Anders Wijkman, Club of Rome, will be the new Chairman for Viable Cities, it was announced at the program's annual general meeting today. Annika Jacobson, Climate General of the City of Stockholm, has been appointed Vice Chairman.
Every year, Viable Cities member organizations gather at the General Assembly to decide on the future of the programme and contribute to its strategic development. This year it is a palette of 142 organizations from public organisations, business, academia and civil society.
The meeting decided that Anders Wijkman, former Vice Chairman, will now take over the chairmanship from Cecilia Schelin Seidegård, who was thanked during the meeting.
- I can't think of a more important task than supporting cities in their efforts to make energy and material use more efficient and to gradually phase out fossil fuels. The transition is going too slowly in Sweden. By prioritizing the work in cities - where 70% of energy use takes place - we can speed up the development, says Anders Wijkman.
- I hope and expect that the government will see the importance of Viable Cities and join forces with us.
The new deputy Chairman will be Annika Jacobson, Climate General in the City of Stockholm.
- The focus now must be on catalyzing solutions and removing barriers together. I see Viable Cities as having a crucial role in helping to take the local transition to a structural level. I want Viable Cities to become an even stronger platform for advancing the interests of cities and local actors in climate action," says Annika Jacobson.
Brand new faces on the board are members Maria Jacobsson, City of Gothenburg, Sara Gorton, Skanska, and Carina Borgström-Hansson, WWF.
The Nomination Committee worked to achieve a balance between novelty and continuity, geographical and gender diversity, and representation from all sectors of society: civil society, cities, research/universities and business.
The board meetings are also attended by representatives from the Viable Cities program team and the funding agencies Energimyndigheten, Vinnova and Formas.
Viable Cities Board 2024-2027
Chairman: Anders Wijkman, Club of Rome, (former vice Chairman)
Vice Chairman: Annika Jacobsson, City of Stockholm (former member)
Members:
- Mikael Brändström, Umeå municipality
- Rebecka Persson, City of Malmö
- Marco Lucisano, RISE
- Mikael Lindström, KTH Royal Institute of Technology
- Lena Neij, Lund University
- Ulf Ceder, Scania
- Maria Jacobsson, City of Gothenburg (new election)
- Sara Gorton, Skanska (new election)
- Carina Borgström-Hansson, WWF (new election)
