Green Digital Action Summit

Jonas Corné

Operating Partner

Europe's Largest Tech Event | GITEX EUROPE 24-25 June 2026

Jonas co-founded Greenbyte in 2010 and was its CEO until exit in 2021. Greenbyte was a world leader in asset management and analytics software for wind and solar with more than 50 GWs under management at time of exit to Power Factors. Following the exit, Jonas led strategy and M&A at Power Factors, working closely with Vista Equity Partners. Under Jonas’ lead Power Factors acquired Inaccess – the market leader in controls and automation for utility scale the solar PV. Prior to Greenbyte, Jonas ran a software consultancy company in Gothenburg Sweden. Jonas has a M.Sc. in Industrial Engineering from Chalmers University of Technology with further studies at ETH in Zürich and Stanford University. 

Jonas is now an Operating Partner to Ardian Infrastructure advising on matters related to digitalization. 

Paolo Gemma

Chairman

Europe's Largest Tech Event | GITEX EUROPE 24-25 June 2026

Paolo Gemma, WP2/5 Chairman, ITU-T Study Group 5

Paolo Gemma is a senior specialist and representative of Huawei on issues related to energy saving and environmental sustainability. Prior to joining Huawei, Dr. Gemma was working with Nokia Siemens Networks, where he was responsible for EMC (electromagnetic compatibility) and electrical safety areas. He also worked in the Siemens Communications Division. Dr. Paolo Gemma also plays an active role in international standardization activities. Since 1993, he has been engaged in ETSI (European Telecommunication Standard Institute) activities and he also participates in the development of EMC standards. In 1997, Dr. Gemma joined ITU-T Study Group 5 on Environment, Climate Change, and Circular Economy as a Rapporteur and he is now the Chairman of Working Party 2 “Environment, Energy Efficiency and the Circular Economy”. He also acts as Vice-chairmen of the United for Smart Sustainable Cities (U4SSC) initiative. In 2002, Paolo Gemma was appointed as the Secretary of the Committee ETSI TC EE and as of 2009, he holds the position of Chairman of the EEPS EE (eco Environmental product standard) working group. Paolo Gemma is a graduate of electrical engineering from the University of Genoa.

Reyna Ubeda

Engineer on Environment, EMF, Climate Action & Circular Economy

Europe's Largest Tech Event | GITEX EUROPE 24-25 June 2026

Reyna Úbeda studied Industrial Engineering and she completed a Master on International Management from the University for Economics and Environment Nürtingen- Geislingen in 2014. 

She joined the ITU’s Standardization Bureau in 2015. She is the Engineer of ITU-T Study Group 5 on Environment, EMF, climate action and circular economy. Reyna speaks English, Spanish and German.

Katrin Saarsalu-Layachi

Special Envoy for Climate & Energy Policy

Europe's Largest Tech Event | GITEX EUROPE 24-25 June 2026

Katrin Saarsalu-Layachi is the Special Envoy for Climate and Energy Policy of the MFA Estonia. From August 2019 to August 2023, she served as the Ambassador of Estonia, Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva. Before Geneva, from 2009 to 2019, she was the Director General of the Human Resources Department at the MFA. From October 2003 to October 2009 she was Estonian Ambassador, appointed to the Republic of Austria, the Slovak Republic, Swiss Confederation and Slovenia, residing in Vienna, and Ambassador, Permanent Representative to UNOV, the IAEA and the CTBTO PrepCom. 

In 1996-2003, she worked on EU integration: from 1996 to 1999 as the counsellor at the Estonian Mission to the EU and from March 1999 to September 2003 as Director General of the European Integration Department. She also participated in Estonia's accession negotiations to the European Union.

Ms Saarsalu-Layachi joined the Estonian Foreign Service in September 1991, working in the Administration Department and the Legal Department.

Katrin Saarsalu graduated from the University of Tartu with a degree in law and obtained a Master's degree in European Studies (MAES) from the University of Basel. She is married and the mother of two daughters.

Hugues Ferreboeuf

Advisory Board Member

Europe's Largest Tech Event | GITEX EUROPE 24-25 June 2026

Hugues Ferreboeuf, 63, has spent most of his professional career in the information technology sector, including 20 years in senior management positions. He has worked in various environments, such as large companies, high-growth companies and government agencies and has also been an entrepreneur, having created 3 companies.

He is a graduate of École Polytechnique and Telecom ParisTech.

Convinced that we are going through major changes that require decisive and rapid action, he has chosen to use his experience to advise companies and public bodies on how to transform themselves in order to deal with the current digital, energy and societal transitions.

 He is a partner in Virtus Management, a management consulting boutique he co-founded in 2017 and has also joined the think tank The Shift Project (*) since the end of 2016 where he has been leading the Lean ICT project (or how to make the digital transition environmentally friendly) and coordinating the production of seven reports on digitalization and sustainability.

He is also a conference speaker in France and abroad and a lecturer at Sciences Po Paris, and he took part in the Digitalization For Sustainability (D4S) European two-year research project.

(*): The purpose of The Shift Project is to enlighten and influence the debate on the energy transition in France and Europe.

Jean-Manuel Canet

Senior Manager, Climate Change

Europe's Largest Tech Event | GITEX EUROPE 24-25 June 2026

WP3 Vice-Chair and Q9/5 Rapporteur, ITU-T Study Group 5 "Environment, EMF and Circular Economy" / Senior Manager, Climate Biodiversity, Orange 

Jean Manuel CANET is a Senior Manager in charge of Climate and Biodiversity in the CSR Department of Orange Group. He has developed an expertise in the assessment of the environmental impact of ICT goods, services and organizations. He earlier led numerous projects to assess and reduce GHG emissions related to IT, for customers such as the European Parliament, France Télévisions or Zurich Financial Services. He serves as Vice-Chair of the ITU-T SG5 Working Party 3 on “Climate change, adaptation, mitigation and net-zero emissions” and Rapporteur of the “Assessing the impact of telecommunications/ICTs on climate change, biodiversity and the environment - including the influence on other sectors” question He served as a member of the Advisory Panel of the UNFCCC “Momentum for Change” initiative. Jean-Manuel graduated from Télécom ParisTech and the MBA Programme of the “Collège des Ingénieurs”. He holds a certificate in carbon accountancy from the French National Agency for Energy and Environment and a certificate in carbon finance from Carbone 4 Academy.

Charles Hurpy

Senior Digital Development Specialist

Europe's Largest Tech Event | GITEX EUROPE 24-25 June 2026

Christoph Winterhalter

Chairman of the Executive Board (CEO), DIN e. V. VP Policy

Europe's Largest Tech Event | GITEX EUROPE 24-25 June 2026

Dr. Bosun Tijani

Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy

Europe's Largest Tech Event | GITEX EUROPE 24-25 June 2026

Dirk Messner

President of the German

Europe's Largest Tech Event | GITEX EUROPE 24-25 June 2026

Dirk Messner -President of the German Environment Agency (UBA) and co-champion of the Coalition for Digital Environmental Sustainability (CODES)BIO The internationally renowned sustainability researcher Prof. Dr. Dirk Messner is President of the German Environment Agency (UBA) and co-champion of the Coalition for Digital Environmental Sustainability (CODES). He was previously Director of the Institute for Environment and Human Security at the United Nations University and the German Development Institute (DIE) in Bonn and Co-Chairman of the German Advisory Council on Global Change (WBGU).

Najat Mokhtar

Head of the Department of Nuclear Sciences and Applications

Europe's Largest Tech Event | GITEX EUROPE 24-25 June 2026

Tomas Lamanauskas

Deputy Secretary-General

Europe's Largest Tech Event | GITEX EUROPE 24-25 June 2026

Tomas Lamanauskas is Deputy Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union, elected at the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference of 2022, and taking up duties as of January 2023.

His 25 years of experience spans across sectors of telecoms and digital policy, regulation and strategy, stemming from executive level positions in agencies, companies, and organizations across Europe, the Middle East, the Caribbean and the Pacific region.

As Deputy Secretary-General of ITU, Tomas focuses on the financial sustainability and operational excellence of the organization. He also works to raise the digital industry’s ambition in fighting the climate crisis through the Green Digital Action initiative and promotes investments into the digital infrastructure as well as digital resilience through the Digital Infrastructure Investment Initiative and other efforts. Additionally, Tomas contributes to the global efforts to harness the opportunities and mitigate challenges of new technologies, in particular Artificial Intelligence, including through his role as a co-chair of the United Nations Inter-Agency Working Group on AI. He is also playing a key role in ensuring ITU’s support to other UN-wide development and governance efforts, including through the World Summit of the Information Society process and membership at the Operational Steering Committee of the UN Joint SDG Fund.

Tomas holds Master’s Degrees in Public Administration (Harvard), Leadership and Strategy (London Business School), Telecommunications Regulation and Policy (The University of the West Indies) and Law (Vilnius University).