Jos Delbeke

Jos Delbeke is Director of 'Climate Change and Air' of the European Commission's DG Environment. In this capacity he oversees inter alia the Clean Air for Europe programme (CAFE), the implementation of the European Emission Trading Scheme (EU-ETS) and legislation such as on Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC), on large combustion plants (LCP), waste incineration, and the European Pollutant Emission Register (EPER). He was also responsible for chemical legislation and the creation of the new REACH system.

He holds a PhD in economics and teaches at the University of Leuven and at VLEKHO Business School in Brussels. In 1985, he was a temporary staff member at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Washington DC, and joined the European Commission in 1986. In the Directorate General for Environment he has been Head of Unit responsible first for economic and fiscal instruments and benefit-cost analysis in the field of the environment, and later for climate change. He was the chief negotiator for the European Commission at the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties, and is actively promoting the use of the Kyoto mechanisms at EU level.