Agust Bogason
Senior Research Fellow, Nordregio

Ágúst Bogason was born in Reykjavík, grew up in Iceland and Denmark, studied in Sweden where he now resides and works as a senior research advisor at Nordregio. His background is in political and environmental sciences while his main research areas are rural and regional development, Nordic tourism studies, policy and governance of the Nordic countries along with local participation in policy processes.

"More sustainable practices, consumption and green industries are the way of the future and if the Nordic keep being among the leaders of that development, we will also attract more green investments. However, we also need to reassess how we measure competitiveness. The success of a society shouldn’t be based solely on economic terms. Trust, environment, health, social inclusion and equality should be a part of the competitiveness equation as well – and there the Nordics have a strong foundation."

Alberto Giacometti
Senior Research Advisor, Nordregio

Alberto Giacometti is a Senior Research Advisor at Nordregio specialised in regional development. His work focuses on disentangling complex socio-technical systems to identify the array of agents and factors that determine industrial development in different regions. By studying and cross-comparing the experience of regions across Nordic, Baltic, and other European countries, his work contributes to identifying place-based actions to support regions industrial path creation and green transformations.

"Nordic countries are very good at regulating, at setting agendas and mobilising industry and stakeholders towards sustainable transformations, but when it comes to consumption, Nordic countries are amongst the worst performers. Real sustainability would require to reshore production and set stricter limits on virgin resource utilization."

Carina Sammeli
Mayor of Luleå Municipality

Carina Sammeli is the Mayor of Luleå Municipality, in Northern Sweden, since 2021. Mayor Sammeli is focusing her work on creating sustainable growth in Luleå and the region and making the green transition of the industry possible. She has long-time experience as a regional party secretary in Norrbotten for the Social democratic Party of Sweden. Carina has a degree in economics, and she has worked at the Swedish Department of Finance as a political adviser and at the Swedish Transport Administration as a project coordinator for railway research.

"For me as a politician, it is important to set the goal to be climate neutral, and then we have to start changing our way of working and giving services to our inhabitants in new ways. One of the biggest challenges is to do the transition without leaving people behind. Society has to make the right decisions, so that people can join in the change easily."

Carlos Tapia
Senior Research Fellow, Nordregio

Carlos Tapia has been a Senior Research Fellow at Nordregio since 2020. With a background as a regional economist, Carlos has conducted applied research on climate adaptation, green innovation and sustainable development. His current research focuses on the social and territorial impacts of the green transition in the European and Nordic contexts.

"Nordic rural communities can certainly survive in a completely carbon-neutral future. Historically, these communities, like all pre-industrial societies, have thrived under carbon-neutral modes of consumption and production. However, the more pressing question is whether Nordic rural communities, and the rest of us, can survive under an extreme warming scenario. This is less certain, as there is no historical evidence to support it."

Elin Slätmo
Senior Research Fellow, Nordregio

Elin Slätmo is specialised within territorial, strategic and multi-level governance.  She has a PhD in Human Geography from University of Gothenburg, and has also worked at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, in Uppsala. Since 2017 she has been a Senior Research Fellow and Team leader at Nordregio, where she works within Nordic and European projects (such as NCM, ESPON, H2020). Her goal is to develop knowledge that challenges norms and guide policymakers. Elin has extensive research experience, and the research themes have varied. She has studied sustainable development as a strategy in Nordic regions and municipalities, agricultural geography, conflicts and synergies in land use in terms of green infrastructure in Europe, actor-structure relations to find farmers room to maneuver, participatory methods to enhance rural actors’ agency, models for local energy transitions, access to rural services across the Nordic realm, and problems and solutions in rural labour markets.

"We have some municipalities and regions that are indeed at the forefront in their sustainability work. For instance, by planning and implementing the physical structures that guide us as citizens in making sustainable choices in our everyday lives. Access to structures such as recycling stations, public transports and green areas influence how Nordic inhabitants can live sustainable lives."

Hilma Salonen
Senior Research Fellow, Nordregio

Social scientist specialised in sustainability transitions, remote locations and energy politics. Her PhD focused on Russian regional development in the Arctic and how it links with renewable energy prospects, and now she is broadening her scope to include Finnish rural regions. Hilma's research ambition is to explore how to make sustainability transitions more just by putting more focus on habits.

Jukka Heinonen
Professor of Sustainable Built Environment, University of Iceland

Jukka Heinonen is a Professor of Sustainable Built Environment at the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Iceland. He also has a Docent position at Aalto University. He specializes in the challenges of sustainable development in community structures and lifestyles. His main fields of research are consumption-based carbon footprints and low-carbon human settlements. He has developed research approaches and methods for modelling indirect and outsourced emissions from consumption.

"In our studies we have found that people mostly understand that from a climate perspective they should not fly, but they consider it too big of a sacrifice not to do it as long as others around them are not making the same sacrifice. Many also come up with justification strategies, such as engaging in some easy to adopt minor pro-climate action (recycling, buying sustainable etc.) and with that giving to one self a personal right to continue flying. There is also quite little attention being given for the emissions from flights in general, despite that many studies have found them to be (even much) more than those from local travel or even from ground transport in overall."

Lisa Rohrer
Research Fellow, Nordregio

Lisa is a creative and critical thinker who dwells on social and cultural questions related to urban spaces. Her academic and professional experience has included mixed-methods research in topics such as urban design, identity and movement (mobility, migration, tourism), nature in cities, and urban planning language. She also has a background in editorial work.

Luciane Aguiar Borges
Senior Research Fellow, Nordregio

PhD in Planning and Decision Analysis with specialization in Urban and Regional Studies. Royal Institute of Technology (KTH). Stockholm, Sweden.

Mattias Goldmann
Nodregio Forum 2024 host

Around-the-clock combating climate change, improving sustainability. Swede back from Bangkok, Swiss-born, Half-Danish, Knighted by the French for climate work.

"Basically, we can either compete on price or on quality. Having chosen the quality has erved us well, and in the future, quality is increasingly linked to sustainability leadership. With the whole world moving in one direction - towards increased sustainability and reduced emissions, though not always fast enough - it is better for business to be the "go to" than the "move away from".