Jorge Moreira da Silva


Jorge Manuel Lopes Moreira da Silva, GOIH is a Portuguese politician and an international expert on climate change, carbon finance, energy and environmental policy. He is a Member of the Portuguese Parliament. He was the Minister of Environment, Territorial Planning and Energy from 2013 to 2015 in the government led by Pedro Passos Coelho.
As Minister on Environment, Spatial Planning and Energy he was responsible for energy, water, waste, spatial planning and housing sector structural reforms in Portugal. Under his leadership Portugal adopted a comprehensive Green Taxation Reform and the Portuguese Green Growth Commitment.
Jorge Moreira da Silva was, from 2009 to 2012, Senior Environmental Finance Advisor and Program Manager for Climate Change Innovative Finance at the Bureau for Policy Development at UNDP – United Nations Development Programme. At UNDP, Jorge has worked on the post-2012 climate change negotiations, on the establishment of innovative financing strategies on climate change and energy, and on the development of climate change market-based mechanisms.
Mr. Moreira da Silva has been a Visiting Professor and invited speaker on development, climate change, energy, environment and carbon markets at several Portuguese and international universities and institutions. He is Member of the European Commission High-Level Group on Research, Innovation, and Science Policy and was also a member of the advisory committee of CIRCLE.
He has served as: Senior Advisor to the President of the Portuguese Republic, Consultant to the President of the European Commission, Consultant to the European Investment Bank, EIB, Member of the Portuguese Parliament, Secretary of State on Environment and Spatial Planning at the Portuguese Government, Secretary of State on Science and Higher Education at the Portuguese Government, Member of the European Parliament, and Vice-President of GLOBE-Europe.
He is a member of the Social Democratic Party. In April 2010, Jorge Moreira da Silva was elected Vice-President of the national board of the Social Democratic Party and since 2012 he is the First Vice-President and Standing Coordinator of the Social Democratic Party, chaired by Pedro Passos Coelho. From 1995 to 1998 he was the leader of Juventude Social Democrata, the youth organization of the party.
He is also the Founder and Chairman of the Lisbon-based think-tank Platform for a Sustainable Growth.

Career

– 2015–present: Member of the Portuguese Parliament; Chairman of the Delegation to NATO Parliamentary Assembly
– 2015–present: Visiting Full Professor at the Political Science Institute, Instituto Superior de Ciências Sociais e Políticas – Lisbon University, Universidade de Lisboa;
– 2015–present: Member of the European Commission High-Level Group on Research, Innovation, and Science Policy;
– 2011–present: founder and Chairman of the think tank Platform for a Sustainable Growth – Plataforma para o Crescimento Sustentável ;
– 2011–present: First Vice-President and Standing Coordinator of the Social Democratic Party, centre-right party;
– 2013–2015: Minister of Environment, Territorial Planning and Energy at the Portuguese Government – XIX Governo Constitucional de Portugal and XX Governo Constitucional de Portugal chaired by Prime-Minister Pedro Passos Coelho
– 2009–2012: Senior Environmental Finance Advisor and Programme Manager on Climate Change Innovative Finance at UNDP – United Nations Development Programme
– 2009–2011: Visiting professor on climate change and carbon markets at the Sustainable Energy PhD Programme of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT-Portugal and at the Energy MBA of ISCTE.
– 2006– 2009: Member of the advisory committee of CIRCLE.
– 2006–2009: Senior adviser on science, environment and energy to the President of the Portuguese Republic.
– 2008: Consultant to BEPA on the post-2012 climate change negotiations.
– 2007–2008: Consultant on biodiversity to the European Investment Bank, EIB.
– 2005–2006: Member of the Portuguese Parliament.
– 2004–2005: Secretary of State for Environment and Spatial Planning in the Portuguese Government – 16th Constitutional Government chaired by Pedro Santana Lopes.
– 2003–2004: Secretary of State for Science and Higher Education in the Portuguese Government – 15th Constitutional Government chaired by José Manuel Durão Barroso.
– 1999–2003: Member of the European Parliament representing the European People's Party Group. As Member of the European Parliament, Jorge became a key negotiator and legislator on climate change, energy, environment and science. From 1999 to 2003, Jorge Moreira da Silva was the standing rapporteur on climate change, responsible for producing the European Parliament legislation on climate change. Jorge gained particular recognition for his work as rapporteur on EU Emissions Trading Scheme. He started leading the European Parliament work on the emissions trading from the very beginning as rapporteur of the Green Paper on the Emissions Trading Scheme in 2000. In July 2003, Jorge Moreira da Silva achieved a political agreement on the EU Emissions Trading Directive between the European Parliament, the European Council and the European Commission. From 1999 to 2003, Jorge also chaired the European Parliament Delegations to UNFCCC – United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change high-level meetings held in The Hague, Bonn and Marraquech, the bilateral negotiations on the Kyoto Protocol, and to the Earth Summit 2002 – held in 2002 in Johannesburg.
– 2000–2003: Vice-president of GLOBE-Europe, a non-profit organization founded in 1989 by Al Gore and other legislators that groups members of national parliaments in Europe with members of the European Parliament.
– 1994–1999: University professor of economics and engineering at several Portuguese universities.
– 1995–1998: Leader of Juventude Social Democrata, the youth organization of the Social Democratic Party.

Education

Jorge graduated with a degree in power systems engineering from Oporto University – Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto and he completed a senior management course at AESE and IESE Business School, Navarra University.

Publications

Author of the book "Human Genetics – the role of the legislator" published by European People's Party in 2002.
Co-author of the book "Mediderraneo y Medio Ambiente", published by Fundación Cajamar 2003.
Co-author of the book "Dicionário de termos europeus", Alêtheia Editores, 2005.
Co-author of the book "Lisbon Mistura", published by Associação Sons da Lusofonia, 2008
Author of the discussion paper "Towards a comprehensive, fair, cost-effective, and enforceable post-2012 climate change global regime", BEPA, European Commission, 2008
Author of the report "New policy and strategy on biodiversity", European Investment Bank, 2008.
Author of the report "The new European energy policy in the context of climate change post-2012 regime", Centro de Estudos das Alterações Climáticas e da Economia do Carbono, 2007.
Author of the report "The global climate change regime post-2012: a set of options", Centro de Estudos das Alterações Climáticas e da Economia do Carbono, 2006.
Author of a report on the establishment of an EU emissions trading scheme Directive, European Parliament, A5-0303/2002, 2 July 2003.
Author of a European Parliament report concerning the approval, on behalf of the European Community, of the Kyoto Protocol, European Parliament, A5-0025/2002, 24 January 2002.
Author of a report on the Commission Green Paper on greenhouse gas emissions trading within the European Union, European Parliament, A5-0271/2000, 11 October 2000.
Author of a report on the European Climate Change Programme, European Parliament, A5-0270/2000, 10 October 2000

Honours