Speakers

Eero Ailio advises senior management on the clean energy transition and leads related international cooperation supporting the implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement through governmental forums, including the UNFCCC, IEA and Clean Energy Ministerial, as well as subnational and non-state actor initiatives such as the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy. In previous management roles, he led the development of European legislation on retail energy markets, consumer rights, energy prices, energy poverty, upstream offshore oil and gas, and CCS. Prior to that, he negotiated intergovernmental agreements on global satellite navigation, including with the United States and the People’s Republic of China, and developed Trans-European transport networks. Eero has also served as a career diplomat, responsible i.a. for defence and security, humanitarian aid, crisis management, and EU coordination. He assisted the President of Finland in the Western Balkans peace process and was in the teams opening Finland’s Mission to NATO and performing Finland’s first EU presidency at the Permanent Representation to the EU.

At REScoop.eu, Jonathan Bonadio supervises the policy work of the organisation to support a community-driven agenda in European climate and energy policies, with a focus on the Renewable Energy Directive, the Citizens’ Energy Package and its related Recommendations and Action Plan, the Energy Efficiency Directive, the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, the Grids Package and the Permitting Directive, the Governance Regulation, the Multiannual Financial Framework and the National and Regional Partnership Plans, as well as the work on the post-2030 framework and all other relevant policies in the field of climate, energy and financing. Jonathan is also involved in the update of the Policy Tracker and responsible for the national implementation of EU policies through the management of REScoop.eu’s Advocacy Working Group. He therefore benefits from a good connection with member organisations at national and local level. Prior to this role, Jonathan has been working for more than 10 years in the European renewable energy sector, both in the public sector at the European Commission (DG ENER), the private sector (Solar Power Europe) and for NGOs (the European Environmental Bureau). 

Julie Bourneix is a Senior Consultant in Climate and Energy at Ecorys Brussels. She works for the Citizen Energy Advisory Hub (CEAH), an EU initiative that supports and empowers citizen citizen-led energy initiatives and local actors across Europe by providing advisory services, capacity building and ressources. Under CEAH, she leads the technical assistance task, helping citizen energy projects overcome technical, financial, legal and organisational challenges through tailored expert support and hands-on guidance from project development to implementation.

Els Bruggeman is Group Manager Policy, Enforcement and Communication at Euroconsumers, the global consumer group that gathers six national consumer entities - Testachats (Belgium), Altroconsumo (Italy), OCU (Spain), Deco Proteste (Portugal), Euroconsumers Polska (Poland) and Proteste (Brazil) - and leads on innovative information, personalised services and consumer empowerment. 

Together they represent over seven million consumers. Els is responsible for all policy and advocacy related issues, external communication, and has also coordinated joint enforcement cases, i.e. the class actions against Volkswagen (Dieselgate) and Apple (premature obsolescence) that were launched in Belgium, Italy, Spain and Portugal. Els joined the consumer movement in 2014 when she started working as EU Public Affairs advisor for the Belgian consumer organisation Testachats/Testaankoop. 

Before she was active for more than 10 years in the political world, both as policy advisor and spokesperson i.a. for the Belgian Vice-Prime Minister and Minister of consumer protection.

Donna Gartland is CEO of Codema - Dublin's Energy Agency, a
not-for-profit social enterprise established in 1997, working on
behalf of the 4 Dublin municipalities. Donna leads Codema's vision for
a better quality of life for all citizens through a fair and inclusive
transition to a low-carbon society. Donna has led the development of
the district heating sector in Ireland, establishing the first
district heating scheme and Ireland's first not-for-profit utility
with Codema and South Dublin County Council. In the last two years she
has won several awards; The Irish Times Positive Impact Award, Social
& Equality Leader of the Year and the prestigious EU Sustainable
Energy Week Women In Energy Award 2026, as well as Codema winning the
Best Place to Work award at the Irish Workplace Excellence Awards

Henriette Gleau is EU Senior Policy Advisor for the Sustainability Board at SGI Europe, the European social partner representing employers and enterprises providing Services of General Interest. Based in Brussels, she works at the intersection of EU sustainability policy and the operational realities of essential public services, with a particular focus on water, circular economy, climate resilience, digital sovereignty, energy and transport. She represents the interests of public service providers in European policy discussions and works closely with EU institutions, national authorities and sectoral stakeholders to ensure that Europe’s green transition combines ambitious environmental objectives with resilient infrastructure, affordability and security of supply. Her work increasingly focuses on the links between environmental protection, competitiveness and critical infrastructure, including water resilience, pollution prevention, the circular economy and the sustainability implications of Europe’s digital transition.

Thomas Kattnig is an Austrian trade unionist specialising in EU and international policy.

Alejandro ULZURRUN is acting Director for Just Transition, Consumers, Energy Efficiency and Innovation, and head of the Consumers, Local Initiatives and Just Transition unit in the European Commission's Directorate-General for Energy. He previously led the Energy Security and Safety unit and the Inter-institutional Relations and Communication unit. He joined the European Commission in 1997 and has held various roles in several departments, including Enterprise, Communication, External Relations, and the Secretariat-General. From 2010 to 2014, he was head of unit in the Commission's Spokesperson’s Service.

Hanna ZDANOWSKA, Mayor of the City of Łódź since 2010, environmental engineer, graduate of the Łódź University of Technology, Member of the Polish Parliament (2007 – 2010). In the 2024 local elections, she was elected for the fourth term, receiving 60% of the vote in the first round. She started the largest Łódź’s revitalisation program in Poland. Hanna Zdanowska, full member of the European Committee of the Regions since 2019, is engaged in work for ENVE and CIVEX Commissions. Additionally, she is a member of the Green Deal Going Local Working Group in the CoR. She was nominated National Ambassador of the Covenant of Mayors and as a committed to climate actions and citizens engagement leader, she decided to join the European family of Climate Pact Ambassadors. She was also appointed as the CoR liaison person to the Mayors Advisory Group for Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities Mission.
Recently, she has been working as rapporteur for the following CoR opinion “Action Plan for Affordable Energy – how to secure affordable, stable and clean energy for all EU cities and regions”.