Who We Are

Bernardas Padegimas is a Project Lead within the Green Agenda for Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Armenia project, and is a Senior Project Manager and Team Lead of the Environmental Policy and Strategy (EPS) Team at the Stockholm Environment (SEI). 

Bernardas is responsible for the overall Green Agenda project. His key focus is donor and stakeholder engagement and management, as well as strategic project direction coordination. 

At SEI, Bernardas generally has two main roles: leading the EPS team, and leading team-based large-scale projects in the Western Balkans and Eastern Partnership countries. He currently oversees the well-being of a diverse team (11 people), and steers the strategic focus and direction of the team. 

Before assuming his current position, Bernardas gained valuable experience living and working in the UK, Germany, France, Norway, Lithuania, and Zambia. His professional journey spans various sectors, including intergovernmental organizations, government agencies, NGOs, and private sectors. His expertise extends to EU environmental reforms, national climate and neutrality policy planning, the intersection of security and the environment, transboundary resource management, nuanced stakeholder management in post-war contexts, and effectively bridging science and policy across Europe, Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Africa. 

Bernardas holds a master’s degree in Environmental Impact Assessment and Management from the University of Manchester, and a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science from the University of Vilnius.

Gábor Schneider is a Project Manager for the “Green Agenda for Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Armenia” project. Gábor´s main focus as a Project Manager is the smooth operation of the Green Agenda project. His work is done from the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) Headquarters, on the Environmental Policy and Strategy Team, within the Societies, Climate and Policy Support Division.

Gábor´s core expertise is in transnational policy development and process building - exemplified from the Danube and the Baltic Sea regions (BSR) and the Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries. He has solid knowledge about promoting cooperation between different governance levels and different sectors and stakeholders. 

Gábor has been engaged in various international cooperation projects, and joined SEI from the Swedish Institute where he worked as programme manager for project funding and for leadership training programmes dealing with BSR and EaP countries. He also worked as researcher and as policy officer.

Gábor holds a PhD in Applied Political Sciences and a Master’s Degree in International Relations and EU Policy from the Corvinus University of Budapest.

Ilona Kazaryan, MBA, is a Senior Communications and Impact Officer at SEI, where she spearheads strategic communication initiatives focused on promoting climate neutrality and encouraging EU approximation/integration in Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine.  

Ilona Kazaryan is a professional with 10 years of leadership experience in the field of communications, media, and public relations. She has held various engagements and managerial roles, primarily at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Missions, Institutions and programmes in Central Asia, the South Caucasus, and the Western Balkans. 

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is a global organization consisting of 57 member states across three continents – North America, Europe, and Asia. Its primary objective is to foster peace, security, and cooperation among its member countries. Ilona was responsible for strategic planning and implementation of communications for impact, project management, media and donor liaison, and building partnerships. Additionally, she is a communications trainer and consultant, specialising in strategy development, crisis communication, media relations, and outreach. 

In recognition of her expertise, in December 2022 she became a Member of the United Nations Senior Women Talent Pipeline. Ilona is passionate about inspiring people to bring about positive social change. She is dedicated to the UN SDGs, while advocating for urgent action towards climate change, sustainable energy, ending corruption, and disaster risk reduction strategies to address global disparities and inequalities. 

Ilona is proficient in English, Georgian, Russian, Macedonian, and Armenian. She holds an MBA from the University of Liverpool, UK.

Ganna Gladkykh is a Policy Fellow at the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), working on the Green Agenda for Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine project. Her role involves collaborating with national teams to ensure the quality, methodological consistency, and comprehensive coverage of key thematic areas in the project's main deliverables.

With a strong interest in policy-relevant research for sustainability transformations, Ganna has extensive experience in sustainable energy transitions. Before joining SEI, she was a Clean Energy Transition Expert at the European Energy Research Alliance (EERA), where she worked on bridging the gap between the European clean energy research community and EU policymakers.

Ganna holds a Master’s degree in System Dynamics and a joint PhD in Economics and Earth Science. She has applied systems thinking methods to various sustainability challenges, including her contributions to the Bioeconomy Policy Dialogues project at SEI. Her academic and professional journey has taken her across several European countries, including Ukraine, Sweden, Belgium, France, Iceland, and Portugal.

Lauri Tammiste has been working as the Director of the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) Tallinn since 2016. He has extensive and interdisciplinary experience in climate, energy, energy efficiency and innovation policy instruments analysis, design, and implementation. During his 7 years at the Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications he was, as Director of Energy Department, responsible opening Estonian electricity market, transposing EU energy law, for shaping the national renewable energy plan and designing and launching new support programs for energy efficiency and renewable energy. As the Director of Economic Development Department at ministry, he was overseeing the design and implementation of national R&D and entrepreneurship strategies, coordinating and carrying out ex-ante and ex-post policy evaluations, international cooperation and representing Estonia in various European Commission, OECD, IEA and Nordic-Baltic working groups.

Lauri has also served as a member of the management board of the Estonian Environmental Investment Centre (EIC), which as a government-owned foundation is responsible for financing sustainable environmental projects both from national and EU funds. His main tasks involved helping to shape new financing instruments for resource and energy efficiency, renewable energy. Also, he oversaw carrying out impact assessment of financed projects and also improving the communication and marketing activities of EIC. 

While at SEI, Lauri lead in 2019 a study assessing the potential and for reaching climate neutrality in Estonia, which provided the evidence base for Estonian government to support EU wide climate neutrality goal. In 2021-2022, Lauri served as the Chairman of  High Level Green Policy expert group, which supported Prime Minister Kaja Kallas government by delivering a special report  on how to frame green transition, what are the key areas Estonia needs to focus upon (ranging from energy, mobility, adaptation to just transition, food systems, biodiversity, ecosystems etc), what are main bottlenecks in those focus areas and what are the key policy recommendations to remove those bottlenecks and speed up the transition. In addition to that, Lauri has overseen several decarbonization modelling studies in electricity, heating and cooling, gas and hydrogen sectors. 

Before SEI, Lauri held numerous leadership positions including: Member of the Executive Board for the Estonian Environmental Investment Centre; Director of Energy and Green Economy for the Estonian Development Fund; Chairman of the Supervisory Board for Elering (Estonian Transmission System Operator); Director of Energy Department for the Republic of Estonia Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications; a Member of the Supervisory Board for the Tallinn Technology Park Tehnopol; Director of Economic Development Department, Republic of Estonia Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications; and Head of Economic Analysis Division for the Republic of Estonia Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications.

Lauri has graduated from the University of Tartu, Estonia (Public Administration) and spent a semester at Maastricht University.

Ivo Krustok is the Head of Unit at the Climate Systems and Energy Policy Unit at the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) in Tallinn, and is the Team Lead for the Climate and Energy thematic areas within the “Green Agenda for Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Armenia” project. He produces gap reports for each of the project countries and is a member of the methodological team for the Green Agenda Project.

Ivo has extensive experience in environmental science and policy, having been related to the field for more than 15 years. He has worked for the Ministry of Environment of Estonia for six years and held several positions during that time – as a resource efficiency project manager, a scientific adviser and a climate adviser for the management in the ministry. Ivo also spent two years representing Estonia as an environmental attaché in Brussels, working closely with EU institutions. After the ministry, he worked for 1.5 years at the Government Office of Estonia, coordinating Estonia’s green transition.

Ivo has a PhD in Environmental Microbiology from Mälarden University, and both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in Environmental Engineering from Technology from the University of Tartu.

Akaki Jamburia is the Coordinator and Team Lead for Georgia within the “Green Agenda for Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Armenia” project. His work is done under the title of Project Coordinator at the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) Headquarters, on the Environmental Policy and Strategy Team, within the Societies, Climate and Policy Support Division.

Akaki has extensive work experience in public, private, and civil society sectors with a strong background in project management. His areas of expertise include sustainable development, international political economy, European affairs and development cooperation. He has worked with the EU integration policies in the Eastern Partnership and Western Balkan countries, including Association Agreements and DCFTA’s, as well as with the EU’s different regional, cross-border, and thematic programs. Throughout his carrier he cooperated with various international donor organizations.

Akaki worked at the international consulting company, Policy and Management Consulting Group (PMCG) where he coordinated the implementation of the EU grants and technical assistance projects in Eastern Europe, Western Balkan countries, Africa, and Southeast Asia. Before joining PMCG, he was deputy head of the EU assistance coordination department at the Ministry of European and Euro Atlantic Integration (currently part of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia). He was actively engaged in the Georgia’s EU integration process and assisted the line ministries in the implementation of the Association Agreement and DCFTA. Akaki also worked as the international relations specialist at the Ministry of Sports and Youth affairs and acted as a country representative at the Council of Europe’s European Steering Committee for Youth. He accumulated several years of work experience in civil society sector as a project manager for the EU youth and educational projects.

Akaki holds a master’s degree in Global Studies with a focus on sustainable development and climate change adaptation from the University of Gothenburg, a master’s degree in European Policies and Industrial Relations from the Georgian American University, and a bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Tbilisi State University.

Bogdana Leshchyshyn is a Research Associate at Stockholm Environment Institute, on the Environmental Policy and Strategy Team and within the Societies, Climate, and Policy Support Division. She supports the implementation of the “Green Agenda for Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Armenia” as a thematic coordinator for Climate, Energy, and Buildings & Renovation.

Bogdana previously worked for the Government of Ukraine, at the State Agency on Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving. In this role, she was responsible for close collaboration with international partners and donor organizations, managing a variety of development-related projects funded by the European Commission, NEFCO, UNDP, USAID, GIZ. Bogdana was also involved in Ukraine’s European Union integration, particularly in implementing the energy efficiency and renewable energy measures outlined in the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement.

Additionally, Bogdana conducted research on circular economy at the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Energy, and Environment in Germany, and gained insights into international affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.

Bogdana holds a master’s degree in International Administration and Global Governance, with a focus on climate and energy policies from the University of Gothenburg. She also holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in International Relations from Taras Shevchenko National University.

Melano Sirbiladze is a Research Associate at the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) in the Societies, Climate, and Policy Support Division and supports the implementation of the “Green Agenda for Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Armenia” project. 

Previously, Melano managed the Fact-Finding Mission in Georgia on the Waste and Chemicals Management Project at SEI and supported the development of the Environmental Strategy and Action Plan of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH ESAP 2030+) project. She has also held an economic projects coordinator position at the Georgian Centre for Strategy and Development (GCSD) - an NGO based in Tbilisi, Georgia. Within the GCSD, she worked with development-related programs/projects funded by UKAID, USAID, and the European Commission. Melano was employed for almost three years at the Government of Georgia, specifically at the City Hall of Kutaisi Municipality. She was mainly responsible for developing different policy documents (city development strategy, local economic development plan, etc.) and writing grant project proposals.
 
Melano is currently pursuing a Doctoral Study in political science at Ghent University, Belgium in the area of sustainable finance in Eastern Europe/Georgia. Melano holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Tbilisi State University and a master’s degree in International and Development Economics from the University of Applied Sciences – HTW Berlin. She also participated in UNEP/UNESCO/BMU 6-month course in Environmental Management and obtained a postgraduate diploma from TU Dresden.

Khatia Revazishvili is the Thematic Coordinator for the Research and Development Innovation team within the “Green Agenda for Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Armenia” project. She also provides administrative and procurement support to the Green Agenda project. Khatia’s role in the project is done in part of her position as a Research Associate at Stockholm Environment Institute, on the Environmental Policy and Strategy Team and within the Societies, Climate, and Policy Support Division.

Khatia brings working experience from governmental, intergovernmental, and non-profit sectors in Georgia and Sweden. Previously, she held an administrative assistant position at the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), an EU agency based in Stockholm, where she supported the team of healthcare experts to effectively respond to Covid pandemic threats around the world. Khatia was also employed as a consultant at the Diplomatic Training and Research Institute of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, where she implemented projects for the professional development of the diplomatic service staff as well as civil servants of other government agencies – contributing to the implementation of Georgia’s foreign policy strategy. Additionally, she gained experience in international organizations through internships at the UNDP Georgia, the Danish Refugee Council of South Caucasus, and Reach for Change in Sweden.

Khatia obtained an international master’s degree in Political Science from Stockholm University where her thesis explored the perspectives of the EU’s future enlargement, specifically examining three accession countries: Serbia, Montenegro, and Turkey). She also holds master’s degree in European Studies from the Institute for European Studies, and a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Tbilisi State University. She also studied at Porto University in Portugal as an Erasmus Exchange.

Brigita Tool is a Junior Expert in the Sustainable Cities and Resilient Communities unit at the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) office in Tallinn, and is the Thematic Coordinator for the Just Transition (JT) team within the “Green Agenda for Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Armenia” project. Her responsibilities entail coordinating work between country experts for the cross-cutting area, the JT team lead, national coordinators, and other project team members. She is also assisting her team lead in reviewing and assuring the quality of the cross-cutting country reports.

Previously, Brigita has worked on just transition issues in Estonia. More specifically, she was part of organizing the first climate assembly in Estonia to engage youth in developing the Just Transition plan in the country’s most vulnerable region.

Brigita holds a master’s degree in Environmental Management and Policy, and a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Protection from the Estonian University of Life Sciences.

Leva Galkyte is the Thematic Coordinator for the Farm to Fork team within the “Green Agenda for Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Armenia” project. She supports the Green Agenda project through her role as a Project Coordinator focusing on agriculture and food systems at the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) Headquarters, on the Environmental Policy and Strategy Team, within the Societies, Climate and Policy Support Division. 

Leva brings to the Green Agenda project her experiences in sustainable food systems and policy advocacy. Before joining SEI, she held the role of Special Advisor to the CEO at 50by40 – a global collective-impact organization bringing together 70+ partners worldwide. In this capacity, she led the Just Livestock Transition programme, advancing the food systems transformation agenda in global political fora, including the UNFCCC climate negotiations, the UN Food Systems Summit, and the European Union. Ieva has also worked as Programme Officer of Accessibility and Innovation at ANEC, a Brussels-based European association representing consumers in standardisation, as well as the European Commission Representation in Vilnius.

Leva holds a master’s degree in European Studies and a bachelor’s degree in Political Sciences from Vilnius University. She has also studied at the Université Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium and the University of Montana in the United States.

Harri Moora specialises in environmental policy and management tools related to sustainable consumption and production (EMS, EPE, LCA, eco-design).

Harri is also working on waste management related issues such as environmental and economic assessment of waste management systems/technologies, development and evaluation of regulatory and economic instruments for waste management.

Harri Moora has worked for SEI Tallinn since 1998, first as a researcher, and since 2001 as a programme director of the Environmental Management Programme.

Work experience before SEI
Researcher at Department of Marine Geology and Geophysics, Geological Survey of Estonia
Research Assistant (M.Sc. student) at Institute of Geology, University of Tartu, Estonia

Education
PhD, Institute of Environmental Technology, Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia
MSc in Environmental Management and Policy, International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics (IIIEE), Lund University, Sweden
Bachelor of Science in Geology, University of Tartu, Estonia

Kaidi Tamm is a Senior Expert at the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) and heads the Sustainable Cities and Resilient Communities Unit in Tallinn. Kaidi is a Team Lead for both the Just Transition(JT) team, and the Research, Development and Innovation(R&I) team for the “Green Agenda for Armenia, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine” project. Her main role is to lead national expert teams in their impact assessments and quality assurance processes. Kaidi’s work assesses the fitness of social justice measures as well as research, development and innovation capacity to support the transition towards innovative and just climate neutrality in each project country. 
 
Before joining SEI, Kaidi worked at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology’s (KIT) Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (Germany) in trans-disciplinary projects related to urban sustainability transformations, capacity building of municipal staff and other stakeholders for tackling complex sustainability issues, and facilitating climate adaptation and energy transformation through participatory approaches. She also co-developed an award-winning complementary sustainability study program at KIT. Currently she contributes to sustainability curriculum at the Estonian Business School as Senior Research Fellow focusing on sustainable spatial planning, sustainable production and consumption strategies, and capacity building for sustainability leadership.
 
Kaidi’s holds a PhD in Sociology from Justus Liebig University Giessen (Germany), focusing on sustainability transition strategies of governance and civil society actors across the EU. She also holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Semiotics and Culture Studies and Political Science from the University of Tartu (Estonia).

Merlin Rehema is the Team Lead for the Sustainable and Smart Mobility team within the “Green Agenda for Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Armenia” project. She oversees the alignment and implementation of the Sustainable and Smart Mobility Strategy – an integral part of the European Green Deal, focusing on transforming EU transport towards sustainability and digital integration. Merlin’s leadership involves coordinating efforts to decrease greenhouse gas emissions by optimizing transport efficiency and advocating for sustainable modes of transport for people and goods, which includes enhancing vehicles, fuels, and infrastructure. She manages thematic teams, ensuring timely execution of our work packages, and is responsible for operationalizing the Green Agenda’s strategic plans and setting deadlines. In addition to guiding national experts, she offers leadership to team members, providing feedback and ensuring that all expert inputs align with the Green Agenda’s overarching goals, driving toward a resilient and environmentally conscious European transport system.

Merlin’s work for the Green Agenda falls under her role as a Senior Expert at the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), within the Sustainable Cities and Resilient Communities Unit. She has previously worked on mobility and transportation projects of various levels as a mobility expert, but also as a business analysist and product owner for public sector IT developments.

Merlin is currently a PhD researcher at the Tallinn University Cultural Geography Programme, focusing on pedestrian walking and how to support it with urban planning measures. She has a strong interest in analyzing land use planning and accessibility interactions, especially in cities as a researcher, but also as a planner.

Merlin holds a master’s degree in Urban Management from Tallinn University, as well as a master’s degree in Environment Protection and a bachelor’s degree in Landscape Protection and Management - both from the Estonian University of Life Sciences.

Sanjin Avdic is a Senior Programme Coordinator at the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) and is the Team Lead for Building & Renovation within the “Green Agenda for Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Armenia” project.

Sanjin joined SEI in early January 2020 as Project Coordinator for SEI’s “Development of the Environmental Strategy of Bosnia and Herzegovina” project (ESAP BiH 2030+). Sanjin’s current main responsibilities include the coordination of the Sustainable Transition program in Bosnia and Herzegovina and leading the Building & Renovation (EPBD directive and EU’s Renovation Wave Strategy) for Eastern Partnership Countries.

Sanjin has more than 15 years of experience in the energy and environment sector in the South-East Europe region (Western Balkans). He has held management and coordination roles in the past: as a freelancing consultant working on EU, GiZ, EBRD, GGF, WB and IFC projects; as the Head of Department at a private sector consulting company; and as the Sector Leader of the Energy and Environment Sector within UNDP. In his previous roles, Sanjin has been responsible for resource mobilization, coordination, communication, knowledge building and management and implementation of a vast number of energy, climate, and environmental projects.

Sanjin graduated on the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Sarajevo, holds a master’s degree in Business Administration from Nottingham Trent University, and a master’s degree from the Faculty of Economics, University of Sarajevo. Sanjin is also finalizing his doctoral studies at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Sarajevo, in the field of clean technologies and renewable energy sources.

Valdur Lahtvee is Senior Project Manager at the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) in Tallinn. He was the Director of the Climate and Energy Programme at SEI Tallinn from 2011-2016 and served as Centre Director from 2004-2007. In 2023 he rejoined the team to work on the “Green Agenda for Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Armenia”.  

Valdur’s main tasks within the “Green Agenda for Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, and Armenia” project are to assist Team Leads on aspects of national policy review methodology, provide advice on mainstreaming cross-cutting issues into thematic reports and assure the quality of outputs from the national experts.

Valdur has more than 40 years of experience in environmental protection, public participation, environmental management, policy analysis and integration of sustainable development principles into sector policies. For the past seven years, he has coordinated the Horizontal Action Climate of the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region at the Council of the Baltic Sea States.

Valdur is a Dipl. Engineer in Forestry Management (equal to MSc).