Mercedes Sanchez Varela is an EU sustainability and climate policy adviser, with long exposure in translating policy challenges into future-proof sustainable strategies for the private and public sectors. She has a strong record in Brussels as a public speaker in events engaging in a wide range of topics around the EU Green Deal notably. She is currently sitting as a member of the Board of Chapter Zero Brussels, a WEF spin-off that deals with climate governance issues at the Board level.

She has a twenty-year-long international consultancy career, with her last corporate role at KPMG as head of the EU office in Brussels and partner responsible for EU relationships. With strong management experience, she has led international teams to deliver upon pan-European funded contracts across sectors and geographies. She was part of numerous global steering boards on Government and infrastructure, Development and IMPACT that dealt with ESG and sustainability. Previous to this, she also worked in consultancy for EU, WB and EBRD; for a legal firm and for United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in West Africa where she started her professional career. She has also part of BoardCompanions that promote and educate better governance and purpose for NGOs.

As a true EU insider, she is very familiar with the ways of the Brussels scene, and how interaction with its stakeholders at large operates. She believes that we are in a special moment where EU policy is a shaper of tomorrow’s green future accelerator and a pillar for transitioning to a new order.

Mercedes enjoys gardening and botanic readings, helps support city activism for biking, better mobility and greening spaces, and design and architecture.