in the co ...

from 2009 to 2012.

Political career

When Portugal held the rotating

presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified by a ...

of the

Council of the European Union The Council of the European Union, often referred to in the treaties and other official documents simply as the Council, and informally known as the Council of Ministers, is the third of the seven Institutions of the European Union (EU) as ...

in 2021, Matos Fernandes chaired the meetings of its

Environment Council The Environment Council (ENVI) is a configuration of the Council of the European Union. It meets about four times a year. It brings together the environment ministers and is responsible for the EU environment policy. This Council deals with envir ...

. During his time in office, Matos Fernandes later oversaw an auction in August 2020 of contracts to build and operate new solar energy capacity that set a world record for the lowest price of future output. With Portugal facing a winter drought in early 2022, Matos Fernandes ordered some of the country's hydropower dams to temporarily limit water use for electricity production and irrigation, prioritizing human consumption instead, and to ensure a supply of drinking water for at least two years.Catarina Demony (1 February 2022)
Drought prompts Portugal to order hydropower dams to limit water use
''

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''.

Personal life

Matos Fernandes is a cousin of ''

Narcos ''Narcos'' is an American-Colombian crime drama television series created and produced by Chris Brancato, Carlo Bernard, and Doug Miro. Set and filmed in Colombia, seasons 1 and 2 are based on the story of Colombian narcoterrorist and drug kin ...

'' actor Pêpê Rapazote.

References

1967 births Living people Government ministers of Portugal People from Águeda {{Portugal-politician-stub