Irene Heemskerk

Irene Heemskerk has many years of experience in addressing climate change and nature degradation from the perspective of central banks and prudential supervisors. In 2021 she joined the European Central Bank in June 2021 to set up and lead the Climate Change Centre, a horizontal unit responsible for shaping and steering the ECB’s climate agenda internally and externally. Irene represents the ECB in the Central Banks and Supervisors’ Network for Greening the Financial System (NGFS), is an Observer to the EFRAG Sustainability Board, is member of the TIME magazine 2030 Committee Advising on Solutions for the Future and is involved in the climate and nature work of many other international fora.
Prior to joining the ECB, Irene held various positions at De Nederlandsche Bank. Amongst other she was a senior policy advisor on climate risk and as advisor to the first chair of the NGFS Frank Elderson, she was involved in the work of the NGFS from the start.