SPEAKERS PROFILE

Mr. Norbert Gorißen is head of the International Policy Directorate at the Federal Environment Ministry. The directorate comprises six divisions. Its area of responsibility cover bilateral relations to all non-European states G7 G20 OECD UNEP 2030 Agenda international cooperation on energy and cities financing international climate action and the ministry’s International Climate Initiative. Up to 2018 Mr Gorißen was responsible for developing the International Climate Initiative which now has an annual budget of around €500 million for more than 500 ongoing projects in over 80 developing countries. Beyond that he negotiated for the EU on climate finance in the Paris Agreement. From 2012 to 2015 he was a deputy member in the Board of the Green Climate Fund.

Norbert Gorißen joined the Federal Environment Ministry in 1999 and first worked for the European Affairs Division. After that he became head of the division “International and EU Affairs in the Field of Renewable Energies”. He was responsible for the preparation and organisation of the International Conference for Renewable Energies renewables 2004. Mr Gorißen then became head of the European Affairs Division during Germany’s Presidency of the Council of the EU in 2007. Before working at the Federal Ministry for the Environment Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety he held several positions at the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) in the field of transport and environment. Mr Gorißen studied mechanical engineering at the RWTH University in Aachen.