Our team

Our dynamic team is breaking new ground, because innovations for climate neutrality need an agile and integrated approach.

Dr. Bernd Weber
Founder and Executive Director

Bernd Weber is the founder and managing director of EPICO KlimaInnovation. Previously, he was the Director Industry, Energy and Environment at the Economic Council, where he was responsible, among other things, for the work of the Federal Expert Commission on Energy Policy and the decision-making summit “Convention on Energy and Environmental Policy” . He founded and led the European Energy Lab 2030, an agile energy policy think tank bringing together 60 experts from politics, business and science. Bernd Weber holds a PhD in European energy and climate policy from Sciences Po Paris and the University of Oxford. He has been a Visiting Professor of energy policy at the College of Europe in Warsaw, Sciences Po Paris, and the CIFE European Institute in Nice.

More about Bernd

Email: bernd.weber@epico.org

Image: Jens Schicke

Dr. Kirsten Scholl
Director for EU Affairs

Kirsten Scholl is EPICO’s Director for EU Affairs. She brings over 25 years of experience in European policy-making and law, having held senior leadership positions at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs, most recently as Director General and Head of the Directorate for European Policy. In this role, she advised the Ministry’s political leadership and led a directorate with responsibility for EU policy coordination, EU law, state aid, EU economic policy, foreign trade law, sanctions and export controls. She represented Germany in European bodies and bilateral governmental committees and chaired interministerial coordination processes, including during Germany’s EU Council Presidency and the Brexit negotiations. Kirsten holds a PhD in Law  from Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich and is a recipient of the French Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite.

More about Kirsten.

Email: kirsten.scholl@epico.org

Joachim Schmitz-Brieber
Director Energy and Industry

Joachim Schmitz-Brieber is an economist and public policy specialist with over fifteen years of experience. Before joining EPICO, he worked for a variety of organizations, including the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Action, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the Office of the Federal President of Germany, on issues ranging from Better Regulation and Industrial Policy to Energy Policy. He holds a Master’s degree in Economics from the University of Maastricht and a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the Hertie School of Governance.

More about Joachim.

Email: joachim.schmitz@epico.org

Image: Jens Schicke

Michela Sandron
EU Communications and Media Specialist

Michela Sandron is an EU Communications Specialist with a Master’s degree in European Affairs from the University of Bologna and a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from the University of Groningen. She gained experience in diplomatic communications at the Permanent Mission of Italy to the UN in New York and in the European policy space at European Business Summits in Brussels. Michela is passionate about making complex policy issues accessible to diverse audiences, using storytelling to engage European citizens on urgent topics such as climate change and sustainability. At EPICO’s Brussels office, she coordinates the think tank’s communications strategy, press relations and the organisation of events.

More about Michela

Email: michela.sandron@epico.org

Dr. Klaus-Dieter Borchardt
Associated Senior Advisor EU Energy and Climate

Prof. Dr. Klaus-Dieter Borchardt is a lawyer and has been Senior Energy Advisor in the area of European Competition Law in the Brussels office of Baker McKenzie since October 2020. Prior to this position, he held various positions within the European Commission for more than three decades, including as Head of Cabinet of the Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development and most recently as Deputy Director General of the Directorate General for Energy. In addition, Prof. Dr. Borchardt has been Honorary Professor of EU Law at the Julius Maximilian University in Würzburg since 2001 and Senior Visiting Research Fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies since February 2021.

Image: Backer & McKenzie