As Mayor of Turku, Minna Arve, has highlighted major issues such as sustainable growth, urban inclusion, the prevention of social exclusion, and new means of industrial and business policies. Her special interests include climate policy and circular economy.

Arve is an active member of Finland's circular economy steering group, and chairs the working group on cities and regions. She has contributed to numerous Finnish and European processes and took part actively in COP25, as well as the UN Secretary General Climate Summit in 2019, where she delivered several keynotes and panel contributions on climate action and circular economy.

Arve has served as Mayor of Turku since 2017. Prior to this, she was Managing Director of Turku Chamber of Commerce. Previous roles include: Party Secretary of the Finnish National Coalition Party, full-time Chairperson of the City Board in Turku, and Marketing Manager of HyTest Oy. She holds a master's degree in economics and previously worked as a nurse.

Martin Horn holds a Bachelor's degree in International social work from The Ludwigsburg Protestant University of Applied Science and a Master’s degree in European and World Politics from the University of Bremen. Before being elected Lord Mayor of Freiburg in 2018, Horn worked as European and Development Coordinator for the City of Sindelfingen (Germany) and as a freelance lecturer at the Ludwigsburg Protestant University of Applied Science.

Horn takes an integrated policy approach to climate protection goals, and sees it important that Freiburg continue to implement ambitious climate measures to safeguard the well-being of its future generations. To achieve this, the City has established local targets and developed urban solutions accordingly.

As Lord Mayor, he considers international collaboration very important when implementing sustainability goals, such as Agenda 2030, and when tackling climate change.

Ana Oregi is an urban architect (UNAV) and Deputy Mayor of Vitoria-Gasteiz responsible for land, climate action, mobility, and public space.

Oregi has a long history of working in positions of responsibility in the Basque Country. Her former positions include: Basque Minister for the Environment and Land Policy, with responsibility for Climate, Water, Mobility and Land Planning Policies, member for the Council of the Aquitaine-Euskadi-Navarra Euroregion, and President of the Network of Basque Municipalities for Sustainability, Udalsarea.

Oregi also served as Member of Parliament for Alava in the Basque Parliament, where she was President of the Commission on Human Rights and Equality, President of the Report on Memory and Coexistence, spokesperson on the Commission for the control of Basque public radio-television and coordinator of the parliamentary working group for the monitoring and implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Mariusz Skiba holds a graduate degree in political science from the University of Silesia, Poland, and a degree in management and engineering from the Silesian University of Technology, Poland. In addition, he has completed postgraduate studies in European Project management.

Prior to being appointed Deputy Mayor of Katowice in 2014, Skiba worked in the Silesian Marshall Office and from 2010- 2014, as a city councillor in Katowice. During his time as councillor, Skiba was part of the municipal budget committee, and since 2013, he has chaired the municipal committee for infrastructure and environment.

As Deputy Mayor, Skiba is responsible for sustainable development in the city, including green areas, natural resources, air quality and energy efficiency. He is also responsible for the acquisition of European funds.  In 2018, Skiba represented the City of Katowice on the COP24 Organisation Team, which was tasked with coordinating the activities connected with the preparation and carrying out of the conference.

Erion Veliaj was re-elected Mayor of Tirana in 2019 based on his focus on child-friendly policies and his desire to create a new balance between city and nature, with the aim of transforming Tirana through sustainable urban development.

As part of his vision to give the city back to all its citizens, Veliaj's administration completely renovated the city's main square by turning the biggest roundabout in the Balkans into the largest pedestrian area - the Skanderbeg Square. The project received much acclaim, winning the European Prize for Urban Public Space, 2018. Veliaj also spearheaded the Orbital Forest project, which seeks to plant two million trees by 2030.

Prior to becoming Mayor of Tirana, Veliaj served as Albanian Minister of Social Welfare and Youth. In 2003, he founded the movement "MJAFT" ("Enough"), a civic organisation that was granted the UN Award for Civil Society by former UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan.

Veliaj holds a Master's degree in European Integration from the University of Sussex, UK, and a Bachelor's degree in Political Science from the Grand Valley State University, Michigan, USA. In 2017, he was awarded a "Doctor Honoris Causa" degree from the Grand Valley State University for his contribution to the improvement of the quality of public services in Tirana.

Lasse Frimand Jensen has been a member of Aalborg City Council since 2014, serving two terms. He sits on the board of the Department of Environment and Energy, and is the Chairman of Aalborg's water and wastewater company.

As Chairman, Jensen has been a key figure in setting up Green Hub Denmark, a strong public-private partnership that uses green innovation, sustainable business models, and large-scale testing to address climate challenges.

Jensen sits on the board of both the Network for Sustainable Business Development, as well as the Network for Green Retail - two organisations that focus on promoting the green agenda, and circular economy locally and regionally. He has experience working with citizens and engaging them in the green transition, and set up the Green Agent's project, which aims at promoting sustainability among residents of the city.

Councillor Cheryl Jones Fur acts as the Deputy Chair of Växjö's Urban Planning and Infrastructure Committee, and was previously Deputy Lord Mayor of the Municipal Council as well as Deputy Chairperson of Växjö’s Technical Services Board from 2018 to 2022. She is on the board of directors of the municipality-owned energy company, Växjö Energi. She is also the Spokesperson for the Green Party in Kronoberg County. From 2016-2018,  Jones Fur was Chairperson for Växjö’s Strategic Committee on Environment and Sustainability. Prior to this, she was Chairperson for the Green Party in Växjö.

Jones Fur's areas of expertise within governmental policy include technical services such as water management, renewable energy, road and bike path maintenance/construction, and sustainable mobility. Nature-based solutions, green areas, and biodiversity are her special areas of interest, in addition to Växjö's innovative fossil-fuel-free strategy.

Jones Fur holds a Ph.D. in zoology from the University of Uppsala (Sweden).

Tom Meeuws is Vice-Mayor of the City of Antwerp and its alderman for social affairs, poverty reduction, social economy, environment and honorary services.

Over the past 20 years, Meeuws has worked in a number of roles at the City of Antwerp, including: staff member to the city’s labour market policy, chief of staff for the alderman for Community Development, Director of the City’s department for community building and society, and Director of its public mobility enterprise.

Prior to this, he was a policy advisor on labour market and sustainable development for the Federal Planning Bureau, an independent advisory institution supporting Belgian policy making.

In his current role as alderman, Meeuws is responsible for Antwerp’s commitments in several European partnerships. Building on these, his areas of focus include tackling energy poverty, decarbonising buildings, and the just energy transition.

Jaakko Stenhäll has been a member of the Tampere City Council since 2017, and was elected as Deputy Mayor for Growth, Innovation and Competitiveness in September 2019. In this role is he was involved in various policy fields including climate policy, sustainable development, and circular economy.

In addition to this, his department oversees policies concerning smart city development, and sustainable growth in the city.

Before 2017, he was a Vice-Member of the City Council and Vice-Chair of the Urban Planning Board. Throughout his professional life, Stenhäll has worked both in the IT sector and at the university in various administrative and management roles.

Harriët Tiemens works as the Director of the Green Metropolitan Region of Arnhem-Nijmegen on behalf of the City of Nijmegen.

She served as Deputy Mayor for the City of Nijmegen beginning in 2014, where she was responsible for Sustainability, Housing and Mobility. Heading the campaign to become European Green Capital 2018, she has represented Nijmegen in a number of international and European conferences and meetings. In 2017, she hosted the Velo-city international conference in the region. In the last few years, Tiemens has become a recognised contributor to European and international conferences, such as the COP, the Austrian World Summit, GlobeEU, EcoProcura, and meetings with the European Parliament and European Commission.

Tiemens is a member of the political party GroenLinks (GreenLeft). She chairs regional and national platforms, such as the mobility platform of the Arnhem Nijmegen City Region, the physical pillar of the G40 network of Dutch cities, and she is a member of the VNG (Association of Dutch Municipalities) committee for Housing, Mobility and spatial development.

Tiemens studied Environmental Science and Public Administration.

Jakub Mazur has been Deputy Mayor of Wrocław since December 2018 and is responsible for supervising the Department of City Development and Strategy, and representing the City in international affairs.

Under his portfolio as Deputy Mayor, Mazur is responsible for such things as urban planning and land use plans, architecture, construction administration, city aesthetics, monument preservation, economic development, sustainable development, and energy.

Mazur has over 20 years of corporate and business experience working as a business consultant, and holds two master's degrees from the University of Wrocław, alongside an executive MBA from Apsley Business School London (United Kingdom).

Mazur is also President of METREX, and his areas of expertise include strategy, branding, new business development, IPO, IT, e-commerce, and energy.