Carl Obst has been a leading player in the development of the System of Environmental Economic Accounting (SEEA), as the lead author and editor of the SEEA Central Framework and SEEA Ecosystem Accounting and as a key co-ordinator of the technical inputs from over 600 experts from around the world and across many disciplines. Carl is also active in connecting and harmonising work on natural capital across the private and public sectors.

Henrique Miguel Pereira is Head of the Biodiversity Conservation Research Group at iDiv - German Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research Halle-Jena-Leipzig and a Professor at Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg. He was one of the lead authors of the Global Biodiversity Outlook 4 and a Coordinating Lead Author of the IPBES Scenarios Assessment.

Irina Levinsky leads the European Environment Agency’s work on nature restoration. She is a biogeographer by training with a PhD on the effects of climate change on biodiversity, and her career in the science-policy interface has spanned academia, NGOs and EU and national institutions. She previously led Israel’s National Nature Assessment Programme and had the overall responsibility for the national ecosystem assessment.

Joachim Maes is by training a marine biologist. He worked during most of his professional career as scientist on environment, coastal zone and land management, air and water quality, and biodiversity. At the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, he supported the EU’s biodiversity policy as an expert in mapping ecosystem services and ecosystem accounting. Since 2021, he works as policy analyst in the Commission’s directorate-general on regional and urban policy in the unit on policy development and economic analysis.

Lars Müller is a now retired former European Commission official who was working 21 years in the EC (Environment, Climate, Research, External Relations). He coordinated the  EU Business and Biodiversity Platform between 2016 and 2021. Previously, he was directly involved in UNFCCC climate negotiations, including as policy officer for Climate Diplomacy. Before joining the EC, Lars worked in the Environment Ministry of Schleswig-Holstein/Germany, where he was in charge of measures for the protection of biodiversity, supervising a National Park authority and the implementation of Natura 2000 EU legislation.