Bob D'Haeseleer

Climate Neutral City Advisor at ICLEI | Germany

Given his 10 years’ experience as a young Deputy Mayor with limited resources and a background in Geography & Energy Politics, it’s fair to say that Bob D’Haeseleer has an eye for spatial processes. Now working for NetZeroCities, he is the first point of contact for eight mission cities, translating information for the consortium towards cities and vice versa; identifying strategic opportunities for cities in relation with other cities and programmes; and aligning expertise of both the consortium and ICLEI in service of the climate quest of his eight mission cities. Bob, a self-claimed “policy puzzler” who loves to contribute to creative and critical thinking, has some inspiring examples in his backpack through which he aims to convince policy makers and local communities to use their imagination and see how much more is possible. This is also his anticipated take-away for #UF24 attendees: to return home with a fresh look on their local energy landscapes, starting to see the yet undetected opportunities in their own cities.