The essential in a nutshell
Bruno Oberle has explored and shaped the interface between environmental policy, economic development, and social equity from the perspective of the state regulator as an entrepreneur, a scientist and a leading representative of non-governmental organisations. He has worked on sectoral and national issues and at the highest level of international policymaking.
He studied environmental, economic and mediation sciences at the ETH Zurich and graduated with a doctorate. He founded and managed companies in environmental consulting and environmental management.
In 1999, he was appointed Deputy Director of the Federal Office for the Environment, Forests and Landscape, and in 2005, he became Director of the newly created Federal Office for the Environment. Until 2015, he represented Switzerland as State Secretary for the Environment in international institutions and negotiations. On various occasions, he took on mediation tasks, particularly on issues relating to the financing of international agreements.
From 2016 to 2019, Bruno Oberle was a Green Economy and Resource Governance Professor at EPFL. He also headed the same university's IRGC, the International Risk Governance Centre.
Among other, he was the lead author of the Global Resource Outlook 2019 of the IRP International Resources Panel.
In 2019, Bruno Oberle took over the management of the GTR, Global Tailings Review, which was jointly launched by the International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) to create an international standard for the safer management of extraction residues. On 5 August 2020, Bruno Oberle launched the Global Industry Standard on Tailings Management with ICMM, UNEP and PRI. The GISTM strives for zero harm to people and the environment, with zero tolerance for human fatalities.
Bruno Oberle was Director General of the IUCN from 2020 to 2023. IUCN is a membership organisation comprising both government and civil society organisations. It draws on the experience, resources and reach of its 100 governmental and more than 1,400 non-governmental members and the contribution of more than 18,000 experts. This diversity and vast expertise make IUCN the global authority on the state of nature and the measures needed to protect it. Bruno Oberle was responsible, among other things, for organising the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Marseille in September 2021.
Since 2024, Bruno Oberle is currently working in an advisory and steering capacity in several organisations and ventures and shares his experience in lectures, courses, and writings.
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